Storage Auctions
The Storage Locker => Stories about Storage Auctions => Topic started by: MovieMan on June 30, 2012, 10:19:23 PM
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Here we go again !
With a few of the regular contributors here commenting in June that the crowds at least were down, there is hope for the month of July.
Prices can still be high (at least on the BETTER units) but maybe the days of "newbies" buying up stock at ridiculous prices are coming to an end. ;D
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My wife is going to head back out and check them around our area. We stopped going for a couple months because we were doing so much better picking and clearing out houses, but the thrill of the hunt is a hard habit to kick so if the crowds are down then we will be happy to rejoin the fray.
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Bring on July! High temps have been between 100-110, we haven't had rain for three weeks, there are burn bans and lawn water bans, AND some good auctions coming up. Hope the trend of smaller crowds and lower prices continue. Now if the quality of the merchandise would just improve. :P
Good luck to everyone this month, and be sure to take along your sunblock!! :D :D
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Did Cubesmart Tues with minimal crowds (and prices) but lockers were mostly trash.
Cubesmart day two was today, but we decided to hit a more 'popular' auctioneer as he is here every other month. Last time out with him I landed my second pool table unit and the art unit.
Crowd was about 30 which is not terrible. 6 lockers. Saw very few I even bothered to bid on. Prices stayed low. One unit that was a money maker was a 10X20 about 3/4 full and 3/4 of that was toys! We're talkin' tons of toys. It went for $200 and I know they'll make money.....we are just overrun with toys right now so we took a pass~
Decided to pass on the next facility due to distance. Was told we missed some good ones, but we're always told that so......
Next facility had a couple lockers and nothing we were interested in.
Then on to a facility that had 14 lockers. Saw a locker go for $25 that was full and a decent leather chair showing. Didn't bid as I love the couple that won it. A few more units then we got to one that 'intrigued' me. a 5X5 with a few suitcases, a couple boxes and one Air Jordan white high top showing. Told Don I was going on this one and set the cap at $100.
Bidding started and I bid once or twice and we were suddenly at my max. My nemesis got the $100 bid and another lady bid $110. I figured what the heck.....we can lose that in no time at the casino, so went to $120. I got it and Don was shaking his head.............well............
Turns out it was a rapper type gangsta wannabe couple. At last count:
12 pairs nice tennis shoes, with 80% being Air Jordans, two pair Lebron James
Several (over 20) pairs of jeans like Affliction, True Religion and the like
Numerous Oakland A's hats
A gucci hat we found online that retails for $265~was a used one that sold on ebay for like $80 and it was in about the same shape as ours so....
Coach tennies
Lots of dvd's (yes....they were actually in their cases....shock...), but unfortunately most are of a rap/hip-hop variety
Did find one small 10k chain with a heart pendant, but kinda questioning the purity of the pendant. Test came back positive, but fearing a plating~
All in all this was a great unit that I'm thinking will make us some nice change. Not too shabby and the best part was it was the easiest clean out we've ever had. Loaded in 15 minutes!
The last week of June found Don buying 4 units and if I ever have 'free' time I'll update ya on those. Nothing grand, but prices and crowds remain down. Don't know if that is the trend or the temps~
Oh and for those that saw and remember the picture of our yard a couple months ago.....imagine that yard with 4 lockers worth of inventory and sheet flooding................ugh~
Still all is pretty good here in Southern AZ~
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Nice job rockin - gotta love it when a plan comes together!! :D
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Good lkr rockin' !
Funny how the sight of one little thing CAN lead to good things overall.
I once got a little 5 x 5 only stacked about 3 feet high in a U-Shape...paid $110 for it and was
getting the biz from other buyers, but it came out well. Didn't have as many pair of shoes as you got, but the ones
it did have did well as did the other stuff. Quality will sell.
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Vacation the last part of June and first part of July. Came home to find an auction online. First online unit I have purchased but hope the locker is as good as it looked. Washer and dryer, stove, refridge, dresser, headboard, water cooler, lots of boxes $155.00. Should be able to make a nice profit if all of the appliances work.
Tomorrow morning brings 12 units. One of my favorite facilities and the best auctioneer. Will post how it went later.
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Went to 2 of 3 auctions today...same auctioneer. Crowd decent...maybe 25. Lockers not so good. I've gotten pickier about what I buy though....most expensive ones were $300 or so. Both places had 5 or 6 each. Nothing special about any of them.
Liked seeing the crowd though...now if we could just up the quality of the lkrs.
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Auction this morning wasn't to bad. 11 units and about 12 buyers. I wish the units were better. 2 didn't sell at all. (those scary mattresses) If I hadn't already bought the online unit I would have come home with one unit. (would have had to make a second 40 mile one way trip it get everything and didn't think it was worth it.)
Online unit was not a bad one. Nothing spectacular but it had quite a few nice large framed art picts of Elvis and Marilyn.
Those will be the profit as the appliances will cover the cost of the unit. Already sold the dryer for $50.00.
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Went to U-haul friday. I had to hussel as my boss ran the meeting over late and thus was late getting there. Only 5 units up for auction which is low for them. Missed the first unit. Second unit had 6 boxes in it. 3 of them were the tall U-haul boxes to hold cloths. I passed - unit sold for $180 or more to some new lady. Think she was surprised when found a empty box, cloths in the other, etc. I tried hard not to laugh. 3rd unit was best - packed room with some decent furniture showing, no mattress could see, totes, bins, etc. It sold for $400 which was WAY to high. Wasn't that big of a room. Again to one of the newbies. 4th was mostly cloths in bags, upstiars (have to use a movable ladder to get to it). Only thing I was interested in was the camo style bag. After $100 and going I lost interest. Last unit had 2 suitcases, trashbag, and some cloths hanging. I opened at $10 and stayed in till $45. One of the newer regulars bought it at $50. I may of gotten it at $55 but unless some decent cloths in the suitcase I would of lost $25. I hate cloths right now.
Crowd was smaller then past few months. However, was mostly newbies/ 3mo newbies compared to regulars. Even the local whale was missing.
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Went to two auctions today; same auctioneer.
First place had a crowd of about 20 with only 5 or so regulars. Rest new faces. Had 12 or so lockers. Half of them were trash. Other half OK and prices pretty much OK. I didn't bid on anything.
The best one had a bright yellow Matco tool box about 4 feet wide 2 feet deep and 4 feet high. Maybe 10 drawers; a good looking tool box and aside from the yellow its most distinguishing feature was.....the black vinyl rails on the drawers were DUST COVERED.....BUT....there were two sets of disturbed dust on each grip...where you would put your left and right hands to open a wide drawer. Each drawer had this pattern.
The other notables in this locker were 3 hard case guitar cases, 3 amps, Fender and Marshall brands.
Go ahead and guess what this sold for...10 x 10 with a dismantled keyboard as well and maybe 6 totes.
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The next place had double the crowd but only the same regulars, so 50 people and 45 newbies. Again 12 lockers and prices were OK but nothing special in content. I bid on one 5 x 5 because it had a heavy duty plexiglass display case I could have used. Started it at 100 or so and it quickly got to my 200 limit, but I thought I owed an obiligation to the industry so I took the newbie up to $475 and let him have it. Alls fair in love, war and storage wars. Less cash for next time and might even be a lesson in being more cautious.
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Go ahead and guess what this sold for...10 x 10 with a dismantled keyboard as well and maybe 6 totes.
I'm guessing around 2k to $2300!
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I'm guessing around 2k to $2300!
Inviting other guesses before the reveal !
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I'm guessing around 2k to $2300!
6 months ago, I would guess $2000, today I would guess $1250.
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Only a couple minutes this morning as Don & I each landed a locker yesterday.
His is cleaned out and the former owner was a Native American school teacher. We found gold, Indian jewelry, old Papago baskets and the like. Will update when I have time. He paid $225 and I believe the potential is 5X+. Much will depend on the value of the old baskets and the like.
My unit is untouched as of right now as it took us all of yesterday to dig out the other. I paid $130 after battling with a very green newbie. It's a 10X20 and full of dust and junk.....have no idea right now. There is a Hornets NBA jacket (really rough, but what got me bidding), a snow board, a torn apart gun (stock and barrel) and beyond that...........I have no idea.
Prices were not bad and crowd was minimal. When Don did his he had 5 people and all were regulars (he didn't get a unit until he hooked up with ours). My auction initially had about 20 folks with only two of us being 'regulars'.
Our Dave Hester is on vacation and the rest of us are living large while he's gone! ;D
Will update with some photos in the next few days.....time permitting~
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Go ahead and guess what this sold for...10 x 10 with a dismantled keyboard as well and maybe 6 totes.
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Ok going off on a limb and say $3500. In your area mine around the $1500 mark Ok I am cheating... ;D
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OK, will wait for a few more guesses on this one but should reveal by end of today, July 10.
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So my online unit ended up having some Marilyn Monroe framed art in it that was well taken care of. Sold the appliances yesterday for 150 and have a total of 165 in the unit so should come out with an ok profit. Slow week which is to bad as it is very hot and would detour most from coming out. Two day of caravans the end of next week.
MovieMan I'm gonna guess about 1500.00 for the unit.
Happy Bidding All!!
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Went to a facility about a half mile from the house today. Five lockers, three total junk, two mostly junk. Was in on one of the better ones at 190 and it was almost done, then a new bidder jumps in and I let him have it at 270.
Same auctioneer has another auction Thursday, but it's at a trashy facility and it's usually pretty crappy there.
On the plus side, there were only about 20 people there today compared to 70 last time! Low unit went for 10 bucks, high locker went for 350. Wish there would have been a little better stuff, I could use some inventory!
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The best one had a bright yellow Matco tool box about 4 feet wide 2 feet deep and 4 feet high. Maybe 10 drawers; a good looking tool box and aside from the yellow its most distinguishing feature was.....the black vinyl rails on the drawers were DUST COVERED.....BUT....there were two sets of disturbed dust on each grip...where you would put your left and right hands to open a wide drawer. Each drawer had this pattern.
The other notables in this locker were 3 hard case guitar cases, 3 amps, Fender and Marshall brands.
Go ahead and guess what this sold for...10 x 10 with a dismantled keyboard as well and maybe 6 totes.
OK, had some good guesses on this one's final sales price. I told my two cronies there that I thought it would go for $2000. They thought not and they were right. It went for $1,000.
Yes, six months ago it might have gone for $2k but not that day. One of my two cronies went to $600 on it and when it went for $1K he the told me that he thought I would jump in somewhere around there, but I was just afraid of it at that price. An empty tool box and 3 empty guitar cases wouldn't have been worth much....IF EMPTY. Wasn't willing to gamble that much.
So, the smaller crowds and sporadically lower prices are a good indicator that things might be settling down.
The guy who paid $1K was known to my two friends but I had never seen him before...he was from out of town.
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Well caravan time for me in the morning...if we have any units. Last 4 months have seen less then a dozen units between 7 locations. This is the auction that is telling for me also on crowds. We have been getting lots of out of towners and newbies. If we are under 30 people I will be very happy.
Monday is my 3 caravan location that my daughter loves. She made out like a bandit last month. So hopefully we will get another unit or three in the next few days.
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The caravan has come and gone and finds me with 2 units for $155 total. Crowd started out around 30 people or so - down a few people from last month but still a number of newbies. By the time we finish for the day the crowd was down to a dozen and lost all but 1 set of newbies. Units today were so/so with a few good units. Prices were more reasonable with the biggest / best going for 600, 800, and 900. I got a 1/4 full 10x10 for $110. Had it at $50 till one of the newbie's jumped in. Two large dog cages, drop leaf table, some firewood furniture, and a few other odds and end items. Figure the drop leaf, and 2 dog cages should net me $150 or so. If do that is $40 profit before some of the other items. I really wanted the unit for the dog cages as may keep them for self.
Second unit was at the last facility of the day. It was rare this place never has units. Maybe 1 unit in 3 months. Today they had 6 (3 abandoned units and 3 advertised). Lady at the counter said first unit was marginal so I was thinking cloths and stuff. Get there and it's another 10x10. 4 drawer file cabinet, large dolly, large piano/furniture dolly, 5 trash bags, xmas tree box, xmas tree, etc. Saw 2 move blankets in a corner. Tossed out a $25 open, one of the other regulars $35, so I went to $45 and won. Is a good unit for price. The trash bags - 4 of them had moving blankets folded up inside. One bag of cloths. Tubs had various items in it but a number of new cell phones (older). Guy was a sales rep for Verizon. Even have a huge canvas picture/advertisement sign of the verizon guy.
So all in all a decent day. Can't wait for monday now.
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The caravan has come and gone and finds me with 2 units for $155 total. Crowd started out around 30 people or so - down a few people from last month but still a number of newbies. By the time we finish for the day the crowd was down to a dozen and lost all but 1 set of newbies. Units today were so/so with a few good units. Prices were more reasonable with the biggest / best going for 600, 800, and 900. I got a 1/4 full 10x10 for $110. Had it at $50 till one of the newbie's jumped in. Two large dog cages, drop leaf table, some firewood furniture, and a few other odds and end items. Figure the drop leaf, and 2 dog cages should net me $150 or so. If do that is $40 profit before some of the other items. I really wanted the unit for the dog cages as may keep them for self.
Second unit was at the last facility of the day. It was rare this place never has units. Maybe 1 unit in 3 months. Today they had 6 (3 abandoned units and 3 advertised). Lady at the counter said first unit was marginal so I was thinking cloths and stuff. Get there and it's another 10x10. 4 drawer file cabinet, large dolly, large piano/furniture dolly, 5 trash bags, xmas tree box, xmas tree, etc. Saw 2 move blankets in a corner. Tossed out a $25 open, one of the other regulars $35, so I went to $45 and won. Is a good unit for price. The trash bags - 4 of them had moving blankets folded up inside. One bag of cloths. Tubs had various items in it but a number of new cell phones (older). Guy was a sales rep for Verizon. Even have a huge canvas picture/advertisement sign of the verizon guy.
So all in all a decent day. Can't wait for monday now.
Nice job Craig....it's all another buck in the pocket!! ;)
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Not so much from July, but inventory from Jun is finely moving. I ended up with a 5x5 for 10.00 that was loaded with high end mens clothing. I don't do clothing... I moved some of it, but then just donated the rest. It also had a crystal chandleir and some other stuff. So far I am at 10x my money, but what to do with 4 bags of Polo, Nike, Gap, Banana Republic, shirts and jackets.
This week I am going out of my normal caravan to see what is available 40 miles away. Wish me luck.
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Monday found my daughter and I at her favorite location since she can bid (with my approval of course). Unlike last month only a few lockers at each place this time. First facility 4 units - nothing great, crowd is about normal for this place with a bunch of new faces and some older newbies/regular returning after a hiatus.
Second facility we picked up a few more people. 8 units here which was a surprise. One nice construction looking unit with a .22 rifle but showing. Unit only went for $475 to a newbie which surprised me some.
Third facility got rained out. Wasn't so much the driving rain and wind as much as the lightning going off everywhere. So we go back today at 4:30.
I did win a small 5x10 which surprised me. Did an opening bid while people were looking of $50. I figured it would go for $100 - $150. 1/2 full, 6 or 7 decent chairs, table, a number of odds and ends. Think the 3 prostetic legs is all people saw. Sold unit untouched to my buddy for $75 as he needs inventory for his store.
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Frustrating morning. Auction at 10:00am at one of my favorite local places - a little more high end and usually lots of good smalls. At 8:00pm Tuesday night, received an e-mail that the locker count has dropped from 17 to 14. At 9:00am today I get an updated e-mail that lockers are down to 10......you can see where this is going......
I arrive at 9:30am and there are several cars in the lot (about 6 or 7). I go in the office to sign in, and it's packed with people paying up. In fact, in a matter of minutes, the parking lot is clear, I am the only buyer there (my bidding number is 1!) It's now about 9:45am, and a handful of other buyers show up to be told the bad news - the locker count is down to 2. During the next 10 minutes two more people race into the parking lot, run in the office, and pay their bill. So it's now 9:58am and the auction is off. Alrighty then :P :P
10 units being paid off in less than a hour....holy cow! The worst part about this is most of the lockers in my area lately have been junk - and this place normally has decent stuff. Now I will have to wait 2-3 months to find out, since they only occasionally do auctions.
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Went to three auctions today by the same auctioneer. He is the best of the 4 regular auctioneers so I asked him what the "trends" were right now.
1) Crowds about the same (that's not true in my area...they are smaller)
2) Prices about the same (again, in my area they are down)
3) Number of lkrs up for sale...DOWN. (now THAT is true in my area)
He does more selling some distance away from me and his answers to the first two questions tell me to
stay away from there (too far for me anyway).
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Meanwhile the units at the first place went for decent prices. First 3 lkrs were 5 x 10s and I started the last one at $100 after the first two went for that. HOWEVER, there was one other guy there who loves to overpay and he did. I went up with him to $350 and someone else took over and the overpaying guy got if for $475.
The next place had 5 lkrs. Three by same owner but sold separately. The first one, 10 x 20 with about 50 garbage bags (dust covered) along one long wall. Other wall mixed bag. All looked old. Guy got it for $100...probably a good buy.
The next two from same owner were 10 x 30 and this time larger stuff. First one started out at a reasonable $100 but one of the year old newbies gave a $500 bid thinking he would get it. I knew for a fact he had $950 on him and that was his last bid as a newbie took it away at $1000. Finally, mr. 950 got the next and last same owner lkr for $750.
All three were from an elderly woman who had put everything she owned in them, but nothing looked that great to me.
The only thing I remember was a little breakfast table (yellow formica, fold down leaves)...could have been worth a bit especially if chairs were in there, but nothing else great showing and a lot of broken wicker stuff and baskets.
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Third place we went had 3 lkrs. First was mgr's mattress lkr (hooray !). Second and third, nothing special. So, with maybe 13 lkrs total at all 3 places, I bid on one and got none.
Have to say the "picking" is looking better all the time, but If I can get a really good one every two months + picking I would be happy. Been 2 months and 9 days since my last lkr buy.
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That sucks Movieman about not winning anything. Think I'd of had to bid on the all bag locker. Is a gamble but I've done better then expected with those bags.
I have to agree with you on picking. My buddy that has a store summed it up this way. He makes his money on the yard sale and "come to him" purchases for the majority of furniture, etc. The units provide the random smalls and flavors to his inventory.
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That sucks Movieman about not winning anything. Think I'd of had to bid on the all bag locker.
Well, I don't know about it sucking. Fact is I could have bought any one of them...heck, I could have bought all of them, but to what end. A lot of work, some reward (unknown of course). No, I think I did what I should have.
I worked in my permanent locker this afternoon...gave some stuff to Goodwill, threw some stuff away. Object to clear some space for some items I have in a temp lkr that ends Aug 15th. Nope, I have no regrets; as I said "picking" is looking better all the time and I have already stopped going to as many auctions as I used to. I think the handwriting might be on the wall...unless of course I find that "special" lkr ....one more time ! ;D
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Finally! The crowds seem to be at least slightly thinning and the prices seem to be coming down. I went to a facility today that has had 60-80 bidders for the last year or so.....today only about 15 bidders. Had 8 lockers for sale, and they all sold between $1 and $200.
I got a little 5x5 for 60 bucks. No big ticket items, but a nice stainless microwave and a couple of tools and I'll have my money back. Leaves me lot's of stuff to take out to the swap meet this week end.
I have many auctions to go in the next week and a half, so we'll see if this was just a fluke or if things are really getting better. I've got my fingers crossed!
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Why oh why do I keep going to sales in the beach towns? Either the people are bums or the lockers are picked. Three facilities with a total of 7 units. There was only one I would have bought. It had a dozen boxes, two plastic bins, a nice hand stitched bed spread and a nice fold up lawn lounge chair. $50.00 was my max. The locker went for $300.00 to a guy that shows up every once in a while and spends way to much money. Really... Every other unit had at least one set of mattresses and several had crappy couches. The dump fees would have cost more than the units were worth.
Oh well on to a caravan tomorrow that usually has good units. Think I will stay from the coastal towns for a while.
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Think I will stay from the coastal towns for a while.
But that's where the Storage War guys find all those rare surfboards ! ;)
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Not really a post about the auction scene as so much about an observation about the units I have won this year. Thought I would just stick it here instead of starting another thread.
The units I have won this year are really starting to perplex me. Typically, like many of you, and with the increased competition, I try to not spend more then half of what I think a unit is worth based on what I see from the door and other variables. Basically try to "double the money". This strategy pretty muched worked last year, there were some losers that lost money and there were some winners that made a lot more than double the money, but across the board the average was about 2.5 times the money.
Anyway this year has been completely feast for famine, using the exact same bidding strategy. I have had 4 really great units that have made atleast 5 times the money and the rest of been complete dogs, either losing money or breaking even at best.
Not sure what's going on, my first thought is the overall quality of the units up for auction might be dropping rapidly. I am wondering if more people are purposely leaving garabage in units to have auctioned off, if more managers and employees are pilfering the units before they auction them, or people making deals with managers to auction off there yard sale left overs, but the are more empty boxes in units, and less sellable goods in units it seems.
Too many of the units I have won this year have had used goods in them that were tagged and priced like they were yard sale leftovers. Yes, could have been a legitimate attempt by the previous owners to sell the stuff at yard sale before they stored it, I am just wondering if former auction buyers, flea market vendors, etc. are sneaking there left over inventory into units to be auctioned.
Maybe it has just been a random localized trend that I need to shake off and push through, but it's been making wary about bidding on the "stuff" units and looking more closely at exactly what is in the unit.
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Not sure what's going on, my first thought is the overall quality of the units up for auction might be dropping rapidly. I am wondering if more people are purposely leaving garabage in units to have auctioned off, if more managers and employees are pilfering the units before they auction them, or people making deals with managers to auction off there yard sale left overs, but the are more empty boxes in units, and less sellable goods in units it seems.
Maybe all of the above, but of course hard to tell which locker through which technique. I do know that the quality over all is DOWN and my one feeling (supported by auctioneers) is that more people are paying up rather than lose their lockers...and those would tend to be the better goods I would think.
After all when any of us see a listing for 15 and there end up being 7, what could we expect except that the 7 left are for the most part going to be trashy. Sure, MAYBE one of the 7 would be good, but the odds of much more than that being good are slim.
I heard about one place I missed a couple of weeks ago though listing 3 and having 3 and they were apparently all OK lkrs. One went for $1000 and consensus was the newbie who got it overpaid by about half, but oh well.
Anyway, quality is down over the last few years and especially since December, 2010 when the tv shows started. I think we can legitimately blame the shows for letting people know their goods WOULD go to auction.
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Went to a by the piece sale. They had 5 or 6 lkrs to piece out. First 3 were nothing special, but #4 was a 20 wide by 10 deep and the minute they started bringing the boxes out you could tell it was a good one with quality stuff.
Also, when walking by the open doors of the unit one could see quality furniture.
I bought $250 worth of stuff and feel it will double. Gas and time costs involved. Took from 8:30 to 3:30 and I left before the last lkr or two were sold.
This locker had four containers of Mary Kay stuff and I let one gal get the first one for $100..figure 2 to 3 times that in sales. The next one she didn't want to back down so I took her up and up...she got it for $200. I got the third one for $70 (sales maybe $150 to $200) and she got the last one (smallest) for $45...I didn't bid on it.
I got a few good items at just $5 apiece and these will do well at $30 to $40 range.
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Sounds good MovieMan. My very first auction was a piece one. Got exposed to this crazy business and turned my first bid ever ($1) into $70 and haven't looked back!
Don got a unit a while back full of Avon stuff. Haven't had a chance to take that stuff to the flea due to weather and scheduling, but know it will fly off the table. Women (most...........however not those like me) love that 'girly' stuff~
Me......I stop to look at fishing gear and power tools~ :-\
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I've yet to get to a piece auction. Most places here just do the whole storage unit. Sounds like some good buys Movieman.
I have to make a decision on which auction to hit thursday. I took the day off to take my daughter to some last auctions before school starts. We have two 2-facility caravans on Thursday. The first location is at 9am a dozen+ units and is silent bid, followed by another dozen units at 11am on other side of town. Or I can hit a 10am auction with 6 units listed that is followed by 11am in my little town. The smaller facility I've done ok at, they just want units cleaned so don't care how low price, and normal only 8-10 of us.
Strategy is going to be calling both places around 4 wednesday. See which one has more units. If second facility has all 6 units I may try the 9am first and then turn in my bid sheet at 9:45 and shoot up the road to the 10am. I love when have so many choices.
Just checked - is 27 units and 15. One has "Bike, Canoe" for listing. Now that draws my interest.....
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I've yet to get to a piece auction. Most places here just do the whole storage unit. Sounds like some good buys Movieman.
I have to make a decision on which auction to hit thursday. I took the day off to take my daughter to some last auctions before school starts. We have two 2-facility caravans on Thursday. The first location is at 9am a dozen+ units and is silent bid, followed by another dozen units at 11am on other side of town. Or I can hit a 10am auction with 6 units listed that is followed by 11am in my little town. The smaller facility I've done ok at, they just want units cleaned so don't care how low price, and normal only 8-10 of us.
Strategy is going to be calling both places around 4 wednesday. See which one has more units. If second facility has all 6 units I may try the 9am first and then turn in my bid sheet at 9:45 and shoot up the road to the 10am. I love when have so many choices.
Just checked - is 27 units and 15. One has "Bike, Canoe" for listing. Now that draws my interest.....
I need a canoe, where is that auction gonna be? ;)
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Went to a nice small auction today at a single facility. Nice small crowd! I ended up with two reasonably priced lockers....spent a total of a little over 475 for the pair.....I'll start another thread for that....have an interesting story there, and I was LUCKY!
Anyway, have part of a Public Storage run for tomorrow then going to jump the run to another small single facility and see if I can't pick up a few more.
Last few auctions, crowds definitely down, and so are prices....hope that continues!
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Ended up with three more lockers on Friday. Started off on the Public run.....lot's of bidders and high prices. Went to two of their facilities, than jumped off to a lesser known facility.....only six bidders, and bought three lockers for a total of $27, $52, and $207.
So, with the two I bought the other day ($350.88 and 101.88), I spend the princely sum of $738.76 for a total of five lockers......not bad at all in these trying times! LOL. I actually kind of over bought, but the prices were so cheap I couldn't help it!
Along with the other two I bought the day before, I'm one busy fella! I have two lockers entirely empty now and one that just needs a few big items moved and the garbage swept up. One I have until the end of next week to empty, and the other one is supposed to be done by Sunday night.
I'll update these and show some pics when I can get around to it. I have been putting in some long hours the last three days! However, I did get a 42" Plasma TV out of the $207 locker, and I got about 60 Chilton's manuals out of the $52 locker. And I did something I almost never do......I pulled a few things out and GAVE a locker back to the former owner on the condition they brought a truck and help and it was all gone TODAY! That's pretty much a story in itself, so I'll save that for next week.
Anyway, Public run still SUCKS! Lot's of people with two much money in their pocket. One guy literally said to me (and I AM NOT making this up!) as we walked away from a crappy looking locker that got bid way up, that that was less than he would have spent at the casino on Friday night, so it was no big deal! Ugh!
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Let me know how the Chilton manuals move.
I had hundreds of manufacturers manuals (like 750-ish) for every GM and Lincoln/mercury from 1960 thru early 2000's.
I couldn't give those things away.
Guess here, but thinking they were to technical for home guys, certified techs can get them online now.....
thinking Chiltons should be a touch easier.
Knowing what I know now I'd have had a garage sale or gone to swap meet. They seem to move in those venues. But eBay? Every manual I had was already listed multiple times for 99cents and never bid on.....
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I put the small car specific ones out at the garage sales or swap for $2-$3 each and always sell, and I put the big thick ones out for $7-$10 and they move fast!
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We had are big auction week this week, auctions every day of the week and two caravan runs. The bad news, crowds have grown again since June and early July. Had one auction with about 80 people and another with about 50. The others were between 15 to 30. Earlier this month the crowds were dropping to under 20 and even single digits at some auctions.
The old timers still seem to be gradually fading away. The crowd this week was generally less then 6 old timers (pre-tv shows), maybe 1-2 since tv shows, a dozen or less that are 3 month newbies, and all others are fresh faces. There really are no 3 month to 12 month "veterans" that I can think of that are buying units at all.
I mentioned the trend of the new crop of newbies NOT bringing flashlights out and that seems to be continueing. There is also a tendency among this new batch to try to convince the "old timers" and everybody else that they have a lot of knowledge in the re-sale business. A lot of platitudes about how best to sell things, and trends in the business, and how things use to be, yada yada..., From people we've never seen in are life on the auction trail. I suppose forums like this and You Tube are making everybody a "virtual reality expert" on this industry.
Prices are slooowwlllyyy edging downward, but the quality of units this week was uncommonly horrible. Not sure whats worse. People 6 months ago dropping $1000 on a $250 units that does have some good stuff showing, or people now dropping $200 on what should be $20 junk units.
I did manage to sneak in a get, in my opinion, the best unit of the week for a low-low price. I think everybody got so use to seeing junk and paying between $100-$250 for them all week, that when this unit came up they thought anything above $250 was too much.
Haven't had a chance to sort through it yet, but just from loading it up and cleaning it out it looks like it's been in storage since the early 1990's (bills, calendars, thick layer of dust, etc.) the furniture is 1920's to 1960's, & just a quick peak in the furniture drawers and boxes looks like a lot of the stuff is circa 1970's-1980's and hasn't really been touched since. This unit should be real interesting to go through. I think it's going to be a little bit like going through a time capsule.
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The old timers still seem to be gradually fading away. The crowd this week was generally less then 6 old timers (pre-tv shows), maybe 1-2 since tv shows, a dozen or less that are 3 month newbies, and all others are fresh faces. There really are no 3 month to 12 month "veterans" that I can think of that are buying units at all.
Will it ever end ?
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Hey all, FWIW, don't sell any pre 1980 "Dealer Service Manuals" for less than $100.00 each. There is pure gold in those books for the automotive rebilder that can't be found elsewhere. They are going for big money depending on the models covered and the condition of the book.
Hold on to them if you have to...
It would help if I knew exactly which ones were worth $100 and who would buy them.
I have no room to store. 77 plastic totes full of books.
And I'm not listing and re-listing hundreds of books!
Like I said, a lot are LISTED at $50-$200 on eBay. But the same book is listed at $4.99 by someone else.
And dozens of them.
And every tech I know, and I know a lot, gets all tech info on- line. No one uses books.
I'm sure I got rid of some that I coulda made money on but that would have been way more work than Im willing to put out for a 'maybe' payday.
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It would help if I knew exactly which ones were worth $100 and who would buy them.
Sell them all to StorMe at $2.00 each.
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Sure! I'll take ***any*** dealer service manual for 2 bucks each. As a matter of fact, I'll offer 5 bucks each for any anybody has. If they are complete. Dirt and greese is managable but they do have to be complete.
There you go Alias...an offer of 5 bucks each; I don't know how many you would have in 77 totes, but that adds up to some serious money no matter what. Now shipping could be a problem.
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My prediction is it will never get back to "the good ole days" pre-tv shows. As long as the TV shows are on the air, and if they become re-runs, there will always be an elevated number of newcomers (more then pre-tv shows) that are going to come out. Not to mention all the lurkers in various online forums waiting for the crowds to drop so they can get into the auction scene.
For those of us who stuck it through the last two years, I believe we will have a significant advantage over those trying to get into storage auctions now and in the immediate future. There will always be those newbies with more money then sense that will run up units beyond the point of reason; but since the general trend is less people attending auctions and prices coming down, it's the season for educated & experienced auction buyers/re-sellers to use their skills to "steal" great units right under the noses of the newbies. Until lately, it's been so difficult to score because almost every unit had multiple newbie bidders bidding "California Style", but generally, I think those days are starting to get behind us.
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Had Public Storage last Friday. There were maybe 8 folks (and 3 children~2 mine). We bought the first locker for $200. Went up against a buddy and I guess friendship won as he backed down (I had figured $250ish).
There was an old (mission style) bench showing, a rocking horse, a vintage (see rough) dining set and some other type items.
Well that bench ended up causing me tons of trouble as I loved it and have totally redesigned my living room around it! Oh and an old Mexico side table that just finished off the room.
Did find a mission style bell that I sold the following morning for $80. It was great.
Lots of hunting gear (still no gun) and old furniture. It was a strange unit, but we should do just fine on it.
The rest of the day (and caravan) found the crowd growing and dwindling until the final facility when there were only 6 of us 'regulars'. Went head to head with an old boy on a sparse unit that really only had one thing of (great) interest. An Orvis fly rod CASE, buried in a pile of pooh. I eventually bowed out at $130. He battled our whale to $160 then he was done. As we walked away he asked 'what were you bidding on?' "The Orvis." 'Me too!'...........then we both laughed at the thought of the rod not being in there~
It was a truly fun day as we didn't have a single newbie. Nary a one! And of course with that being the case~prices stayed 'reasonable'.
Well.............time to get back to sorting, listing and selling~
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There you go Alias...an offer of 5 bucks each; I don't know how many you would have in 77 totes, but that adds up to some serious money no matter what. Now shipping could be a problem.
I'll have to look. All have been stacked in an old Dealership building.
Books from Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Chevy, Linoln, Mercury, Toyota and a small selection of Saab and Hummer. Huge selection from 1970-1990. Few older, most stop in late 90's but select few up to 2005.
About the only books that got taken were the ones for Corvettes, Hummers and Saabs.
Last count was 750. But then some were taken, some added from other dealerships.
Guessing at least 500 still there. Probably more. All I know is we filled a box truck (mid size u-haul) three times to move them. Shipping would not only be a logistical nightmare and the ultimate physical workout....but packaging alone would be expensive. I can sell books but storage containers belong to GM. That's a lotta boxes to buy. Can't imagine the shipping on 500 books.....
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Can't imagine the shipping on 500 books.....
Well, that's why media mail was invented, or maybe someone (even a member here) would be willing to make a 2,000 mile road trip to get them...after all, some are worth $100 ! ;)
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Well my thursday/friday caravan has come and gone. The crowds were pretty low compared to a few months ago. Was only 8 or 10 of us at the first facility that had 24 units (silent bid). Take a guess how long it took us to look at 24 units..............40 mins. We finished up in time for me to hit the first facility of the 2nd caravan that had 3 units. Then I hit the 2nd facility of the silent bid auction instead of going to my other option. 19 units vs 2 unts...and facility guy said they were crap.
Ended up not winning a thing. I lowballed a bunch of units on the silent. Nothing really caught my eye except for one of the large hold/bids (hold till 8/3). One interesting point - we all thought all of the bids were going to be rejected. Normally only takes 1hr before they call the winners. 2+ hrs later we are at the sister facility about to start and no one had gotten a call. So one of the regulars called the 1st location. Was told she was still trying to contact the owner as the bids were "LOW" and she didn't know if he would accept them. I just had to laugh. I'm like - they have gotten greedy and use to all the newbies overpaying for units. They finally called some 4 hrs later I was told.
Now - the other 2 facility caravan that was live use to not care how much units sold for. Point in fact - only 1 person showed up at the 2nd location with 2 units...what I expected. The regional manager said just give him $5 for each unit and they are his. This place you can also take what you want and leave the trash. The city will pick the trahs up out of the units. Was sad to learn the place has been bought out by CubeSmart and the regional guy is being layed off. He was always fun to work with. Will see how Sept sales go.
So overall crowds have fallen in my area. Unit quantity is still low as people are paying up. Only reason we had 24 out of 27 units is the place only does it every 6 months. Quality of the units have been low also.
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A few days ago one of the 4 major auctioneers in my area had five facilities scheduled and they were scattered over about a 30 mile radius.
I only went to #3 and bailed on all the rest...too hot and just not interested. I later heard that at the #4 place a large locker was opened revealed A LOT of boxes and up front there were 3 rifles showing. None of the people I talked too could identify them by model, etc.
Anyway the auctioneer pulled them from the auction and away the bidding went with a few people thinking "there might be a pistol in there".
Newbie got the lkr for $900 and.....boxes were NOTHING but PAPERWORK! Gotta love the irony in that one. What a way to learn a lesson.
Bye, Bye Newbie !
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That is just an "ouch". Least in GA they don't pull the rifles and stuff. Not sure if they should and just don't. I know an auction this month had a rifle showing and they didn't pull it. However, 3 months ago a large gun safe was pulled from auction by the facility. That caused a big stink as we were told the local sheriff was going to pick up the safe. Found out it was sold to the ladies husband or something.
Of the 6 rifle butts that I have seen in the last few months, 5 of them have been pellet / air soft rifles. The real rifle this past month was missing the bolt, so is useless till it's replaced. All of the rifle butts have also been up front near the door in easy sight. Plants maybe???
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All of the rifle butts have also been up front near the door in easy sight. Plants maybe???
Every rifle or pistol I have found has been either along the back wall or AT LEAST (in the case of pistols) inside a box, sometimes along with a cleaning kit, etc.
Foolish to put them in there at all of course, but I guess those frm owners didn't consider they might lose their lkrs.
IMO any rifle (loose or in a gun case) that is up front (or even up high) and SHOWING very well could be a plant. It wouldn't take much for a manager (or a lkr owner looking to score on an overage payment) to do a setup like that.
Same thing with guitar cases and guitars. I once bought a lkr showing a nice nylon guitar case near the front and the end of one showing (out of the case) in another spot further back. turned out the case was empty and the guitar fit in it perfectly. I have since stopped going to that place and I hear other stories of what appear to be setups by the manager. This guy has been there for years, unlike a lot of them who last about 2 years tops.
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Every rifle or pistol I have found has been either along the back wall or AT LEAST (in the case of pistols) inside a box, sometimes along with a cleaning kit, etc.
Foolish to put them in there at all of course, but I guess those frm owners didn't consider they might lose their lkrs.
IMO any rifle (loose or in a gun case) that is up front (or even up high) and SHOWING very well could be a plant. It wouldn't take much for a manager (or a lkr owner looking to score on an overage payment) to do a setup like that.
Same thing with guitar cases and guitars. I once bought a lkr showing a nice nylon guitar case near the front and the end of one showing (out of the case) in another spot further back. turned out the case was empty and the guitar fit in it perfectly. I have since stopped going to that place and I hear other stories of what appear to be setups by the manager. This guy has been there for years, unlike a lot of them who last about 2 years tops.
Kind of like there is a particular facility I know about that over the last couple of years, not every auction by any means, but enough that it looks suspicious, there are motorcycles, or minibikes, or mopeds; pushed in, up front, left side of door, everytime. Meaning the motorbikes are always facing the same direction, sitting in the same part of the room. Could just be a coincidence and maybe I am being to skeptical; but this is the ONLY facility I have ever seen a motorcycle sitting in a unit, and I have seen at least six over the last two years at this particular company( actually two different locations, same company). The last time it happened the rest of the contents of the unit looked like pure left over garbage, ratty clothes, empty broken-down cardboard boxes, busted picture frames,etc. But oh look, there's a mini-bike right up front!
To me it seemed like a sorta strange non-verbal contract.
Facility Owner: "You as the highest bidder get this used mini-bike for a little less then retail price, but you have to take all this garbage to the dump for me."
Winning Bidder: "OK"
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Facility Owner: "You as the highest bidder get this used mini-bike for a little less then retail price, but you have to take all this garbage to the dump for me."
Winning Bidder: "OK"
Sounds right to me ! (but oh so wrong)
People who do a lot of investigating say "There is no such thing as a coincidence."
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Went to two auctions today 15 miles apart. Same management company.
Facility #1:
Two lockers. First a 10 x 15 showing a double door fridge, a two layer (big) Craftsman tool box set. Three drawers were partially open and empty. Flip top was open (why?) and showed some content. Other than that maybe 6 boxes, not much else.
Only 8 of us there with 5 being regulars. A regular got it for $750....said he wanted fridge for his daughter.
Other unit was a 10 x 5...junk. Went for $40. Later the regular buyer told me it was all crap. Blowmolded toolboxes empty.
Facility #2:
One and half hours later, 15 miles away. 3 lkrs and a motorhome. Lkr 1 the best: clean with maybe 8 boxes showing and well labled, 6 boxes broken down flat (would like to have had what WAS in them in the past), a small couch, not much more. This 10 x 10 the regulars would have paid $250 to $300 and it went for $425.
Second lkr I can't even remember. Third looked familiar and when talking to one of the other regulars we agreed it belonged to a sometime flea market seller. It was a 10 x 30 and only full along the walls with a wide aisle down the middle. Not really ANYTHING of value showing. I had seen this one before as the owner and I are somewhat friendly. He had this lkr here when I got the Safe locker here last November.
Anyway, I walked to the shade and THERE HE WAS ! Talked to him for a minute and he said he owed $825 on it. I would have helped him reclaim it if it was in the $400 area, but not going to risk my $800 on this guy, especially since I saw nothing I wanted. I told him I thought it would go for $500 but some newbie REALLY LIKED IT and paid $725.
So, no overage coming to the frm owner (too bad) and he was out his stuff and whatever he had paid on it before defaulting.
Motorhome story in next post.
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This auction had about 30 people attending, up quite a bit from the one just a couple of hours before. Of the 30 there were maybe 8 regulars. Virtually everyone else was a newbie.
The motorhome was a 1992 Four Winds about 25 feet long. Looked OK; fiberglass OK but needed some "life" put back in it somehow. Not my cup of tea. Tags last registered 2007. So unused for 5 years. TAG fees ? if not put on NON-OP status would be about 500 or so a year for around $2500 back fees.
I could spot one regular (of about a year) salivating over this...he is a RV repair guy, so made sense.
I told the two regs I was standing by I thought it would go for about $500. RV repair guy and guy I am standing with go back and forth in $100 jumps until guy next to me gets it for $1200.
He has a place to put it (will have to be towed...at what expense?) and then fluids drained, battery replaced, etc. NOT MY CUP OF TEA !
We all went to the office; he paid the $1200 and a deposit. Has to wait 10 days for owner to pay up and then get the DMV paper.
He has a little girl with him (small frame about 12 years old maybe) who when we walk back to the motorhome is put in through a small window and opens the door from the inside. Unit smell OK, small amount of trash in unit; wasp nest with 25 wasps on surface...I'm out of there !
Good luck...let you all know how he fairs in the future.