Auction Scene #7...July, 2012

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.

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.

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.

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~

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.....

  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 ! 

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. 

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 !

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???

  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.

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"

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."

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.

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.