Storage Auctions
The Storage Locker => Stories about Storage Auctions => Topic started by: MovieMan on May 31, 2011, 11:41:49 PM
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Another month has rolled around and we're into the 6th month of tracking the crowds and prices of storage auction lockers.
Feel free to add your observations here; in addition to the stats on crowds and prices we're always happy to see some notes (and pics) on what you got if you won a lkr.
Generally speaking, in Central California, I am observing that crowds are going down; with newbies staying away the prices are coming down a bit too. Still some fierce (high) bidding by some regulars against each other as we clamor to get the inventory back up.
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I have off work today and I'll be hitting a caravan up in central PA today. 5 locations and 29 lockers so far. In south central PA things are the usual. I really don't live near any big cities (Baltimore MD being to closest at about 50 miles) so I don't see the surge of newbies as most are reporting.
However there is one guy that showed up a week ago that refused to believe that storage wars and auction hunters may be rigged. Pretty funny
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Went to the caravan on Wednesday in central PA. Around 25 lockers total after all was said and done. The first 3 locations were in the same city and about 150 people showed up. But only 5 or 6 bidders the entire time.
The first location had mostly trash lockers and they sold between 70 and 200. The second and third locations were really going to high IMO. One was clearly a hoarder unit, and looked like lots of broken down cardboard and mattresses. Ended up going for I believe $1100. Although one locker had 2 dirt bikes, a riding mower, a snow blower, big screen TV (had a bullet hole in it) and other nice things and went for $2800.
the last 2 locations were outside of the city and the crowd dwindled to around 40 or 50. Dave Hester was in the crowd apparently as I heard somebody bidding "YEPP!".
I did however get one for $10, and a nice one for $135 at the last location. Seems to be getting worse here in central PA
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Yikes things seem like they arent getting better in your area!
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Went to my 2nd auction in 2 days today (Thursday the 2nd of June, 2011) and found a small crowd again.
This auctioneer is another of 6 in my area and would have to say in a tie for 5/6 th place. Still, nice to go to this one. There were 12 of us there and 9 were regulars, but the 4 lkrs went for decent prices. I got a 10 x 10 with a safe. I paid for the other contents and safe will be gravy if anything in it. I turned it over and upside down and heard small sounds; not as many as I would like, but we'll see. If you want to see a picture follow this link; that thread also tells about opening some locked safes you might get in a locker.
http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=1276.msg5815#msg5815
The next week or so will see the top 4 auctioneers having auctions, so will see what THEIR crowds are like.
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My third auction in 3 days and....no small crowd today.
Unlike the other two auctions, this was one of the 4 major auctioneers (out of 6) and the crowd was there.
I haven't seen this many NEWBIES in a while, even a few weeks ago the crowd was smaller making me think
we were in auction recovery.
Today there were about 75 bidders, and of those, 70 were newbies. Only 5 of the regulars there. I've never seen so many unknowing, out-of-place types in my life...see two pictures below.
So, the trend hasn't totally gone down yet. Don't know when the new season of Storage Wars starts again (soon I think) but not looking forward to it for the impact it will have on MY business.
(http://webs.lanset.com/rjsmovie/images/saf21b.jpg)
Black shape above covers the obscene gesture made by a raggedy newcomer !
(http://webs.lanset.com/rjsmovie/images/saf22.jpg)
I left after 4 of the 14 lkrs sold. No point in sticking around, though I would like to have gotten a chest shot of the guy who had some 10 x 25 binoculars hanging around his neck; never seen that before but even funnier was the fact that he didn't have a flashlight. He knew I was behind him with my light and waited a couple of times for me to light up the view for him. I just waited for him to walk on and THEN turned it on. Get a clue newbie ! (either that or bring NIGHT VISION binoculars!)
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I went into to work late this morning to catch this Auction as this facility normally has good quality units without to many people. Well approx. 35 bidders 12 regulars and you guessed it prices were high.
11 units total, first unit a 5x5 just had stuff on the floor nothing stacked and really nothing of interest, but 2 noobies went head to head and it went for $65.00. Those of us that regularly go to this facility looked at one another a shook our heads as we knew how the day was going to go.
All in all most units went over priced with only one of us regulars buying a unit and @ $875.00 it wasn't a bad purchase as it had mostly High End wood furniture and expensive lamps, as well as nice wood bedroom set in this 20 x 20.
The $65 unit was the low and and a unit that went for $900 was the High this one was a bidding war between 4 noobies going up $10 increments, wow we were wondering in this one was ever going to end. This unit had mostly bags of clothes and household items with nothing looking too good.
All in All things haven't changed to much as far as crowds and high prices.
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Went to 1 of 2 Public Storage auctions today. First one I often don't go to because of its location and clientel.
Second one only had 4 and none were special. One 10 x 15 about 1/3 full looked ok and went for $125. I paid back a favor and didn't bid against the regular who got it.
Another regular got a couple for $35 each.
Only 12 bidders there...guess others were out of town. Too bad the lkrs weren't better !
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Went to 4 of 5 available auctions today by two auctioneers (time frame conflicts didn't help much).
Didn't bid on a single lkr. Most were junk; a couple of 10 x 10s that were OK, but nothing special.
One place listed 8 lkrs in the legal notice but had 14 ??? It ws easy to see which of the 6 were put together by management...super deluxe junk, but they sold to newbies for $35 to $100, so saved the mgrs the trouble of going to the dump !
At an other place a 10 x 10 had nicely labeled boxes (towels, blankets, dishes) and about 20 boxes. I would have paid $100 just for kicks, but two newbies standing next to each other got into a bidding war and one got it for $300. Ah, the surprises that are in store for that lucky guy!
At another place they had 4. One of them I recognized as having been sold the last time out (3 months ago). I asked the auctioneer (in private) and he said the former buyer had taken what they wanted and left the rest. This time the leftovers went for $100 plus making (again) the property manager happy, but what will the new lkr buy do with those 3 tvs in particle board console cabinets.?
The crowds small (15 to 20) with 15 to 18 being BRAND NEW FACES.
Last auction had a big crowd for 7 lkrs and I didn't go. Oh well, another day.
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Went to my first weekend auction today, 50+ people. Never like that on the weekdays. 10 units up for sell, cheapest went for 50, top 650. The top unit had alot of nice clothes and over-all a really clean unit. Looked like a soldiers who got deployed and didnt keep up with the rent.
(http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc491/Enticingbiter/SANY0475.jpg)
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Went to my first weekend auction today, 50+ people. Never like that on the weekdays. 10 units up for sell, cheapest went for 50, top 650. The top unit had alot of nice clothes and over-all a really clean unit. Looked like a soldiers who got deployed and didnt keep up with the rent.
Doors and sky look the same as here; so does the crowd !
Only difference is the gravel instead of concrete. ;D
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Doors and sky look the same as here; so does the crowd !
Only difference is the gravel instead of concrete. ;D
Heh, yea I noticed that too. This was one of those mom and pop storage. On Tuesday we have a company (American Flag Storage) that has 10 or so facilities across town. All day auction baby!
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It looks like the euphoria from the TV shows might be fading in my area. The auctions yesterday were mostly regulars, and new regulars (if there is such a term) and a few newbies. None of the newbies seemed to bid on anything. Prices still seemed to be just a little to high. I would like to see them come down by another 20%, but that might be too optimistic. I won 2 units and I am pretty happy with the amount I spent on them (compared to what some of the other units sold for that day).
On a side note. I told a friend (not close) that my wife and I were doing storage auctions, and told him about some of my better finds, of course I cleary mentioned all the hard work, garbage, rat poop, etc. involved as well, but he is determined to get into the business now and is going to the auctions next week. Me and my BIG mouth!!
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Here's a quote from member gapajeff who is in Pennsylvania:
"I've from South Central PA and things are pretty hectic here. Around the small towns its mostly regulars and 2 to 3 newbies. But when I get close to Harrisburg, or Baltimore MD, the attendance goes from 15 people, to around 150 people. Anything looking better in other parts of PA or MD?"
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Went to a local one with 3 units up for auction. Usually around 10 or 15 people at this location. Today was about 25 with a lot of new faces. Prices were a little on the high end. Although a full unit full of what looked like kids toys went for $60. The surprising one was a HUGE unit that had 3 air conditioners, a beat up chest freezer, a TV, a broken dresser, about 3 boxes and what looked like 30 quarts of oil. It went for $250 to a newbie. A little high if you ask me.
I've been going to storage auctions in this area for 7 years now and its really surprising that amount of new faces I see each time. They buy 2 or 3, and are never seen again.
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Went to two auctions today by minor auctioneers.
The crowds were as THIN as the #of posters in these threads the last few days ! ???
While that seems like a good thing, (12 bidders) the lkrs weren't that great either. I got one 5 x 5 full of boxes on a gamble...paid $130 and starting to look like a break-even with a fair number of boxes just holding OLD PAPERWORK !
Good grief locker owners...you DON'T NEED TO SAVE PAPERS FOR 10 YEARS !
Anyway, there were 4 places at one auction and one 10 by 10 with clean low-end furniture only went for $50; again AFTERWARDS I thought I should have bought it and then sold the big stuff to the bidder who got it for $50, but frankly I didn't want deal with the big stuff if the other person didn't buy it from me, so, oh well.
The 2nd place had 3 big lkrs and maybe 5 small ones. One 5 x 10 showed a pressure washer, gas trimmer, etc along with assortment of other stuff...went for $500 to a regular. That person also bought one for $200 that was a 10 x 20 pretty full, but an old barbecue, big 25" (300 pound) tv, etc. Another 10 x 20 went for $400 and a 3rd one went for $500 so the prices were pretty good, but I didn't bid on any of the big ones...getting lazy I guess and stuff didn't look that great.
But overall, I feel I can almost say the worst might be over in terms of big crowds (in some states, in some cities)...there is not going to be a SINGLE view about this for some time yet from what I gather from some of the other states still running high.
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Went to an auction North of Seattle today (for a report on the units I bought check out the "the Treasure Chest"). Anyway, I'll bet there was half the normal crowd today. It still had a pretty big crowd and prices are still up, but there were WAY less bidders than there had been the past few months. Maybe this is a good sign.
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Went to an auction North of Seattle today (for a report on the units I bought check out the "the Treasure Chest"). Anyway, I'll bet there was half the normal crowd today. It still had a pretty big crowd and prices are still up, but there were WAY less bidders than there had been the past few months. Maybe this is a good sign.
Sounds good; if the northwest crowds are getting smaller maybe California will too!
Saw your other post also...looking like good lkrs !
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Went to an auction this morning in a neighboring town. 4 Units up for sale, 8 bidders, 1 couple that registered but never bid on anything, so 10 people all together. same guy bought all 4 units. He had a lot of money and didn't seem to care much about what was in the lockers. He sat on the golf cart the manager was driving around and when they opeend the doors he just looked from there. of the 4 units, there were 2 I would have liked to buy. The first showed a round wooden pedastal table and lots of totes and boxes stacked up nicely. there were 3 of us bidding on it, then it got up over $400 and I dropped out, cause I wasn't feeling good about the return on it at that price, the other two bid it up to $550, then as the auctioneer is winding it down with going twice, dude on the golf cart says 560, which causes the bidder to go 570, and again dude waits for going twice and says 580, and the guy who'd been bidding all along let it go. It went the same way with all the auctions, dude on the cart would bid at the last second and if anyone continued the bid, he'd bid again, waiting for going twie each time. I found it kind of annoying.
The other unit I was bidding on had two couches, one was a leather couch and we could see the end facing us reclined. It had a chest freezer, a ryobi table saw, and a large craftsman tool chest, and a computer laser printer. Among the boxes and totes off to the side, I could see a clear one that had large hardcover books that looked old, but the way they were facing I could see any titles so it could have been nothing. That unit went for $1160. (to the dude riding the golf cart)
fingers crossed that guy doesn't show up to the one tomorrow so I can get a locker.
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Jedi, this one is for you my friend.
The Newbies Strike Back
In our continuing saga of Storage Wars the two to three week cycle of newbies attacking the auction circuit seems to persist. The newbies really took it to the regulars and their own wallets today. Unfortunately, they are unaware of "The Revenge of Buyers Remorse" when they get the contents of thier lockers home. For instance, one newbie paid $800 for a facility build up unit with supposedly all the good stuff up front no less. Good stuff like a broken sewing machine missing parts, an old table saw, a radio with tape deck, etc. Good luck gettin' your money out of that one. Another newbie bought a locker with about 20 bags of Wal-Mart clothes (some of the bags were open so you could see what kind of clothes they were) for $300. Lets see, at $0.50 a piece at the flea market, he better hope there are about 1200 sellable pieces of clothes in those bags!
This is such a strange cycle, one day at the auctions almost no newbies, the next day a hoard dropping ridiculous money on lockers! ???
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Jedi, this one is for you my friend.
The Newbies Strike Back
This is such a strange cycle, one day at the auctions almost no newbies, the next day a hoard dropping ridiculous money on lockers! ???
Not really strange, it just follows the Welfare/Social Security check payment schedule! ;D
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Going to an auction today where they rope off a 20 by 30 area in front of the sale lkr and bring items out piece-meal and put them on the ground.
Then the ropes are lifted and you can walk up and look at (but not touch) the items. Bidding starts by you pointing at an item and giving your bid; bidding continues until sold and then move on to next item. They also "bundle" items by saying "all the cds" or "all the clothes in this pile" etc.
Takes all day (or more). I usually last a couple of hours before leaving. People bring dollies, rolling baskets, chairs, coolers, etc to make it through the day.
I'll try to take some pics for posting here later today (Monday, June 27, 2011).
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:-\ I went to a facility today in Clearwater fl and 9am... Bam! 50 people. 2nd facility...Bam! 70 people. Unbelievable! Oh well I have enough from my first two to make about 300.00-400.00. Still having trouble selling my ebay and craigslist items.
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:-\ I went to a facility today in Clearwater fl and 9am... Bam! 50 people. 2nd facility...Bam! 70 people. Unbelievable! Oh well I have enough from my first two to make about 300.00-400.00. Still having trouble selling my ebay and craigslist items.
Crowds that big still (or sometimes) !
Recently in my area (central California) crowds have been down.
Going to an auction today and the nearest other auction is 50 miles away and then a big one in southern CA which is supposed to have 120 lkrs. Of course that's a 400 mile drive from the Central Valley and I doubt VERY FEW of the buyers in my area will be going IF ANY. The number of buyers in southern CA who will be there would number in the 100 to 250 range I would guess. Will probably hear reports next week and will pass them on here.
Edit: went to the local auction; about 60 people there and 55 of them TOTALLY NEW..the TV shows are in re-runs now and these must be late-comer newbies ! Maybe 7 lkrs and none went above $200 and most in the $35 range. Not a single regular bought one of these, making me feel my instincts were OK on these lkrs not being worth the time or money.
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Still having trouble selling my ebay and craigslist items.
Sometimes takes relisting items 3 or 4 times on both clist and eBay to get a sale, and sometimes things just won't sell. A lot of variables at both venues.
In regard to those Levi Cords you've asked about. If you have them on eBay, maybe this is the reason you're not having luck.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=corduroy+jeans