Lookey Loos Part 6.....June, 2011

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.

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.

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 !

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.

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!

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!

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).

  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.

  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.

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