Lookey Loos Part 7.....July, 2011

Went to a large corporate storage auction run yesterday and ohh my. I re-read my post from earlier in the month and it looks like the current trend is large corporate auctions=new faces/big money spent; small independent auctions = less people, less regulars/more resonable bidding.

A trend I have noticed and seems to be continueing is the changing demographics of storage auctions. Last fall the crowd was predominately "working class", yesterday it was quite apparent storage auctions have gone mainstream and attracted the attention of your average "middle class and upper class" American. It looked like a crowd of people had just left Macy's or a country club, not kidding! New trucks, new SUVs, Lexus' in the parking lot. They were'nt just window shopping either.

Here are the particulars:
Regulars = 5-8 depending on location, Newbies = 40-60 depending on location.
Total units up for auction 28; # won by regulars 2-5 (can't say I know ALL the regulars), # won by newbies 23-27.
Average price of a 5 x 10, around $225
Average price of a 10 x 10 around $600
Top locker of the day 10 x 30 $1375 (I went to $1200 on this unit)
Insane locker of the day 10 x 15 3/4 full Walmart brand clothes, baby stuff, baby & kid's toys, movies (all used of course) $825!

Needless to say, I did'nt win anything. Things appear to be like Movieman said, a continual wave of new faces who drop a bunch of money, get burned, don't show up again, but then a new wave arrives to replace them and they do the same thing over again. Gotta find away to compete against this never ending hoard of "shoppers".

You're in Ga right?  What run was that?  I'm glad I didn't get out there yesterday.  Also glad they have some smaller auctions up my way, Gainesville, Cleveland area..

Things appear to be like Movieman said, a continual wave of new faces who drop a bunch of money, get burned, don't show up again, but then a new wave arrives to replace them and they do the same thing over again. Gotta find away to compete against this never ending hoard of "shoppers".

That was a good report Copiavita. The details on lkr #s , prices, buyers and lookeyloos tells it all.  As to finding a way to compete against the masses, I'm looking into alternative sources more than I am trying to beat the crowds anymore.
I think we're in for a long haul with the tv shows ramping up the way they are.

You're in Ga right?  What run was that?  I'm glad I didn't get out there yesterday.  Also glad they have some smaller auctions up my way, Gainesville, Cleveland area..

Metro Chattanooga, some of the auctions were in north Georgia others in Tennessee. You might see me in the Gainesville/Cleveland area sometime.

BUT, I did buy one piece of specialized equipment from a newbie lkr buyer who didn't know what he had and I'll make 10 times the money on my $30 investment. Knowledge is a wonderful thing.

Appx 5 weeks later I sold this item for $275 on Clist. Funny thing was another seller had a similar item and had listed it 5 times (different wording) over about a 2-week period. I flagged it for overpost and THEN....MY item got deleted  and her's stayed on.

I redid mine with different wording and in a different city and got it back on. Guess the multiple listing person worked for Clist.