Storage Auctions - Anyone Done This?

[Spry]

One of my new favorite shows is Storage Wars and Auction Hunters...

I've decided to go out and experience bidding on storage auctions first hand and maybe bid on a few. There is what looks like to be a pretty big auction in Kennesaw, about an hour from here, that will be auctioning off ~20 units tomorrow...

I need something to do with some reserve notes so i figured why not gamble on a storage unit or two. I'm probably mostly going to be watching tomorrow as I don't really have a place to store anything I buy (lol) but I'm interested in doing this on a limited basis as a fun way to entertain myself and get my gambling fix and maybe make a few bucks if I get lucky.

Anyone gone to any of these auctions before? Holloway, I'd ask you to meet us up there but it starts at 10:00am and I doubt you're seeing the light of day at that point. If you want to go, here's the link

[Stocks]

I watch that storage wars show aswell and it looks like it would be cool to try but I dont think there would be much money in it for normal people. I think for this to work you need a store to sell all the cheap crap to grind out a profit and if your lucky you might hit a big score every now and then.

[Spry]

Yes, I agree... liquidating the normal junk does not sound like something I am going to be that much interested in, but if the process can be figured out on the best ways to liquidate then labor is plentiful and cheap right now. I think I would enjoy the bidding, initial searching and moving the high end items. But the liquidation of the junk (probably 95+% of the stuff) will not be that much fun.

There is a store out near where I live that you can rent a 'booth' and put all your stuff there... they sell it and take a commission and send you a check. That might be a way to move some stuff. Anyway, it should be fun and I think my body language reading skills developed from poker should work well in storage auctions. If anything gets bought, I'll post some pics and list anything cool purchased (or list my loss of $$ if nothing good is found).

[Bryan]

An evil way to cash in on the Storage Wars craze would be to rent a few different storage units, stock them with empty boxes. Mark the boxes in big, bold letters with descriptions like "Dad's Gold Coin Collection", "Mom's Jewelry", "1940's baseball cards", etc.

Don't pay your rent for a few months, let the units go to auction, profit!

The storage company takes their back-rent out of the winning bid (plus, I would imagine, a portion of the cost to run the auction) - the remainder goes to the renter.

[jdwanchalk]

An evil way to cash in on the Storage Wars craze would be to rent a few different storage units, stock them with empty boxes. Mark the boxes in big, bold letters with descriptions like "Dad's Gold Coin Collection", "Mom's Jewelry", "1940's baseball cards", etc.

Don't pay your rent for a few months, let the units go to auction, profit!

The storage company takes their back-rent out of the winning bid (plus, I would imagine, a portion of the cost to run the auction) - the remainder goes to the renter.

A+

[CasinoMack]

I've been to many auctions and have gone rather regularly lately. There are a lot more units you will not buy or be interested in. There is a lot of junk. I'm talking about units with 1 chair inside.

My partners and I just started filling lockers with legit stuff and then in partnership with the storage company I give them a % of the money I receive in exchange for free unit storage. These units will be made known to the buyers ahead of time that they are build up units. Meaning the items were placed here and not defaulted on. This way we get rid of stuff we had to get rid of anyways plus make a little something in the process.

Because of the shows the amount of people going to these auctions are in the 100-150 people range where it used to be lucky if they had 10.

I got into the storage auctions because of the shows as well.

[baldidiot]

I had no idea stuff this this went on! That's awesome. I wonder if they do it in the UK too...

Has anyone been to one of those auctions where they sell off unclaimed luggage? I think they can't be opened before the bidding so it really is a gambling. Sounds pretty fun, ha ha ha.

[Spry]

Just got back a bit ago... didn't win anything today and didn't even bid on anything really. We only had my biz partners large Toyota Tundra truck and all the lockers were way too big for us to get back without renting a uhaul or something similar. It was a cool experience and there were a handful of lockers that if we had space and a way to move it we would have bid on for sure. One had some nice looking furniture and camping and fishing gear but it was slam packed. I'm going to figure out those details and go to some more later this week. Was fun and we def could have won a handful of lockers at these auctions.

and lol Bryan, remind me never to bid if i see a box w/ 'dads gold coins' on it.

CasinoMack - I like the idea... have you been implementing this yet? I do really like it... do your lockers get bid on enough to cover any rental charges and make you a little coin as well? I know a guy whose family owns storage rentals and may see if we can work a deal like this too.

[Jeremy]

This looks like fun as I participated in a different type auction a few weeks ago. Auctions can be very exciting. My problem with storage wars is that although it has generated tons of new people to the market, I'm not so sure that some of those lockers aren't set up for these guys as it's "made for t.v.".

Sometimes you just have to ask yourself why someone wouldn't remove the valuable items prior to defaulting on the agreement. Not to mention, it looks like only the "actors" are allowed to bid on certain lockers in the show.

Nonetheless, I have a really good buddy who got into picking, going to auctions, goodwills, and selling stuff to collectors and on ebay. He works a full time job managing hotels in Chicago, but could probably pay all his bills and Mercedes payment on the money he makes from buying junk dirt cheap and flipping it. He buys all kinds of crazy stuff that you would never guess would be worth anything.....years of experience I guess.

[baldidiot]

Nonetheless, I have a really good buddy who got into picking, going to auctions, goodwills, and selling stuff to collectors and on ebay. He works a full time job managing hotels in Chicago, but could probably pay all his bills and Mercedes payment on the money he makes from buying junk dirt cheap and flipping it. He buys all kinds of crazy stuff that you would never guess would be worth anything.....years of experience I guess.

I think if you know your stuff there is a lot of money to be made from buying up old vinyl records from charity / goodwill shops. I don't though, unfortunately