Commentary from the staff of Auctiva.com
Auctiva Storage Wars: Our First Auction
8
Armed with $750 in cash and two flashlights, we drove up to a local storage locker auction.
The popularity of shows like “Storage Wars” and “Auction Hunters” intrigued us, and we wanted to know if storage unit auctions were as profitable as they appear on these shows, and if we could learn something from the experience to pass along to our Auctiva Blog and Auctiva EDU readers should they decide to try this sourcing avenue.
“We,” in this case, includes me, Product Analyst Rebecca Miller, Director of Communications Robert Green, and our cameraman Sam Johnson.
While each of us has bought and sold our share of items on eBay, this was the first storage unit auction for all of us. However, it was obvious that several of the 25 or so other attendees had been to one or two of these before. They came armed with at least one lock a piece. One man wore two locks on his belt. “Wow, now that’s hardcore,” I thought.
Auctions unveil a mix of gems and duds
The auctioneer explained the terms of the auctions: First, the storage facility would only accept payment in cash; second, vehicles and firearms found in lockers were not part of the sale and would have to be returned—and so would “Grandma’s ashes.”
“Good to know,” I thought.
One of the first lockers auctioned off contained several boxes and bags, a few vinyl records, a pair of baseball cleats, a colorful pile of clothing hangers and a box labeled “free.” We didn’t bid. We were looking for units that contained items we could resell for a profit and nothing in this unit struck us as high value. Others seemed to agree, and the unit sold for just $45.
The third locker was more intriguing. It was filled with big items like a stroller, a baby walker, a wrought iron baker’s rack, a water cooler, several remote control race cars and loads of items we couldn’t see. The goods were in need of a little bit of cleaning, but they were in great condition.
The big items would be hard to ship, but we decided we could unload these on Craigslist or at a yard sale and still come out ahead. We gave ourselves a limit of $250 to bid on this unit. (Before the auction started, we decided to set a cap on what we’d spend on each unit depending on its contents to make sure we wouldn’t get caught up the bidding excitement).
Unfortunately, the auction veterans also saw resale value in this locker. The opening bid for the previous unit had been $10. For this locker it was more than $100. Bidding quickly got up into the $200s, then $300. We lost.
The next unit looked like another dud. It contained several bags of clothing and boxes of worn shoes. Two broken glass vases sat in one corner of the unit and marbles were scattered throughout. A safe was in plain sight, but the look of the unit led us to believe that there wasn’t anything of value there. Items appeared to have been thrown in with little care. We expected this unit to sell for $40, tops. The opening bid was $75.
Bidding was up to $140 before we knew it, and the unit sold for $160. Robert and I were shocked. Rebecca wasn’t.
“There was a safe in there,” she explained, her 11 years of eBay-selling experience showing now. Chances were the safe wouldn’t contain anything valuable, she added, but the possibility was sure to intrigue bidders enough to pay top dollar.
A diamond in the rough
By this time, the auction was nearly over. Only two units remained. We started to think we might leave without buying anything, and we were OK with that.
Though we had come to the auction in hopes of finding a unit full of items to resell, we only wanted to buy if we thought we could make a profit. We had seen some prospects, but the profit potential stopped us from going above the cap we set for each locker. Then we got a look at one very dusty, very full unit that contained mounds of papers, a few metal filing cabinets and a road bike.
When the door opened to reveal this unit, a lot of people quickly looked and walked away. The unit was a mess. It was obvious the contents had sat there for years. Clearing out the unit would require several truckloads to the dumpster—but Rebecca saw dollar signs. She noticed the bike leaning against the wall and quickly had Robert research its value using his cell phone.
The men’s Raleigh road bike turned out to be worth at least a couple hundred. We decided we’d try for this unit. The work it would take to clear out the unit didn’t outweigh the profit we could make. The bike, alone, would make us some money and the filing cabinets also seemed like they would fetch a pretty penny. Rebecca estimated they’d earn us at least $50 a piece. With the three in the unit that was $150.
Robert opened the bidding at $50. “Too much,” I thought. Everyone else seemed to agree. No one else bid, and just like that we had scored a unit.
After the auction, we returned to the locker to look at the bike, which was in great condition. Our cameraman Sam made his way over the piles of paper to get a better view of the unit and Rebecca started digging through items. Soon we uncovered vintage hats with their original tags still on, a collection of Coca-Cola metal trays, several typewriters, a new projector screen still in the box, lots of vintage magazines, a used Casio keyboard in great condition, a vintage personal computer, a vintage alarm radio and much more.
“Thank you dust bunnies for covering all of these,” I thought.
We’d unknowingly hit the jackpot, for a mere $50 investment.
The experience swayed us to try one more auction to see if we could hit the jackpot twice. Want to know if we did? Check back here to find out.
About the author
Olga Munoz is assistant editor of The Online Seller, an online publication that covers news and writes feature articles about e-commerce, selling trends, eBay policy, online marketing and other topics of interest for online sellers. She also manages The Online Seller’s social media efforts.
I am a licensed Auctioneer, and the storage auctions were always tough crowd. In the past a majority of the auctioneers would stay away from it because your dealing with a surly crowd up close, and would have to really work for that commission. Now, the crowds are huge, and for some reason, a bit more civilized…best of all the final bids are easily three times what they used to be, more money for me!
But a word of caution to the newbie, I have seen a lot of disappointment when those dirty boxes are open and even had winning bidders mad at me when they did not find treasure. Understand it is what it is and bid accordingly, the guy who owned it didn’t bother to pay the rent, or even to take the time to remove items before not paying the rent.
Hi Olga – I am a brand newbie to your site and yours is the first article I have read in full. Very, very interesting. You were lucky, having had some experience with this, I know more storage units are duds – makes you wonder why they stored the items in the first place. Well, anyway congratulations on your find and for writing a great entertaining and informative article – loved the last line. I will be watching.
Peg
I’ve bought a couple of storage units, my best score was a unit that had some misc stuff from a music store. Not a lot, but there was a box of synthesizer chips and pre-programed sounds. I avereaged $75 each on the synth chips on a $35 purchase! Ya never know. I always take a lock, light, lockpick (how are you going to open the locked file cabinet? picking is easy, see youtube to learn) and of course gloves for handling the nasty old junk!
And you don’t think the proprietors, the staff or their friends go through everything to “cherry pick” or even be a bit honest and leave it and know what to bid on? Come on. They can even remove stuff (like gold and cash), and if there is a dispute from the original owners of the stuff that stored it, buys it back, the gold or cash magically appears again!
Hi Olga,
What happens when there are personal documents, photos, computers hard drives,certificates among the boxes ?Are you suppose to return to the Self storage company?
Loved your article. My question is how much did you actually sell and what was your profit? Or are you still in the process of selling it off? Thanks.
Hi there,
At the auctions we attended, the auctioneer asked that these items be returned to the storage facility’s manager so they could return to the locker’s original owner. I’m not sure if this is always required, so if the auctioneer doesn’t say what to do with these items at the auction you attend, feel free to ask. He or she will usually ask if anyone has any questions before viewing the first locker. Thanks for the question.
-Olga
Hi Darlene,
We’ve already sold some items and made enough to cover most of our costs. All together we spent $350 for two units.
We still have some items that we still need to sell, so we don’t have a final resale total, but we’ll keep you guys posted. Promise. In fact, my next blog talks about our resale efforts.
-Olga