lonelyduckhunter
Sr. Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2009
- Messages
- 353
- Reaction score
- 80
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Easton, MD
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett AT Pro, Garrett GTI2500, Minelab Excalibur II
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Nice finds. I actually do this for a living currently buying 50-70 units per month. Check out this website Online Storage Auctions | Storage Battles tons of online storage auctions. I hated the site when it first came on due to everybody being able to see the auctions without getting up from there computer but now I have adapted to it. With this type of business it becomes a full time job. I currently have 4 employees, 2 trucks and a 8500 square foot warehouse. It's a quanity game to make a living at it. You have to find a place to dump the low end items, you will run into a ton of them that aren't worth wasting alot of time with. I use a local auction house to dump low end items in. When I say low end I mean run of the mill items not trash. I run trash loads at least one day a week to the dump it's part of the game it's amazing what people will pay to store. I hit a real nice one this week full of really good stuff. It was a 10x20 about as packed as full as you can get it with alot of nice furniture, around 300 boxes. This unit was packed by a global moving company. Everything wrapped so far got through about 25 boxes and have pulled around 50 pieces of Roseville, Christopher Radko ornaments mint in the boxes. 12 signed and numbered Paul McGehee Framed pictures, Tons of crocks, about a dozen McCoy pieces and some wooden carousel horses early ones. This is a rare locker as most will have the normal run of the mill items in it. There is alot of work in this business buying them is the easy part moving them and selling them is the hard part and can get overwhelming if you don't have a plan. I prefer to buy the larger units as I said it's a quanity game. As far as the TV shows go I hate them because they are a reality show and people think it's easy. Let me tell you it's not and you can tie up alot of cash fast doing this. They fail to show the trash runs, they throw a price up off the top of there head and then is shows a profit before they even sell the stuff. Heck I can do that, what a item is worth and what you can move it for is too different things. The shows are entertaining but they fail to show the true story of buying one. It's a fun business to be in if you aren't scared of the work and have a plan. I see it every week where some new person or couple shows up to a live auction start talking about how they watched Storage Wars and want to try it so they over spend buying a unit and you never see them again. Believe me when I say the professional buyers will help you spend all your money by running you up and dropping units on you so you never come back. The best advice I can give anyone thinking about this is go to a bunch of auctions leave your money home and watch alot of doors roll before you ever place your first bid and have a plan when you start to buy. I'm in a good area where there are numerous auctions everyday so I'm not pressed about buying as I know there is always tomorrow if the deal is not right. This business is a gamble only there will be some kind of return on your investment you might not get it all back but there will be a return. As I said it's a fun business but you have to have a plan and not be scared of work. It's like a treasure hunt everyday. For me and my size business it is seven days a week as I'm always buying, moving, sorting and selling then repeat. If you have workers make sure you can trust them as I have had some steal from me especially during pickup of the units if your not there. As far as selling outlets maximize all of them, Online, Auctions, Consignment Stores etc. Create a network of buyers and deal with them on specific items. I have a nice networks of buyers that I work with and it makes buying easier when I know exactly where something is going before it even comes back to the warehouse plus it helps with your buying when you see something in a unit and you know you already have a buyer at a price before you even buy it. The best units are the ones you make your money back on before you even move the stuff. Heck I have even bought units and resold the whole units without moving it to other bidders before I even left the facility. For example I bought a unit once at a location once for 325. A local buyer showed up late and missed this unit he asked me if he could take a look at what he missed so I showed him. He had a local store and only bought in a 20 mile radius of this facility. His store inventory was low and needed to fill it. He offered me 1k for the unit 10 x 15 pretty packed but just run of the mill stuff. I took the money took off my lock and he put his on. Made 575 for doing nothing other than showing up. This has happened on more than one occasion. One thing I never do is go through my stuff at the facility it all comes back to my warehouse where I can process it. I stay quite about my finds because if you start bragging or running your mouth bidders will que in on it and run up the prices on you which cost you more in the end. I buy in a 4 state area around me and due quite well but it's alot of fun. I can't remember the last time I have every paid full price for a item other than food that we needed at home. This is just some of my opinions and random thoughts after doing this full time since 2005.
