Is it worth it to buy from auctions lots

Hi everybody I had a question about buying local computer lots from schools,municiples,towns I leave around Dallas Tx they have a lot of these auctions?

It depends on what you are planning to do with them. I have been watching an auction near me for 60 Pentium 4 machines and it is nearing 1000 dollars. Obviously they are planning to refurbish and sell them at that price. For the most part, unless they state that the computers are junk, auctions go for more than scrap value.

Depends on how busy you are, and how well you know your scrap. You can sit around all day at the auction see lots of "good" stuff and leave with nothing. Sometimes this is doing better since you could have payed too much. Show up take a look around set your max bidding prices including the buyers premium and any local taxes and any other fees then sit down relax and read a book or something until your items come up. It is very competitive and most people at the auctions around here are re-sellers. I like auctions because I'm patient, they are usually on the weekends, and I don't have to drive around doing pickups I can hopefully or possibly pick it all up in one spot. I also find auctions entertaining and exciting but do not let this make you have a loose pocket.

I know this is an old thread, but the title was appropriate. I went to a school auction today and hit it pretty big. It rained a little right before it started and most of the regulars didn't show up.

I got 8 adding machines, 3 VCRs
7 infocus DLP projectors
4 boxes of wire and cards and 4 big boxes of keyboards.
90 computer towers (average age around 2001-2005 almost all complete with hard drives)
4 Apple imacs with keyboards
6 UPS units broken
3 cassette players
Box of board games and a playstation 2
6 printers not working and 6 CRT monitors
4 flat screen monitors
2 servers
and 20 network switch hubs Plus some misc stuff and a nice work table.

Total for this haul that has my knees shaky and arms sore from loading..........$52........so yes school auctions can be great.

Holly ****! That's a great score you can probablly start selling all those parts out of those towers on Ebay and get like 10x the amount of money you spent, easy. Congrats

Wow that was a GREAT score!!! I think its all about location I seriously doubt I would find an auction around CT and walk out with that much electronics for a 50 spot. but then again its a lot of work. I might have to revisit this option. Thanks for sharing

Thanks guys. Yes I plan on making about 10x my money on this one, maybe more. UCSD, you're right, I'll have to sell some parts to get that much because scrapping them may not do it alone.

CTscrapman, it's really more about timing. I know this because I have a benchmark on this one. I went to the same auction at the same school last year. They had the same type stuff there and I bought it for close to 4 x what I paid this time. Also, the last year's load included 40 CRT monitors and about 20 less towers, no cameras and way more VCRS and record players. So it wasn't as good of a load for circuit boards as this year. I think the difference is purely the shred price being down kept a lot of fair weather scrappers home this time.

Be at an auction when no one wants the items you want and you can set your own price. I really had only one bidder after the same stuff I was. I didn't talk to him, but just didn't bid on the first stack of towers. He noticed that and didn't raise my starting bid on #2 stack. This went back and forth until we bought them all except a few that "civilians" bought to tinker with. I got the same size load as last time (full truck and trailer).

The other bidder had a limited budget, so he didn't want to get into a bidding war with me. My limitation wasn't the money, it was what I can get on the truck and trailer as I can only make one trip to this auction during the time they let you load out. Other people are checking out items to see if they work, I'm out there measuring piles. I did get a little help loading the heavy stuff at the end. A school kid came by wanting to help and loaded the UPS machines and helped with the smart board and a few printers. I gave him a couple of VCRs a computer, wires, two keyboards, two monitors each CRT and flatscreen and two printers. He was thrilled and I hope he got enough working stuff to build the system he wanted.

I have a suggestion. If you want to really cut down on the time spent at auctions. Work on cultivating a friendship with the auctioneer. Once established, go look around and just leave your maximum bids with the auctioneer. They are happy to have any bid, absentee or otherwise. Keep in mind no buyers remorse allowed. If your bid won it, you better pay for it. As with most communities, word gets around fast. If you fail to pay for an item, rest assured you won't be buying any more auction lots even if bidding in person. Several years ago I was buying and selling a lot of antiques. Myself and a buddy would go and leave bids at 3-6 auctions every weekend. We'd pick the best one to stay at in person. Write your bids with lot numbers or other description on your bidder number card prior to the start of the auction. Then get with the auctioneer and walk around with him/her pointing out exactly which lots your bids are referring to. At the end of the auction if you've won some items, the auctioneer will give you a call. At that time you must drop what you're doing and immediately go settle up and pick up your wins. I've done this for more than 20 years and saved myself many, many hours of wasted time.

You have to know the right auctions. I know 2 or 3 auctioneers where almost no guys show up to buy. That's my secret!

Update on my auction lot: Upon further inspection, they had pulled almost all the hard drives and some other random parts, so I ended up scrapping most of the computers. I also had to get my trailer empty so I could pick up my cotton seed.

Breakdown. Steel $125
Wire $15
AL $13
Power Supplies $18
AL Copper Heatsinks $5
Motherboards $133 The circuit board values are based on what I can get from SMF buyers with shipping taken out. I sold the other materials at a local yard.
Finger Cards $22
CD boards $13
CPUs $15
Memory $42
Total sales $401 - $52 original cost = $349 profit so far (-labor of course) This isn't quite 10 times my money yet but I'm happy with it. I still have the network switches and projectors.

Another useful tip. Look on ebay for bad feedback sellers. I know what your thinking, but ya behind is covered. Say they are advertised as 20lbs of scrap boards. If it aint 20 lbs, ebay will side with you everytime and give ya money back. BUt 99.5% there is 20lbs of there and you end paying 2.00 bucks a lb shipped and find real good stuff for resale or even $13 lb scrap like memory. He he. My secret. 99% of the time Im home watching paint dry and surfing ebay, collecting money. My most excitement is when the local po man stops by and drops my goodies. I quick run through, list what I want, box the scrap up, and done. Far easier than chasing around town for the pink elephant. It has really kept my expenses way down, since my old war b*tch gets 12 mpg on a good day..lol Only thing I would advise is be nice to your po man, buy him a pizza. Especially if you get a lot of packages.....

OOO and I forogt...mispelled words..he he. Thats end in faw fewer bids.

I've bid on a few things, but haven't won so far. I am currently the high bidder on a couple (one closes tomorrow afternoon and the other closes Monday). Nothing I'm excited about (& one was a token bid I didn't expect to get), and mainly did it for the experience. The "good stuff" I get interested in typically gets bid up far beyond what I can make a profit on (without refurbishing - which I am not skilled enough to pull off). In other areas far from me, I occasionally see some good deals, but if you factor in the road trip, there haven't been any "scores" I've seen yet that would make it worthwhile (though I'm pondering trying a couple in cities I might like to visit ... business & pleasure thing).

Its kind of funny on one of the ones I'm "winning" right now, it will actually cost me to go get this stuff (but I can use one piece in the operation, so not so bad). There is a kicka$$ pizza place not too far from where I'll be picking up that I only get to once very few years, so looking forward to that at least. Still kinda hoping to get beat at the last minute .....

matador....yes, I planned on checking those out. I haven't thought about projecting a Braves game with them though, good idea.