Good contacts made at an auction.

I went to the auction of a defunct health club yesterday in hopes of buying some items for scrap. Well good old bidder number 37 was there buying everything up and seemed to have pretty deep pockets, so I chatted him up. Turns out he is an exercise equipment broker, and why,yes, he IS interested in buying the treadmills weights and other equipment I have been scrapping. HE was a better find than anything I might have gotten from the auction!

So I hung around and got a room full of lockers for stupid cheap, and talked to the guys next to me. Turns out he owns a construction company and they just throw all their metal scrap in a dumpster, and why certainly he'd be happy to let me haul off metals if he got a percentage!

Finally was talking to the auctioneer and asked what they would be doing with the unsold items (there were a few metal things) and he introduced me to the building owner. Turns out he is going to pay me to haul off the unsold items.

Getting back on auctionzip.com this morning!

While your at it, check these people out http://www.storagetreasures.com/

The above link has been mentioned a few times here.

It has been useful to find the local ones close to me.

I always end up with extras at auctions if I hang around.....They usually mix some good stuff with bad and the buyers who are buying the higher end stuff have no use for the outdated stuff(old monitors, computers etc.) If you hang around long enough and pass out biz cards auctions can be great for networking

George, do you do many storage units?.. I've been to a couple live auctions..not one purchase n the online ones seem to be ridiculous..I'll be attending a storage unit auction this coming week..I think there were 24 unita at 3 different locations...somewhat excited due to my new connect who buys everything from coolers to computers, from furniture to mattresses for way more than scrap..anyways I've seen the shows but think they r FOS...wondering if any1 has had success at these? ...

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Originally Posted by scrappy888

George, do you do many storage units?.. I've been to a couple live auctions..not one purchase n the online ones seem to be ridiculous..I'll be attending a storage unit auction this coming week..I think there were 24 unita at 3 different locations...somewhat excited due to my new connect who buys everything from coolers to computers, from furniture to mattresses for way more than scrap..anyways I've seen the shows but think they r FOS...wondering if any1 has had success at these? ...

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I have not personally done any as of yet. I have been busy with both of my companies to do so. However, starting next month, I will start attending some in my local area. I have some contacts with a few people who used to management several storage unit places. Got me more of an inside track on things so to speak.

They said they have seen units sell from $10 to hundreds, to even thousands.

Just depends on who owned them and what they put in them. If you got the cash, I say go for it. Just use good judgement, and don't buy anything unless your certain you can move it quickly.

K..since u posted the link I thought u might have had some experience with that sort of stuff..I mean as scrap value goes u probably cant profit but resell is high..the whole idea excites me..but the guys on the show r selling ild 90's projection tvs for 150.. get real..ya kno..I do have a good connect but not lookin for that..will let y'all know what I do with it

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Originally Posted by scrappy888

K..since u posted the link I thought u might have had some experience with that sort of stuff..I mean as scrap value goes u probably cant profit but resell is high..the whole idea excites me..but the guys on the show r selling ild 90's projection tvs for 150.. get real..ya kno..I do have a good connect but not lookin for that..will let y'all know what I do with it

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The link I posted, is one of the best I have found to date.

When reselling appliances, I have found the best way to do it, is simply search craigslist...find the cheapest one on there, and offer yours for $10 to $20 less.

Either way, you still made more on scrap value.

Also, offer to deliver it, for a small fee, say $10 or $15.

I checked that link out but didn't find the info that I got from auctionzip..thx for the tip..I'm more worried about furniture..probably wont purchase on my first day but ya never know..thx again

scrappy - I can tell you the shows and a real auciton are VERY different. I do the storage auctions as a hobby which turned me to this forum when was trying to max my profit from a unit. If you want to read another forum or just have questions you can PM me. I will tell you unless you are lucky the prices for units right now are still way higher then they were even a year ago. More and more new people see the shows, think it's a get rich quick thing, drop $800 on junk and then go crying in the night. Only to be replaced by more new people the next auction. Like scrapping you can make money at it. Is just lots of hard work and knowledge.