I thought we could all share some tips on the best bidding strategies. One that I have heard over and over again that seems to make a lot of sense is only bid on what you can see, don’t bid on what you can’t see.
Anyone else have some tips to share?
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I’ve heard having a “set in stone” max bid is always a good idea. Don’t spend outside your own good common sense
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Bidding on storage lockers in an online format is a relatively new experience for me and is quite different from a live auction or other online type auctions. I have bid and sold on other online auction sites for going on twenty years now and live auctions for over thirty years, but those sites and auctions are inherently quite different from buying storage lockers online. On other online auction sites you are usually bidding on a single item, or group of items with an in depth description and numerous camera angles or in the case of heavy equipment or vehicle auctions, a live video feed as the item passes through the auction ring in conjunction with the still images. At live storage auctions you also have the opportunity to look at the contents of the locker from every angle you can from the door. That can include everything from standing on your tippy toes to the other extreme of getting up close and personal with the asphalt as well as using your flashlight for those poorly lit corners and cubbies. With the storage lockers online you are at the mercy of the storage facility rep taking images or video quite often from a fixed height and distance which presents you with a challenge of trying to discern what items are missed due to the lack of imagery. Even though the storage facilities do have a vested interest in selling these lockers for the best money possible, they are not necessarily sales people or camera operators and may not fully appreciate how much effort and research some bidders put into purchasing these lockers.
That is where you have to put in the effort and knowledge to try and fill in the blanks to best discern what else may be in that unit to determine if the unit is for you and how much value you can place on it.
TIP FOR VIEWING Many of time I find it best to look at the auction video or images once or twice, jot down a few quick notes and then close out the auction and look at it several hours or a day later. Typically the second time around you will see numerous more items you did not see on the first viewing. That is primarily because your eyes were drawn to where the camera went the first time you viewed it, the second time around you are more familiar with the unit and you can pick things out in the edges of the frames that you missed the first time around. Try it, I bet you will be amazed. And even better yet, have a second person look at it.
Once you have viewed the unit the second time you may see portions or shapes of items in the locker that you cant fully make out. Take your time and try to deduce what the item likely is based on what you can see and on other contents in the locker. I will give a few pointers on that in another post a few days from now.
DEDUCING WHAT IS IN A UNIT Just a few pointers for people new to the storage locker world as I have seen some crazy high bids on units and comments of people saying what they think is in the unit when chances are it likely isn’t. When things are out in plain view it is easy to tell what is there and what you are looking at. But in the less then ideal world of storage lockers you seldom get a chance to see the entire contents of a locker in plain view. It would just be too easy if there was an inventory list posted on the door with individual pictures of every item, but then where would the fun and the challenge be. I tend to group lockers into certain categories so I will touch on a few of those categories over the next few weeks to give you a sample of what I am talking about.
First off is household units, which to me is a unit with mostly furniture, dishes, appliances, clothes and typical household goods. When you see a locker filled to the brim with contents that are just tossed in randomly, garbage bags full of clothes, liquor boxes full of books or labelled with someone’s name, worn and dated furniture, old appliances and broken kids toys…well, chances are you are not going to find any high end designer clothes, antiques, collectibles, or Kitchen Aide appliances. And chances are if they are there, there are broken or damaged as they didn’t care enough to take the time to put the contents in the locker neatly, so they obviously didn’t place much value in them to start with. You are most likely going to find well worn clothes, toys that may be worth donating, some usable kitchen appliances, a few small electronics, some costume jewellery, a few movies and games along with a few other smalls that you can put some value on. The furniture and appliances for the most part will not have much if any value due to its condition. But you also see a large box in the corner labelled “fragile” china…are you willing to toss a few extra bucks at that unit banking that box has a $500 set of china in it…I am hoping not…chances are it isn’t much more then a few mismatched pieces and likely about the same condition as the rest of the locker contents.
Now take the household unit beside it…everything in plastic totes, furniture stacked neatly against one wall, appliances lined up on the other, kids bikes leaning neatly against each other and shelving holding several small boxes. This locker will yield a lot more goodies, but the price will reflect it as well. These people took pride in their possessions and took the time and effort to store them with pride as well as the extra cost of storage totes. Chances are if you see containers in this locker that say china, crystal, antiques, movies, games, etc. that is what will actually be in the containers and be of much better quality and value then the previous locker.
Now some people are going to comment and say, I am wrong and that they have found some “amazing” things in lockers like the first one. I will admit, not every locker can be read like a book, but it does give you pretty good indication as to what you will find according to what you can see and how it is stored. And once you have been around for a while you also realize some people say they found great finds just to save face to the other bidders. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just seems to be part of the game.
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Setting a bid maximum is a lot easier for the online auctions as compared to a live auction. You have a few days to look over the contents and do some research. That is one of the very select few things I like about these online auctions, other then that give me a live auction any day of the week!
My tips are as follows.
Always add up the key factors of the unit itself. Your Bid price (with taxes)+Your Buyers Fee (15%)+Your Unit Deposit+Garbage Haul+Gas?, Labor?, Hauling Equipment?=Your Total Cost of Unit. Then the sell price (not value) of your contents is profit.
Research the current market on common goods, and also decide what platform, or platforms you will be selling from. Are you a collector? Do you have a store? Do you sell online? Are you known in your community as a go to person who sells used goods?
If your selling an item, don’t be so concrete on a price. Decide what it’s worth then hear the buyers offer. Losing a sale for a difference of an extra 15 or 20 dollars isn’t worth it. But I find that is a common mistake newbies make.
Do not keep novelty items from your locker. We have all done it, but if you plan on making this a career for yourself, believe me 1 or 2 items on 3 or 4 lockers a month will really add up in 10 years! Once you have kept one novelty item you will always find excuses to keep others.
Know when to walk away from a garbage unit. A lot of times we get caught up in the BID instead of the actual unit itself. Walk away, bidding people up and having it backfire is a common mistake with often poor results.
Find places in your community that takes donations. Not just goodwill and Value village, but community organizations, old age homes, group homes, homeless shelters. It’s cheaper than paying the garbage fee at the dump and comes back to you in good karma. I donate alot of items per unit. Wealth is to be shared when possible.
That’s just my two cents, happy hunting folks 
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Well said ,m I agree 100% and I have played the auction game for 25 years
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Exactly Ryanbid, I havnt bought a locker on line yet but I have attended many live auctions of all sorts and that’s the rule I have for bidding. I examine the item and decide whether I want it and then if I do I decide the maximum it’s worth to me and if it exceeds my maximum bid then some one else wants it more then I do and I just let it go. You can t become emotionally attached. It’s just stuff. Another trap some fall into at live auctions is bidding to beat another bidder. The old - Your not going to beat me, I will win even if I have to cut my own throat to do it - mentality. Never a good trap to fall into. Always best to set a limit and stick to it and not get caught up in emotion or a competitive mindset.
I don’t do dusty . I bought 1 with lots of dust and it as like 20 years old. It literally just sat there, only because the storage company never did anything. Thought maybe the owners have paid on it for years. Nope not the case. I basically paid them to clean their storage unit. I usually look over what I know and buy depending on my customer base. I own a thrift store, the store I have gets lots of mamas. So I buy things with toys and most people don’t like buying those. So it’s a win for me. Pay attention to how the whole unit looks. The storage owner might put an empty tv box all dust free in the front of a dusty storage so you might think you winning something when you are not. This auction thing takes a lot of work so unless you have a store or sell certain things or buying for fun then walk away
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YES WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T BID ON ANYTHING FROM SECURE STORAGE IN SAVANNAH GEORGIA. THE MANAGER CUTS THE LOCK STEALS THE GOOD STUFF AND PUTS IT IN ANOTHER UNIT AND PUTS ANOTHER LOCK ON IT AND THEN HE CUTS THE NEW LOCK ON VIDEO. THERE IS NOTHING IN THESE UNITS LEFT THAT IS WORTH ANYTHING. YOU GET HALF EMPTY CONTAINERS AND HALF EMPTY BOXES. THEY USE TO HAVE AUCTIONS AT THE LOCATION BUT EVERYONE STOPPED COMING AND THE PEOPLE WOULD NUDGE EACH OTHER AND LAUGH AND SAY MAYBE BOBBY LEFT A FEW GOOD THINGS IN THERE. IT GOT TO THE POINT WHERE NO ONE WOULD COME THERE TO THE AUCTION SO THAT IS WHY THEY WENT TO THE ON LINE AUCTION.
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