Posted on 12/05/2010 9:56:52 AM PST by PJ-Comix
"Storage Wars" is about that part of the American dream where we try to get rich off the misfortune of others. It's also about another way to chase the rush of gambling without ever touching a deck of cards.
Cool, huh?
"Storage Wars" follows four men on a California circuit of storage-locker auctions, which are like small-scale repo operations. Somebody rents a storage locker, throws stuff in and for some reason stops paying the rent.
After three months, the storage company breaks the lock and sells whatever's inside to the highest bidder - in this case, usually Darrell, Dave, Barry or Jarrod.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
You know who WON'T find this show cool? People who actually go to storage bin auctions. Why? Because now every Tom, Dick, and Harry will show up because of this program. I know. I used to go to storage bin auctions in the L.A. area. The basic rule was: the fewer bidders the better.
My best storage bin auction was on a day when it rained in L.A.. I don't know what it is about people in L.A. and rain but whenver the latter happens the folks there act like it is a major storm even if it is just a sprinkle. So when I showed up that day, only two other bidders. We agreed between ourselves not to let the bids go above 10 bucks so with that fixed price I got myself a bin for that price. Luckily it had jewelry made from Black Hills gold in there. Also a director's chair which I sold directly to a director of a TV show being filmed just down the street (Normandie).
I am now awaiting a reality show about police auctions where they auction off unclaimed property. I hated the one in downtown L.A. because way too many folks showed up. My fave was the Santa Monica police auction. The reason why is that the police themselves conducted that auction and were terrible auctioneers. It went at a snails pace and after a couple of hours when they weren't even close to finished most people drifted off to other places from boredom. I always came prepared with a book. The first items sold were bikes which I wasn't interested in and that took a long time right there. By the time they finished with the bikes hours later and got into the good stuff only a few folks were left and that is when I would get involved. Great stuff for incredibly low prices. Once I got an original Gibson ES-175 hollow electric guitar mint for just 80 bucks. That night I watched an Elvis flick on the tube and he was playing that exact same guitar.
However, if the reality shows broadcast about the police auctions those will be ruined too. And then the people attending those auctions will be pissed off about the unwanted publicity.
Not that many people will watch, and it will probably be only a brief fad.
If you are looking for a particular type of merchandise, it is probably just better to give your business card to all the bidders. They will bring it to you, and you can buy at wholesale.
I used to go to the Seattle police auctions in the late 1980’s. I was one of those guys that left out of boredom so guys like you could get the good deals. ;)
It was frustrating to watch bikes that sold for #150 new that were relatively trashed go for $140 at auction. One day I saw a very beat up worm drive skill saw go for $20 more than a new one would have cost. I remember it well, because it was the moment I decided these auctions were a complete waste of time.
But like you said, they vary.
I DO have much better results at garage sales. :)
I recall when Ebay first started. EVERYONE started combing all the yard sales and bulk trash piles, practically fighting over anything that could be sold on Ebay for a profit. I was going to yard sales and tag sales as a kid with my Mom back in the 60’s .......they suddenly became no fun in the mid to late 90’s.
My doctor attends these auctions from time to time. He’s had a few successes and more than a few miserable failures. He doesn’t consider it a gamble, but rather, treasure hunting. He and his wife go to flea markets too.
Your own admitted collusion with other ‘bidders’ seems to belie the claim that this will “ruin” the auctions.
More competition (REAL competition) is always a good thing.
If not for you and your conspirators, at least for other people bidding and for the storage locker owners.
Believe me, TONS of new people will now start showing up at those storage bin auctions. Plus the folks that were doing the auctions will be cursing out that show for bringing in all those newbie bidders that will do nothing but cause the bid prices to skyrocket. Also a lot of newbies get "auction fever." They will bid way beyond the value. I saw this happen a lot at the L.A. police auction. Auction fever folks would bid almost a couple of hundred bucks for a crappy TV. I asked one of the winners why he paid so much and he told me he couldn't let someone else outbid him. DUmb!
Guy I used to play volleyball with was a government auction junkie. One night he and a couple of friends had been drinking and he put in some insane low bid, a hundred dollars or thereabouts, on a barely used and totally functional amphibious assault landing vehicle, 20’ across, tires two or three feet wide and six feet high... That’s right, the guy’s yuppie wife opened the venetian blinds the next morning, looked out in the front yard, and to her amazement.....
Ebay killed getting a deal on obscure, valuable stuff in the pawn shops.
Go to the auction. If you see an item you want buy it from the highest bidder. That way you get a good price on something you want but don’t have to fool with the other 150 items in that unit.
That was a RARE occasion. Since only a few bidders then collusion was possible. Normally not possible.
I’m wondering if those Santa Monica police auctions still go at a snails pace. Trick is to bring reading material with you to occupy yourself for a couple of hours while they are auctioning off the bikes. After that it gets interesting plus most of the onlookers have split from boredom.
So the “runiation” of these auctions by more attendees will make that much, much less likely.
Sounds like an improvement.
I do, however, respect that fact that you might lose a good thing you’ve got going.
I lament the advent of yet another reality show, more than likely populated with another subset of douchebags ;)
Too funny PJ-Comix. Now Mr ColdOne is interested in this.
I didn’t trust a lot of those storage bin auctions. Rumor was that the storage bin company owner would secretly enter the bin, cherry pick out the good stuff, and then put the bin up for auction. Yeah, I know this is supposedly illegal but how can they catch the owner in the act?
“Ebay killed getting a deal on obscure, valuable stuff in the pawn shops.”
....you’re right...with EBAY, the fair market value of many, many things can quickly be determined.
....IMHO the storage locker auction had best be left up to experianced people who have contacts...the best guy that I ever knew at this, had a rolodex full of contacts...the goal is to ‘flip’ the stuff that you bought...you want to get your money back plus a profit ASAP....otherwise you just stood around at the auction all morning for nothing....and eventually you’ll be the one with a storage locker full of stuff.
All depends on which angle you’re looking at it from. From the point of view of the storage companies it’s great, there’s a bunch of new people that are going to bid stupidly and give them more money. Of course in the long run what will happen is these bad bidders will go broke, probably with a bunch of stuff in storage lockers, which then the experienced smarter guys will be able to pick up for a more normal price.
Best stuff from the police auctions are classic electric guitars.
The level of douchebagishness among the “stars” is usually shocking. It makes you wonder where they find these people...and why.
Some couponing scenarios can be quite complicated. These past couple of days I was working on a scenario that took me over a day just to figure out.
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