Generally speaking, you will have more luck finding a deal if there are a lot of units being auctioned off. If you have to choose between 2 auctions, pick the auction with the highest number of available units. Facilities typically wait until they have 10-20 abandoned units to host auctions. Larger facilities may host auctions every 2-3 months, while smaller facilities usually wait 4-5 months to host auctions. The exception is when the storage facility runs out of available units and needs to free up some space. These auctions are usually free, although larger auctions may require a small entry fee.
Most storage facilities only take cash payment for their units, but it’s still a good idea to only bid cash even if they accept credit cards or checks. It’s easy to get carried away when people start bidding and you get caught up in the moment, but sticking with a budget will ensure that you don’t overspend. The prices for storage units fluctuate wildly based on what people are willing to gamble on. On rare occasions, the prices can exceed $5,000. This happens when a unit appears to contain rare collectibles or expensive electronics.
For example, if there is a box labelled “Beanie Babies 1994,” you can perform a quick online search with your phone to get an estimate for what the box is worth. Keep in mind, the box may not contain what’s on the label, but you can get a hint about what may be in there and decide if it’s worth the gamble. Bring some padlocks with you as well. If you end up buying a storage unit, you’ll need locks to secure your unit until you can pick the items up.
Pay close attention to the fees and cleaning deposit instructions. Facilities typically charge fees on top of the final closing price. Most facilities also require a cleaning deposit of $50-100 to ensure that you clean the unit out after you remove the items. This deposit is returned after you clean the units you buy.
These sites are free to join. You only enter a credit card number to pay the auction site’s fees when you buy a unit. These fees are typically $10-15 a unit. You can visit Storage Auctions at https://storageauctions. com/ and Storage Treasures at https://www. storagetreasures. com/.
Any auction that is currently taking place will have a large timer on it ticking down to the end of the auction.
You’ll only be able to search and filter out items that are obvious from standing in the doorway of the unit. For example, furniture, power tools, and bags of clothes tend to be fairly obvious items just from a precursory glance.
Cheap items, like toys, old TVs, broken furniture, and clothes are generally not worth buying. Online, you may not have much to go on since there are usually only 2-5 photos for each auction. Inspect the images carefully to look for hints about what may be hiding in the background.
The opposite of this is equally true—a room with no odor has likely been well taken care of and is more likely to have sellable goods inside. You won’t be able to do this if you’re bidding online. This is one of the reasons that online bids tend to be less competitive than live auctions in terms of bidding.
For example, if you think a room can get you roughly $75 in resale and you get outbid past your personal limit of $50, don’t place another bid. Give up on the unit and try again with the next one. This can be tricky to do if you’re buying online and the photos aren’t particularly good.
If you’re bidding online, simply press the “place bid” button the auction page to place your bid. Only bid on units that you’re willing to purchase. Do not bid for the sake of bidding. You may end up buying something you don’t really want. If this is your first time doing this, bid conservatively and study how other people bid to get a sense for the process. It’s perfectly fine to skip bidding on a unit if it looks worthless.
This is a real pain if you don’t have a truck. If you have a large number of items, rent a moving truck to take your new items. Be sure to sweep and clean the unit before returning it to the facility so that you can get your cleaning deposit back. When it comes to larger storage units, it is common practice for the winning bidder to rent the storage unit they bought for 1 month to give themselves time to find storage space or unload some of the goods.
For example, you may have one pile for a garage sale, one pile for the scrap yard, and one pile of goods that you’re going to sell individually online.
You can always keep some of things you buy from the unit if you’d like!
This is the best option for getting rid of items that people use regularly but don’t have a high resale price. This includes clothing, kitchenware, exercise equipment, and holiday decorations.
Take jewelry to get appraised before selling it. You never know if you have something truly special on your hands!
A lot of the items that you get from storage units aren’t going to be worth anything. These items are only going to take up space in your storage area, so don’t waste your time trying to sell them.
