I have a crazy storage auction story for you guys. It all started on a Monday right after a McDonald’s visit where they messed up my entire order. When I asked them to make it right the girl gave me an attitude like it was my fault that my sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit was made improperly. I had no idea that this was just the prelude to how my day was about to turn out.
The
storage auction started around 11AM and there were only a couple bidders out in a place that was normally had at least 10-12 bidders on a regular basis. I was sure that my day was about to turn around and there would be something in one of those units that was going to change everything. We get through the first auction that I didn’t even bid on because it was full of junk and the only thing of value that was worth mentioning was one of those little electric scooters that looks like it had seen better days. The back tire was flat and it looked like it was missing pieces. I didn’t even know those little 2 inch tires could go flat. The unit ended up selling for a little over 100 dollars. I was not fazed and turned my attention to the next auction that was starting up. It seemed as if bidders were gathering around like they had just found gold. I poked my head into the tiny locker and saw that this locker was full of music studio equipment, brand new in the boxes and looked unopened. I saw a microphone, stand, studio monitor speakers, Mac laptop, and a box that looked like some kind of recording device. I couldn’t believe it. Being a music producer for 12 years of my life and knowing the costs of good studio equipment, I was sure that I could get at least 1,000 for the Mac laptop, 100 for the microphone and 250 for the speakers, and maybe like 20 bucks or something out of the Microphone stand.
So the bidding starts off fairly low at 10 dollars. I figured everyone would know how much potential this unit had to offer and at least start this unit off at 100 or more.
The second bidder comes in at 50 dollars and in my head I’m freaking out saying “there is no way these people don’t know how much this stuff is worth”. The bidding continues and the next bidder comes in at 100 dollars. I say now it’s my time to bid. I come in at 150 and it gets kind of silent for a second before the same guy that bid 100 dollars says “500”. I was shocked that the same guy that just bid 100 dollars comes back on a 150 dollar bid with 500? I knew then that this gentlemen knew what those items were worth and was willing to pay to make them his. I knew there was still plenty of profit to be made even if I bought the unit for a 1000 so I came right back with 600. The man gets silent for a second while the auctioneer is saying “We have 600 going once”. The man is still silent until the
auctioneer comes back and says “600 going twice”. My heart was pounding, hoping that man doesn’t bid again, until I hear his voice say “900”. My heart dropped into my stomach because I knew we were getting into the top of my budget and he looked like he could keep bidding if he wanted to. I confidently came back with a 1000 dollar bid as if I didn’t have anything to lose. The gentlemen stopped for a second and I could see him doing the math in his head to try to figure out if it was worth it to bid again. He shook his head as if he really wanted the unit but knew that if he went any higher that there might not be much room for profit after resale of the items. The auctioneer says “1000 going once, going twice, SOLD”. I couldn’t believe it. I won the unit! I didn’t even wait to see the rest of the units for that day. I was ready to dig into my merchandise and see the beautiful brand new studio equipment I had just purchased.
I got to open the first box which is the Mac laptop that looked unopened. I look at the box closer and see that the sticker that usually closes the box was cut.
When I saw that the box was cut, I instantly had a loss of adrenaline and my heart dropped into my stomach. I go to open the box and as I do I notice the weight of the box isn’t quite right and what do you know, I open the box to discover the valuable contents that I expected are not there and am shocked to see that in the box that I thought was a Brand New Mac Book still in the box is nothing but a hard backed novel that looked like it was at least 70 years old and in horrible condition. My instant reaction was “Oh my god, that was my last 1,000 dollars” and “What am I going to do?” I had a bad feeling that the next couple boxes I was about to open were going to be the same thing and what do you know. Books! More old books. I was thinking “who in the heck puts old books in brand new boxes of studio equipment?” Needless to say I was enraged. I couldn’t believe I just spent my last 1,000 dollars on books. I noticed that the books kind of looked like old bibles and figured they were worth anything at all.
I went home that day with sore attitude thinking about what I was going to do now for money since I spent my last thousand on crap. I must have sat around for 3 or 4 days in self-pity until I finally got up off my butt and started driving around and remembered that I wanted to at least get those books looked at by a professional before I threw them out.
There weren’t many places in town but I stopped at a local book shop that sold used books and other misc. items that a library would usually sell. I talked to a really nice old lady at the front desk that examined the books for me. She looked at the books for about 10 seconds before it looked like she was about to pass out. “Is there something wrong with them?” I asked. “Do you know what these are” she asked. “They look like old bibles” I told her. “They are more than old bibles, these are the Kupfer-Bibles” she said. “What’s that” I replied. “These are worth more than any book we have in this store”. She said.
I was astonished and rushed home to get on Google to find out exactly how much these books were worth. I typed in Kupfer-Bibles and would you believe the books that I was so enraged to be getting instead of the music equipment which I knew would make me money were actually worth $29,000 dollars and were one of the most rare and expensive books that money can buy. I couldn’t believe it. I called the website owner to confirm that this was the real thing and believe it or not those books sold for $28,500 dollars at auction. Out of the unit I only expected to get about 500 bucks from, I ended up making a profit of $27,500 dollars in one day of work at a storage auction that was right down the street from my house. Just goes to show you that not everything you expect is going to happen, sometimes there is something bigger in store for you just waiting around for you in some unopened box. It was a blessing in disguise and I will never forget that day.
http://storagebattles.com
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