The storage auction business is growing.

There are rumors out there that the storage auction business is a big hoax and no one can make money buying and selling storage units.  These rumors were all started because people started finding out that the television shows, which show a portrayal of storage buyers making thousand s of dollars, were actually false and the producers of the show were putting items in the unit to create drama for the show.

Now, you would think that people would realize that this was only a show and that there is a reason that there is even a show in the first place.  There really are people out there, just like you and me, who have their own business buying and selling storage units and make profit on a daily basis.  You’re not going to make thousands every time you buy a unit but there is potential to make enough profit to feed your family and pay the bills. 

The storage auction business is not an easy task by any means.  Even to make enough profit to pay the bills can sometimes be tough.  Storage buyers take loses on a frequent basis but just like any business, you are going to take a loss from time to time.  It’s all about making the best educated decision possible.  If you are going to take a risk, make sure it is an educated one. 

Buy units cheap and sell the contents at a good price.  Only buy units that you can see potential in.  If you second guess a unit, stop there, don’t buy it.  Usually your gut feeling is right.  Only buy a unit if you strongly believe that you can make money off of it.  If you can purchase units at the right price, find a way to sell the contents, and be responsible with the money you make, there is great potential for you to do well in the storage auction business. 

Good luck to you, now get out there and start buying some units.

Storage Battles

http://storagebattles.com

Starting a small business from home

Starting a small business is not as tough as you think for some businesses.  The storage auction business is one of the few that take very little money to get started and has the potential to make great profits.  You can purchase a unit for as low as 30 dollars.  Who would have ever thought that opening a small business could be so cheap to start? 

Now, don’t get me wrong, some units can sell for as much as a couple hundred to several thousand dollars.  Now don’t get disappointed, those units are for people that are sitting on a big bank roll or just have been in the storage business long enough that they have the money to purchase the unit.  Not everyone starts out with a 2,000 dollar unit.  They work up to it.

It’s almost like flipping houses.  You buy one house for really cheap, put some money into it and sell it and make profit and have enough to buy another one.  Now, if you do this properly, you will have enough money to purchase a bigger house the second time and make a bigger profit.  It’s all about taking the profit you made from the previous buy and reinvesting that money to make more. 

If you can be responsible with money and invest and reinvest in your business you will be successful and make money buying and selling storage units.

Storage Battles

http://storagebattles.com

Is the Storage Auction Business right for you?

I hear a lot of people say that the storage auction business is a big hoax and that no one makes money buying and selling storage units.  Well, that’s not necessarily a lie.  The storage auction business is one tough cookie.  It takes a lot of patients and hard word to make money in this business.  If you are asking yourself, “Is the auction business right for me?” this post is exactly what you need. 

Do you like working a lot of hours?

If so, then you might be on the right track already.  I see a lot of people getting into this business thinking that all they have to do is buy a unit and everything will magically sell.  That is not the case most of the time.  There are a lot of random items in units that are hard to sell if you don’t have the right outlets.  Clothes, for example, are a tough thing to sell unless they are items that are unique or in really great condition.  Do you know where to sell clothes at?  If the answer is no, then you might want to do research about where to sell items at before you even purchase a unit. 

Do you have money to lose?

If the answer is no, then you shouldn’t even attempt buying a unit.  There is a great chance that you can lose money on a unit, even if it looks promising in the beginning.  If you lose money on a unit you still have to have money to buy another one.  If you don’t have enough money to buy a couple units and expect nothing back right away then you should probably rethink getting into this business. 

Storage Auctions

Storage Auctions are a tough business with people who have a lot of money to throw around.  Do your research before getting into any kind of business where there is risk involved.  You don’t want to end up worse off than you started.  So get out there and do some research about what to expect from the storage auction business. 

Storage Battles

http://storagebattles.com

How to Make Profit in a Tough Market

How to make money from Buying and Selling Storage units?


Almost everyone that watches cable television has heard about or watched the television show “Storage Wars” and seen the incredible items and profit that these Auction Hunters pull in. It’s hard to say whether they really make that much money or if the show is rigged and the items are strategically placed but I know that any business (Even the Buying Storage Units Business) is profitable if the right steps are taken in building the business. 

There are 3 steps that you can follow to increase your profits by buying and selling storage units.

Step 1. 

Before you even purchase a unit, do your research on where you are going to sell the items at. You need to know where the easiest places to sell items are if you are going to profit in this business. It’s easy to purchase a storage unit at an auction if you just show up with money in hand and have a great bidding strategy, but the number 1 thing I see people failing on is selling the items. Keep in mind that it is not only going to be big items like cars, jewelry, guns, and antiques. You are going to have an abundance of items such as clothes, trinkets, small items, and 1,000’s of misc. items that you are going to end up with. This is a very important step and can be the line between victory and defeat for your business. 

Small Items

One great way that I have seen used on the show is having a small thrift shop. You can easily rent a small space to start your shop for around 500-1000 dollars a month. Just look around you area for small buildings like shopping centers that have the “for lease” sign and call the company to find out how much they charge for rental space. I know that a big push but if you want to be successful in this industry it is going to take more than going to the pawn shop and selling all your items there. Goodwill is the perfect example. They get items in bulk, a lot of times from donations and then resale the items and make over %100 percent profit. You can use this model. If you were to open a small thrift store, have a donations box and let people in your community know that you are accepting donations. This is a great way to get free items to sell and make nothing but profit. 

Big Items

EBay is one of the best places to sell goods that aren’t extremely big so they are shippable and worth enough that people would want to bid on them. You wouldn’t want to put a t-shirt on eBay unless it was one that was signed by Jimmy Hendrix. Consignment stores are a great place to sell bigger items and get more money from them than you would if you just pawned them or did a quick sale. Flea markets are a great place to get into and cost very little to get a spot. You can sell all types of items at flea markets but electronics and artwork seem to be the highest selling products there. Auctions are also great ways of getting top dollar for your bigger more expensive items. Craigslist is good too but most of the time you are not going to get top dollar for your item unless it is rare. You also can find shops dedicated to particular items that usually will purchase items for their worth minus about 20 or 30 percent so that they can make profit upon resale. 

Step 2

Build an e-commerce website (a website with a store) where you can display items that you can’t sell in any of the previous mentioned places or that you think you can get good money from by selling online. You can build free sites on sites like wix.com but I would suggest getting your own hosting and URL through godaddy.com building your site using wordpress.org because it is better for Seo (Search Engine Optimization) which means optimizing your site so that Google can understand what you’re about. When you purchase hosting with go daddy they automatically give you a URL and word press comes installed on it already. Go daddy will lead you through the entire process on the phone and most of the time they will do the work for you. I suggest calling them and asking for help. Just tell them what you are trying to do and they will help you. 

Get your Site Number 1 on Google

Write articles about your business and then post them on article sites like www.Ezinearticles.com. Articles are a great way to talk about your business without promoting it. Creating a blog or forum as an extension of your website will also help with getting traffic to your site and return visitors. Also, posting blog posts on guest blogs or creating your own using blog.com is a great way to share information with people and build links to your site which is one of the most important factors when trying to get your site number 1. You have to be the most relevant out of your competitors, meaning that they more that Google see’s your link or your website information on someone else’s website or blog the more they are going to view you as relevant. Just like if you at a party and everyone knows you, to the person watching you who doesn’t know you yet, automatically thinks you are cool because everyone else does. Building links is kind of like earning cool points from people. SEO Services for your website is one of the best ways to get your site #1 on google.  I know some of the Best Phoenix Seo Companies online that offer SEO services and more.

Step 3

Find places online that you can buy items in bulk at a cheap rate. Storage Auctions Online is a great place to get items at a discount of what you would pay at the normal facility. Just type in the words “Storage Auction Online” in Google and click on one of the sites they say they are a storage auction company. They will have all kinds of auctions from all over the United States and offer bidding on storage units through an online bidding system like eBay. It’s a cheap and easy way to get items in bulk and build your stock of items for your store or website. They are just like any other storage auction online except you can bid on items from the comfort of your own home. 

If you buy items at a low cost, find the places to sell them, and get exposure to the items that you are selling. You will make profit in this business. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty and make sure you network with people, ask question, get advice, seek answers, and don’t stop researching for newer and better ways to take your business to the next level. Be in it for the long run and you will be successful. 

http://storagebattles.com

Storage Auction Stories | Buying Storage Units | Hidden Treasures

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 

How to Buy Storage Units Online at Auction

How to Buy Storage Units Online at Auction 

There are web portals that allow storage facilities to post their storage auctions online - eliminating live auctions entirely. The idea was created by storage professionals who were frustrated with holding live auctions at their stores. Ever since the popular television reality shows came out they would have crowds bigger than the facility could handle. They were tired of angering their tenants who couldn't get through the facility to handle their business. They realized the current system was antiquated - why stand in 115° weather or a 0° snow storm to bid on units when you can be sitting on your couch with a computer. They knew there had to be an easier method. 

Step 1. Find a storage auction online that you are comfortable with and trust. I use Storage Battles. Their site is very professional and is easy to navigate and I have never had any problems using their site or bidding on their auctions. 

Step 2. Pull up the site and enter your zip code or city and state in the boxes provided to search for auctions in your area. 

Step 3. Google maps will pinpoint the locations of the storage auctions that are closest to your location. 

Step 4. The listings will be hosted below the Google map and will include the location of the unit, price, how many bids are currently placed, when the auction ends, and a brief description of the contents included in the unit. 
Step 5. Click on the listing that interests you the most. Once you open the auction you will see more detailed info about the listing including: Unit Size, Cleaning Deposit, and multiple pictures of each unit and its contents. 

Step 6. You must first create an account to be able to bid, purchase, or buy storage units through the auction. Just click on the button that says "Create a New Account." You can create an account either as a buyer or a seller. Let’s just stick with creating a buyer account for now. Click the button that says "Buyer Account" All you need to do is enter your information into the form and add a valid credit card. Remember, there is no charge to join the site or bid on an auction. The only money you will ever pay to the site will be once you have bought a unit and that's usually around %10 percent of the total unit cost. 

Step 7. Enter the amount that you are willing to bid on the unit and click on the button that says "Bid Now". Also don't forget to add this item to your watch list so that you can monitor if someone out bids you. Don't be worried though, you will automatically get an email when someone out bids you. You also have the opportunity to set your maximum bid so that if you think the unit is worth 500, you can set your max bid to that price but that doesn't mean that 500 is what you will pay. Example: If the unit highest bid was 300 and you had your max bid set to 500 the max you would pay would be 310 or something like that if you won the auction. 

Step 8. Once it is confirmed that you have the highest bid and the time runs out on the auction you will then be sent a confirmation that you have won the auction and the payment will be requested within 72 hours. At this time you will pay the %10 fee to the company and the auction price is to be paid in cash or card (Certain facilities don't take credit cards. Bring cash just in case.) at the facility where the items are located. 

Step 9. Pay your %10 payment to the company where you purchase your unit. 

Step 10. Get up off your couch and go get your stuff. Don't forget that some storage facilities will usually charge a cleaning deposit. The listing will tell you if there is a cleaning deposit or not before you purchase the unit. If they do charge a cleaning deposit, that money is refundable and you will get it back after you clean out the unit. It’s usually around a 25 dollar charge or so. 

http://storagebattles.com