One of the biggest questions people had for me when I was selling online full time was where to find items to sell. There are several different places to find items. One of the most interesting places is storage locker auctions.
Storage locker auctions take place when someone has rented a storage locker and has been unable to pay for them. The industry is regulated and there are several steps storage facilities have to go through before the auction. First the person has to be notified several times in writing, then the storage company has to post an item in the paper telling the person that their payment is past due. After that, the management has to place an item in the paper describing the time and place of the auction, and whose items it is that are being auctioned.
Storage locker auctions are slightly different depending on the company conducting the auction, but most are fairly similar. The people attending the auction will not be allowed into the storage room itself, but will look in through an opened door. This means that every item will not be visible, and the entire thing is often a gamble. Very often there is furniture or appliances in the storage area, which may or may not be damaged. Sometimes there appear to be boxes containing certain items, and the box turns out to be a packing box housing a very different item. For that reason, take what you see with a grain of salt, but be aware that there may also be much more than what you see. I once found a real, Louis Vuitton duffel bag in one of these and sold it for a couple of hundred dollars online. I have also gotten lockers that had boxes of nice clothing that were too moldy to be of any use.
When attending one of these auctions, there are other ways to make money than from taking the items home and selling them. If you end up with a lot of items that are serviceable but won’t sell online. Donate them and take the tax deduction. I have also done well selling large items out of them to other auction goers. They were thrilled to get a dining room set for $30, but I was thrilled that I didn’t have to drag the thing home.
Another place to find items to sell:
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