Picked up a few things at the auction

[paigeoliver]

So we go to this auction, normal house stuff, furniture and dishes and whatnot. It was out in the middle of nowhere and they were selling off the entire contents of a house, barn, and storage building.

Halfway through the auction they move over to a large storage building. The entire building is filled with 6 foot tall crates. All together there were almost 500 of them. They were all the same and each one had Atari stamped on the side.

Auctioneer starts out the bidding selling these "Ataris", they only sell a couple of them at around $10 each before interest drops off. At which point he sells the rest of them in one lot. I bid $100 on the entire lot and won.

Dave then went and got a jack handle out of the moving truck we had with us and opened one up.

I, Robot.

He opened another.

I, Robot.

Another.

I, Robot.

I then told him to quit opening them up and start loading them.

493 I, Robots, still in the crate, the entire batch of them that supposedly got dumped into the ocean.

Ok, not really. But I did get some really nice bedroom furniture that all matched (4 pieces including bed, mid 50s vintage, very nice, $35), another console record player ($1), and some other odds and ends. About the closest thing they had there to an I, Robot was a handheld poker game. So much of the stuff was just dirt cheap. Big stacks of stuff for 50 cents and a dollar. I need to go to more regular auctions and less videogame auctions. I would have bought a lot more but I still haven;t moved yet, and thus don't really have any storage yet. Would have liked to have gotten the two early 60s vibrating recliners (both looked brand new, but were in terrible vinyl patterns), that no one would even bid 50 cents on. Also missed a nice big yellow barbque setup for 50 cents too.

Had you going for a second there didn't I?

[Chris]

Had you going for a second there didn't I?

To quote Q*Bert, "@!#?@!"

[CitznFish]

D!CK    

[rampy]

*smack*

I was actually trying to figure out how you were gonna store them in your apartment =P

rampy

[tiggertoo]

I love auctions! I collect toys and they are a great source of old ones.

I'm a bit undecided about one this weekend. I live close to the superauctions going on, but there is also a storage garage auction in my area. Storage garage auctions are the greatest! Depending on the type of junk they'll just auction off piles of stuff. The only problem is that you end up with a lot of unneeded items just to get that one thing you want. Sometimes I take out what I want and dump the rest in the dumpster, or sell off stuff to someone who didn't want to do the same thing I did! Once I ended up with a bunch of holiday/birthday cards. Upon opening some of them (to be nosey) we found money! Another time I bought a vcr and discovered a video tape in it. Yep, it was one of those

So, I love auctions!

And, Paige, that was mean, just mean

[CitznFish]

I love auctions! I collect toys and they are a great source of old ones.

I'm a bit undecided about one this weekend. I live close to the superauctions going on, but there is also a storage garage auction in my area. Storage garage auctions are the greatest! Depending on the type of junk they'll just auction off piles of stuff. The only problem is that you end up with a lot of unneeded items just to get that one thing you want. Sometimes I take out what I want and dump the rest in the dumpster, or sell off stuff to someone who didn't want to do the same thing I did! Once I ended up with a bunch of holiday/birthday cards. Upon opening some of them (to be nosey) we found money! Another time I bought a vcr and discovered a video tape in it. Yep, it was one of those

So, I love auctions!

And, Paige, that was mean, just mean

Just where do you find info on upcoming Storage auctions or estate auctions???

[paigeoliver]

I love auctions! I collect toys and they are a great source of old ones.

I'm a bit undecided about one this weekend. I live close to the superauctions going on, but there is also a storage garage auction in my area. Storage garage auctions are the greatest! Depending on the type of junk they'll just auction off piles of stuff. The only problem is that you end up with a lot of unneeded items just to get that one thing you want. Sometimes I take out what I want and dump the rest in the dumpster, or sell off stuff to someone who didn't want to do the same thing I did! Once I ended up with a bunch of holiday/birthday cards. Upon opening some of them (to be nosey) we found money! Another time I bought a vcr and discovered a video tape in it. Yep, it was one of those

So, I love auctions!

And, Paige, that was mean, just mean

Just where do you find info on upcoming Storage auctions or estate auctions???

This one we just happened to drive by, WITH a moving truck. Total coincidence to drive by an auction with an empty moving truck, but we did. =)

Otherwise look in the newspaper under the auctions section of the classifieds. If you live in a more rural area then you probably only have one or two local auctioneers/companies, so you can also just call them to see what is coming up.

[tiggertoo]

I love auctions! I collect toys and they are a great source of old ones.

I'm a bit undecided about one this weekend. I live close to the superauctions going on, but there is also a storage garage auction in my area. Storage garage auctions are the greatest! Depending on the type of junk they'll just auction off piles of stuff. The only problem is that you end up with a lot of unneeded items just to get that one thing you want. Sometimes I take out what I want and dump the rest in the dumpster, or sell off stuff to someone who didn't want to do the same thing I did! Once I ended up with a bunch of holiday/birthday cards. Upon opening some of them (to be nosey) we found money! Another time I bought a vcr and discovered a video tape in it. Yep, it was one of those

So, I love auctions!

And, Paige, that was mean, just mean

Just where do you find info on upcoming Storage auctions or estate auctions???

Newpaper classifieds, usually. Around here, they usually are in the Wednesday paper. And when you find one, most auctioneers have lists of upcoming auctions that they can provide you with. Also some auctioneers are on the web. Do a google search for your state or area. Alot of times they have pictures of the goods.

And the best advice I can give you is you don't have to win. Set a price that you're willing to pay for an item and stop there. If you do enough auctions, you'll find another. Some auctions tend to attract dealers or collectors and then the prices go too high. I don't like to leave with nothing, but I hate feeling ripped off, so I  never go over what I feel an item is worth.

Most of all, have fun!

[paigeoliver]

Also, what I do is look over everything, and decide on anything that I really want to buy. In this case it was that bedroom set (I had decided $50 in advance, it went for $35), a set of 60s glasses still in the box (my max was $5, they went for $12), and a nice looking console record player (max was $5, I paid $1).

Besides that I just watch the auctioneer. I have no problem making impulse buys, provided they are cheap ones. (50 cents or a dollar).

[eightbit]

Never get caugtht up in the bidding. Always decide how high your going to go and stop there. If the auction gets down to 2 people and the other guy sees you not even hesitate he's likely to drop out faster than if the auction asks you if you want to keep going and you waffle. Its a lot like poker to beat the other guy you need to bluff like your going to keep going forever, that is untill you hit your max then you need to step out. At least thats my strategy.

Heres the home page of the Michigan state auctioneers association. Its my favorite place for auction listings. http://www.msaa.org/ I've found that auctions in rural areas and on less than ideal weather conditions, like outdoor auctions in the rain, are where you'll find the best deals. Also a lot of the smaller auction houses that don't charge the huge fees and spend a ton on advertising are good to go to. Often you can get on their mailing list some even have email lists and will mail you auction notices if you want them.