Storage Auction Buyers Guide

Follow these 7 easy steps and you will be well on your way to successful storage auction hunting!

1.   Look for neatly labelled and stacked boxes.  When the past tenant takes time to pack and label the contents, he or she must place value on the goods.

2.   Look for a few items of value and base your bid on those; they will pay for the bid and the profit will be in the unknown contents.

3.   Buy more than one storage unit.  This way you will dilute the risk and increase the chances of a big win.

4.   Look at the neighbourhood of the storage facility — upscale neighbourhoods often have units with higher value contents.

5.   Avoid storage facilities offering free or $1 fee for the first month.  They attract tenants who can’t afford to pay. They dump their junk and a month later the facility has to get rid of it.

6.   Don’t be dissuaded by a dusty unit since this indicates that it has been in storage for some time. Someone placed enough value to pay the storage fees all those years so these can often hold some interesting antiques or collectables.

7.   Craig’s List and eBay are excellent ways to monetize your finds.