Storage Wars

Storage auctions have been a huge hit on TV lately. (with the A&E show, Storage Wars racking up over 3.8 million viewers. And now there are two more TV shows about Storage Unit Auctions – Auction Hunters and Storage Hunters.)

But as much fun as it seems (and it is!) to bid on and buy a storage unit, you’ve got to understand that, in order to do it right, you have to be prepared to sell a mass amount of “stuff” – stuff of all kinds!

Now, in the old days, the storage auction buyer was limited because (unless they owned a store) they could only take the stuff to a swap meet or conduct a yard sale in their front yard.

But today, with eBay, Amazon and Craigslist, the opportunities to mass-sell items have never been better!

So, allow me to list some of the steps I would take if I wanted to really build this side of my eBay business to a high level.

(I believe you will find these steps to be instructive – whether you decide to follow them or not)

1. I would post advertisements at local colleges for a part-time “eBay Apprentice”. I would interview and eventually hire two people for this job. Their job would be to photograph, list, ship and handle customer service for my Storage Unit resale business. In essence, I would train them to do everything I would normally do to sell a ton of these items on eBay / Craigslist and, in the meantime, they will be learning the business while acquiring an awesome new money-making skill!

2. I would have cleared out my warehouse and gotten it ready for a maximum flow of items and merchandise that would be coming in and going out of this location.

3. I would also invest in two new computers to be used by my new “eBay listers” to do their work.

You see, when the work of finding a never-ending supply of products to sell is not a challenge anymore, it is then very easy to duplicate yourself by training a college student to do the listing and shipping for you!

The idea here is that I will now be able to do the “easy” and “fun” part of the Storage Auction resale business and will have someone else do the listings and shipping!

If you have ever purchased a Storage Unit, then you know how much fun it can be.

First, you have the adrenaline rush of bidding on and winning the contents of the Storage Unit, usually in a live auction conducted by a licensed auctioneer.

Then, once you win the auction and the contents of the unit are all yours, you now have the incredible fun of searching the unit to see what types of goodies are in there!

You will find things that are obvious money-makers, right off the bat.

Then, you will also find things that appeal to you and items you want but have never purchased.

You will also find more common, household items that will still sell on eBay at decent amounts and then, of course, you may also find a percentage of the stuff that you will just have to donate to Goodwill or throw away.

(This is the fun part for me, searching through a roomful of goodies and sifting the money makers from the rest of the stuff.)

It is such an interesting and exciting part of the business – I hope you can get a taste of it for yourself!
Hold Everything!

In any case, here’s an important point I want to make…

I only give you my example of how I will tackle the storage auction business as a way to help you think about the potential of this business model!

It is important for you to see how YOU can implement this business model as a beginner and not get turned off by how a seasoned eBay seller is doing it.

The awesome thing about Storage Unit Auctions is that you can play the game at whatever level you wish!

You can buy smaller storage units for between $5 and $100 and turn that investment into more money, thus building your “investment kitty” up with consecutive purchases. (and growing your business little by little!)

For example, one of the storage units I bought was a small unit that I paid $125 for.

In that unit, I found vinyl records, (in that group there was one rare one which sold for $125) wheels for a BMW, vintage Credit Cards (also collectible) and more. I ended up selling the contents for $625. So, you really can start off with just a little over 100 bucks!

If you do not have a place to store the stuff that you buy, often you can just rent the same storage unit directly from the Storage company, right on the spot and this way you do not have to move any of the items – in many cases, you could literally sell some of the larger items directly from the Storage Unit! (check with your storage facility to see if they allow this – not all do)

 

Don’t have the resources to hire someone? How about hiring an intern?

Many young people will work for the experience and the ability to put that work experience on a resume. It’s a great way for them to get started in life and to build up their resume!

You could also hire a high school or college student on a commission basis – in this case, they would get a percentage of everything they sell on eBay for you!

You can try a 20%, 30% or even 40% commission, depending on how generous you feel.

In this way, you only pay that person when an item actually sells and when you actually receive the money, so the money you pay comes straight out of the profits you make!

There are a lot of ways to approach this business and most of them do not cost money to do so.

I just want to encourage you to try this approach.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, (I know, I know, I’m always talking about Storage Auctions) I only recommend this source as my favorite source because I know it has the greatest potential of all the approaches that I’ve personally tried.

If you’d like to learn more about Storage Auctions, you should definitely check out my new video course.

It’s called “Insider Secrets To Making Money With Storage Auctions” and you can find it by clicking here.