TV Auction Shows

Auction Kings (Discovery Channel)

Auction Hunters (On Spike TV)

Can you make money with storage unit auctions? Of course you can.

The recent economic downturn has popularized TV shows that enable individuals to make a few dollars buying and reselling foreclosed storage units. Granted, in these economic times, many individuals will put their personal property in storage as they move from one to place to another. Some individuals forget to pay the rental fees for the storage unit and ultimately the contents of the storage unit are auctioned off to pay for late rent.

Unfortunately, one man's loss is another man's treasure and the above TV shows glamorized this fact. We at Digital Auction, strongly suggest you watch a couple of these TV shows in order to gain an understanding of what goes on in a storage auction. Additionally, there are many YouTube videos available for you to peruse at your leisure where actual lives storage auctions take place.

One is always aware when you go into this type of business, that the lives of individuals and their aspirations, their hopes, their dreams are all tied up in the property they left behind in the storage unit. With this said, if this type of business appeals to you, then let's run down a few important facts you need to consider before you buy your first storage locker.

First and foremost, you will need cash to pay for your won storage locker. Note that most storage facilities will not accept checks or credit cards on foreclosed storage lockers.

If you are successful bidder, you will need a pickup truck or utility trailer to haul away the contents. We do not recommend you run out and buy a truck or trailer immediately. We suggest you buy one or two lockers and rent a truck. Get your feet wet and test it out, before you make any big capital purchase to support this business. Additionally, you will need to have your own workspace, possibly in your garage where you can sort through the contents of the locker you have won. You will need to sort the valuable items from items that are just trash. We do not recommend you rent any storage units or commercial buildings until you feel you can make a go of this business. We always recommend start out small, test it out, and if you like it and are successful- ramp it up.

Now that you have separated the valuable items from possible trash or charitable donation, how do you go about reselling your items? We suggest three very easy methods to find buyers for your goods.

1. Craigslist is the free classified website for the whole country. All you need to do is take a few digital pictures of the goods are selling, write a brief description and post an ad with your selling price. People will be contacting you in droves in order to purchase unique and valuable items you have found storage lockers.

2. The other method we recommend is renting a booth at a flea market. You will be competing with other sellers in this arena so your personal selling skills should be honed. Be prepared to bargain face-to-face with your buyers. Your buyers will always expect little discount off the suggested selling price. If you give a little, you just might be able to make a sale and both parties come out happy.

3. Another easy option to sell your goods is having a garage sale on a Saturday morning. In many parts of the country it is a tradition where homeowners can sell their extra property to bargain hunters. People will pull U-turns in the middle of the street if they see a garage sale hoping to find that golden nugget in a haystack. You can provide them that satisfaction of finding a nugget from the goods that you have won from your storage locker auction.