If you have ever seen the show Storage Wars, you know the story of storage auction professionals who find valuable items in left behind lockers. However, is this a viable way to gain money in real life? The answer is that you can make profits if you know what you are doing. Below are a few tips if you’re interested in trying your hand at participating in storage auctions yourself.

Have a Budget Before You Leave

The easiest way to lose money is to overpay on a locker or not have a set limit per purchase. Therefore, you should have a budget that you won’t surpass and only bring that much money to the auction. This ensures that you don’t get into a bidding war or overpay just because you don’t want someone else to win.

Account For All Costs

The price of the locker is only one cost that you need to account for. Additionally, you will need to haul away your items as well as pay any listing fees for items that you choose to sell. Appraisal fees may also come into play, as well as the cost of renting the storage unit if you don’t have the items removed immediately. Keep these costs in mind when planning on attending an auction.

Learn How Much Items Resell For

Remember, you are likely going up against professionals who run their own online stores or secondhand stores. They go to auctions to fill their stores and sell the items for a profit. Therefore, they base their ability to bid on or buy a locker based on how much they think an item will sell for when they first see it. That is a skill that you will need to win at the locker auction game. Find the average prices of common types of furniture or other things that may be in the unit.

Not Every Locker Has Something Worth Selling

When you attend a storage unit auction, you will have a short amount of time to glance inside the unit and get an idea for whether its contents are worth the trouble of bidding for and reselling. You may run into a locker that offers nothing but junk that you spend all day hauling to the dump. The goal is to find a number of big ticket items that make your profitable over the long run. In many cases, you will have to sell many small items for small profits and hope that it makes you profitable overall.

Get to Know the Area You Are Buying In

A locker in a poorer community may not have as many valuables as a locker in a more affluent community. While there may be antiques hiding under less valuable items, it’s generally best to know the demographics of where you are so you can make wise buying decisions.

Buying storage units can be an effective way to make a profit if you know what you are doing. Understanding where you are buying, how much an item is worth and how much you can spend and still make a profit are all things worth learning to increase the odds of success. Contact a storage facility like National Self Storage – Denver if you have questions about the auction process.