From Storage Locker to Market: Beginner’s Guide to Reselling

Have you ever wondered what happens to storage lockers when tenants don't pay their rent? In most cases, locker owners take possession and auction off the contents. That's where you come in. Self-storage auctions represent an opportunity for you to get your hands on a range of consumer goods at prices you would find nowhere else.

You can keep what you buy for yourself. Or, as so many winners of online storage auctions do, take the most valuable items from your haul and resell them. You could even do a combination of both. Keep what you want and sell the rest.

The question is, how do you get started? Fortunately, the answer is pretty easy. You start by searching for that first locker.

Yourself or With Help

You can start searching for that first locker by contacting local self-storage places and inquiring. In some cases, they will provide you with a list of all their upcoming auctions. In others, they might direct you to a website where you can keep track of all current and future auctions.

An easier way is to sign up with an online auction site like Lockerfox. We aggregate storage locker auctions in one place so your searches are a lot easier. With our site you can look for storage auctions across the U.S.

Here are the two most important tips for that first locker:

1. Set a Budget Set a budget and stick with it. Why? Because auctions are purposely designed to take advantage of the competitiveness of human nature. It is easy to get so excited about an auction that you end up bidding more than you can afford. Setting a budget creates a boundary.

2. Take a Good Look Take a good look at any and all photos the auction site lists. You might see nothing but boxes. But you also might see more. Pay attention to the details. It is the little things that can provide clues as to what you are buying.

When you do decide to bid on that first auction, understand that there are no guarantees in this business. You could walk away with a lot of valuable stuff that you paid next to nothing for. But you could also purchase a dud. Don't worry though; experience is a great teacher. As you bid on more auctions, you will learn to spot the most lucrative loads.

Go Pick Up Your Stuff

After winning your first auction, you need to travel to the actual self-storage site to pick up your stuff. That's when you actually pay, too. Be sure to contact the provider before you go to inquire about what type of payment they expect. Some will take only cash, while others will also accept credit and debit cards.

After picking up your stuff, you will have to sort it. Every item needs to be looked at and assessed. Are the items in good condition? Do they still work? It could take some time, but you'll eventually learn how to identify things with a high resale value. Items that have no value to you can be given away to family members and friends, donated to charity, or simply trashed.

There is an awful lot more we could discuss on the topic of reselling what you buy in that first auction. Perhaps that's a topic for another post. But for now, your task is to sign up with an online storage locker auction site and start looking for that first auction. Why not sign on with Lockerfox? We can get you going right away.