My First Auction House
I officially started this year, 2014. But if you remember, New Years Day fell on Thursday, and I had an opportunity to go to an auction house, Junktiques Auctions in Lakeland, that Monday night, December 29th. Now I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but figured I didn't have much else to do. There were plenty of pictures online of what they were selling but I wasn't sure how they would go about selling it? There were several items in the pictures that caught my fancy, so I decided to go. Baseball cards and other collectibles, primarily. I do wish I had thought to save the pictures of the items I liked.
It started at 6:00 PM with viewing at 5. I got there early enough to register and browse the items up for auction. I saw most of the items I liked and was willing to stick around at see if I could get them.
The auction started out back for individual furniture pieces. Two chairs caught my eye in the photo's, but I decided not to bid, but the pair only went for $12. The furniture was auctioned off one piece, or matching pieces, at a time.
After all the furniture was all bid on, the auction moved to the front room. The front room was filled with over 20 tables, each piled with various items, and not necessarily items that were similar in nature.
I am not sure at this point how this auction will take place. Will they auction each individual item off?
As it turns out, their way of auctioning was fun. Everyone would gather around a table and the highest bidder would get their choice off the table. Second highest would get next choice and so on, until a bidder refused. Then a new auction at the same table would commence, usually for less, and highest bidder would choose. Once the bid was under 4 or 5 dollars, they would start again, and it would be a 2 for. In other words, if your high bid was $8 (this was probably the average), you would pay $16 and choose two things. Once the bids got to about $3, they would start again with a 3 for. High bid of $5, pays $15 and chooses three items.
At this point there is much less on the table, so they will group what's left into several piles and high bid takes a pile. Usually an interesting, eclectic, and unique assortment of goods. I did pick up one pile at the end of the night for me, for only $2 and it was a very varying assortment, but easily worth at least 10x what I paid.
My goal that evening were the several different boxes of baseball and basketball cards. I ended up with about half the boxes I went to get. One of the most rewarding items was a tote full of Christmas items for $8. It was full and worth at least $40. Many decorations and half still with tags.
I wound up spending $46 (there about) and coming home with a car full of items I was lucky to fit in the car.
Any items I am reselling on eBay or in my store will have the code AH14001 where AH stands for Auction House.
Look for me to post any extreme, high selling, examples of what you can find, as well as a final recap in value, once everything from this lot is gone.
Until the next post, Happy Hunting and I am here for EZHelp4U!!!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
A Lifetime of Collecting And My First Estate
A Lifetime of Collecting And My First Estate
It was the summer of 1973 that I remember getting my first baseball cards and holding them in my hands. The likes of Rod Carew, Hank Aaron, Tom Seaver, Tug McGraw, Catfish, Rollie, Gaylord, and so many stars. All the colors of the cards and photo's so vivid; these will certainly be worth money someday, but ...................... they are so much cooler in the spokes of my bicycle tire! Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick and with each tick that value went down, down, down to zero. The only remnant I still have from that first pack is a Thurmon Munson card that is bent in half. :-(
But it was my first collectible purchase, and there would be many more. Sport card shows, wholesale card suppliers, family heirlooms, a trip to an in-laws passed away antique hoarders home, garage sales, hand me downs and online purchases. It was 2005 when we relocated to Florida that I was attempting to start the same type of business and I had a booth at Renningers Market in Mt Dora, FL. I made a purchase of various resaleable wholesale items and I set up shop on the weekends at the Flea Market. Unfortunately, the owners of the market were making me, and everyone under the outdoor pavillion, move to a field location with no electricity because one dollar store was taking over the pavillion. This was unacceptable, so I left the market and I have slowly been getting rid of everything I purchased ever since.
So at nearly the age of 50, it is time to eliminate EVERYTHING! I would like to one day travel around the U.S. with an RV bidding on storage units all over. As my experience grows, I should be able to spot the better units, and with the growth of online bidding, I can bid on a unit and arrive the same day the unit auction ends. Ideally, I would love an RV with an adult toy storage area to use for auctions. What an awesome life it will be, but first, if I don't get rid of everything I have, I won't be going anywhere, so the first "Estate" I will be selling off is my own. Ironic, yes it certainly is. But it will be fun going through everything and recalling many of the memories. Of course, I will be giving stuff to my two sons, but everything else will be sold.
So come here to follow the stories of those collectibles, as well as the trials and tribulations of buying and "RE" selling the items I find as-well-as the lots and units I buy. I will include photo's and stories, and even video when I can. So come back soon, I have one estate auction and 4 storage unit auctions under my belt that I will be posting and updating the information regarding the contents. Until the next post, happy hunting and I wish EZHelp4U.
It was the summer of 1973 that I remember getting my first baseball cards and holding them in my hands. The likes of Rod Carew, Hank Aaron, Tom Seaver, Tug McGraw, Catfish, Rollie, Gaylord, and so many stars. All the colors of the cards and photo's so vivid; these will certainly be worth money someday, but ...................... they are so much cooler in the spokes of my bicycle tire! Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick and with each tick that value went down, down, down to zero. The only remnant I still have from that first pack is a Thurmon Munson card that is bent in half. :-(
But it was my first collectible purchase, and there would be many more. Sport card shows, wholesale card suppliers, family heirlooms, a trip to an in-laws passed away antique hoarders home, garage sales, hand me downs and online purchases. It was 2005 when we relocated to Florida that I was attempting to start the same type of business and I had a booth at Renningers Market in Mt Dora, FL. I made a purchase of various resaleable wholesale items and I set up shop on the weekends at the Flea Market. Unfortunately, the owners of the market were making me, and everyone under the outdoor pavillion, move to a field location with no electricity because one dollar store was taking over the pavillion. This was unacceptable, so I left the market and I have slowly been getting rid of everything I purchased ever since.
So at nearly the age of 50, it is time to eliminate EVERYTHING! I would like to one day travel around the U.S. with an RV bidding on storage units all over. As my experience grows, I should be able to spot the better units, and with the growth of online bidding, I can bid on a unit and arrive the same day the unit auction ends. Ideally, I would love an RV with an adult toy storage area to use for auctions. What an awesome life it will be, but first, if I don't get rid of everything I have, I won't be going anywhere, so the first "Estate" I will be selling off is my own. Ironic, yes it certainly is. But it will be fun going through everything and recalling many of the memories. Of course, I will be giving stuff to my two sons, but everything else will be sold.
So come here to follow the stories of those collectibles, as well as the trials and tribulations of buying and "RE" selling the items I find as-well-as the lots and units I buy. I will include photo's and stories, and even video when I can. So come back soon, I have one estate auction and 4 storage unit auctions under my belt that I will be posting and updating the information regarding the contents. Until the next post, happy hunting and I wish EZHelp4U.
SHOUT - A Storage Hunter's Online Unique Tale!
Hello! I am Eric Zink, owner and operator of EZHelp4U, a division of EZ Enterprises, LLC, and welcome to SHOUT! A Storage Hunter's Online Unique Tale!
There is an overwhelming increase in the publicity surrounding storage unit auctions and the items found in them. Shows like Storage Wars and websites such as Storage Unit Auction List make following some of the ins and outs of the industry, but highlight the better aspects and not the down and dirty side. This blog and item sales outlets of www.ezhelp4u.com and www.ebay.com/usr/ezhelp4u is going to be a way for you to follow the ins and outs of buying storage units, estate sales, garage sales, and other public auction items, and the resulting resale of these items, thus giving you a unique look inside the business.
There is an overwhelming increase in the publicity surrounding storage unit auctions and the items found in them. Shows like Storage Wars and websites such as Storage Unit Auction List make following some of the ins and outs of the industry, but highlight the better aspects and not the down and dirty side. This blog and item sales outlets of www.ezhelp4u.com and www.ebay.com/usr/ezhelp4u is going to be a way for you to follow the ins and outs of buying storage units, estate sales, garage sales, and other public auction items, and the resulting resale of these items, thus giving you a unique look inside the business.
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