In this tough economy we live in, people are looking for ways to make some extra money. The TV shows (Storage Wars, Auction Hunters, and Auction Kings) out there showing this niche industry of buying and selling (flipping) tend to glamorize it for the audience. It even reminds me of the “Flip this House” show when the housing bubble was in full swing. I know people do make money flipping storage units, but it isn’t the way they show it on TV most of the time. The guys on Storage Wars are pros and probably buy 6-10 units a week. So eventually they will hit the jackpot units.
You can watch all these shows “Storage Wars, Auction Hunters, and Auction Kings” online at A&E, Spike, or Discovery respectively. They are very entertaining and I have watched them all. I am not fooled about the hype. This type of work is hard work and there is a chance to fail at it and lose money on your purchase.
To watch more realistic versions of how these storage auctions work out, go to youtube and watch how others have done it. It is more accurate of how these things work. I embedded some videos below.
Lastly, I became addicted to watching these shows. I watched all of them courtesy of the internet all in one week. I couldn’t get enough. So I found an ex professional storage flipper by the name of Glendon Cameron at the UrbanPackRat.com. He has 229 videos posted on youtube telling of his personal experience in the niche industry. I have actually gone through his entire blog and read every post and watched the majority of his videos. I may have possibly watched them all. 
You may ask why would I do that. There are a few reasons but it is simply because I can relate to him. I worked in the collections industry for over 20 years and you meet many types of people. So when he tells his stories they make me laugh because I have met many characters, too.
Some of his videos are focused on attitude and what type of mind set you need to be successful. This is also needed in the collections field. It is easy to fail in a budget and commission field. Many times when I managed my collectors, they had the attitude of failure and had many reasons why they couldn’t succeed. The excuses ranged from the paper is bad, the dialer is slow, other collectors are getting fed, etc. The real reason they would not succeed is their attitude sucked and the excuses justified having a bad month.
Lastly, I use to buy and sell on Ebay heavily. I have a few names and have transacted over 2500 transactions. I made decent money and sold comics and jewelry supplies. That takes a lot of work to list, take pictures, package and mail the items, and leave feedback for every item. I sent out items within 24 hours of receiving payment. Again, this is for smaller item stuff. I can only imagine it is much more difficult trying to sell the stuff you buy in storage auctions like used furniture and clothes on Craigslist, Ebay, and in thrift stores or warehouses like the pros do. You have to drive to different cities, move the stuff out in 24 hours, sort through it, google different items to see if they have any value, store them somewhere, and then dump all the junk or crap at the dump. Then you have to sell it which simply takes time.
I am not saying don’t try it, but just be aware the shows don’t show all you have to do to be successful. I don’t think you find all the treasures like the pros find on every episode and are able to flip them for a profit the next day to cover the cost of your storage purchase. In these 20 minute shows, that is what it appears to happen.
For me personally, I enjoy the shows for what they are. It is simply entertainment and I don’t fool myself into thinking I have the personality and work ethic into becoming a storage seller or professional flipper of clothes and furniture. I even believe 70% of the stuff they show on TV are fake and done for the purpose of making a more exciting show. All 3 shows have something fake about them. Storage Wars only has the same 4 guys bidding against each other. I don’t buy that being real. Auction Hunters win on every purchase. Definitely full of crap. Auction Kings have fake phone buyers buying junk for thousands of dollars. Again, I just don’t buy it.
Ciara
Blake Lively
Scarlett Johansson
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