I am a sucker for an auction. Jeeps for $1. Houses for $500!
Are those numbers real?
I’ve spent tens of millions of dollars buying products at auctions for my businesses and personal life.
Here’s what I have learned, what I have bought, and how you can find the deals you are dreaming about.
Be Bold:
If a deal is good, buy it all. Figure out the money later. A good deal always finds the money.
While I was in college, I started going to storage auctions. Just like in Storage Wars, we would watch as they cut off the lock and peek inside to see if there was any treasure.
One of my best buys was a woodworking storage unit. Since I knew nothing about woodworking or carpentry, I walked around the crowd, listening for information.
I could hear people saying things like, “I would pay $500 for that tool,” or “Those saw blades are worth $300.”
When the auction started, no one was bidding. What I learned later was that no one wanted to buy it ALL. A couple of guys (me included) finally started to bid, and I won the entire storage unit for $587.
I then walked back around the crowd and sold that tool for $500 and those saw blades for $300.
Everything else was free. My future wife and I sold everything else locally for the next three months.
I was hooked!
Act Fast:
I used to travel all over the U.S. chasing auctions. This was before the Internet leveled the playing field.
When an auction company would call me to say there was a last-minute auction tomorrow – I hustled my ass to the airport so I wouldn’t miss it.
At an auction in Olathe, KS, I was there with six other guys.
Six other guys! We had all gotten the last-minute call. The auctioneer had alerted hundreds of business owners, and we were the only ones who acted fast to be there.
I spent $437,345 that day. I put it on all credit cards. Those sweet, sweet points that I gained with that charge– oh my.
Do Your Research:
Whoever has the most knowledge wins. When you show up to buy at an auction, you won’t have time to look things up once the auction starts.
RULE #1: Know where and how you will sell something before you buy it.
Early on, I went to a government auction in Stockton, CA. For some reason, there was a massive quantity of those anode rods that go inside water heaters.
I don’t know anything about water heaters, but I know how to make phone calls, and I found a guy who would pay me $1.25 each if they were new.
I bought them all.
There were about 3000 of them on the pallet. I paid $0.05 each for them. It wasn’t a Jeep for $1, but $3,600 in profit for a college kid was gold.
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Be Reliable:
Once you build some relationships with auction companies, you will get access to special deals.
The auctioneer’s main priority is speed. They have to get through things fast to keep on schedule. You want to be the person speeding things up – NOT slowing things down.
When you win an auction item, quickly communicate your buyer number or name.
Make your payment immediately. Leave your contact information with the back-office people. Tell them you want to know about their next sale.
Get everyone’s name at the auction company. Send a thank-you email, or better yet, mail them a thank-you card.
Treat them like you would your best customer. Buy them a gift basket when you get a great deal.
Make them fall in love with you.
It’s All Business:
If you pursue these auctions, you will inevitably be at some location that is closing – going out of business.
Don't go to auctions if you have a problem profiting from situations like this.
But remember, these funds you are paying will help pay off the debts of the company that is closing. You are helping to get them out of this trouble.
I am writing this while sitting in a Herman Miller Aeron chair.
These chairs retail for around $1400. I bought mine as we walked around the office of a Silicon Valley startup.
The people at the company were still sitting in these chairs while we were bidding on them.
I bought 50 of them at the auction for $123 each. I kept one for me and one for my business partner. We sold the rest, and the profit was glorious.
How to get started.
One of the first things you can do to start learning about buying at auctions is to get involved in our $5 Mastermind.
You can ask questions and learn from 150 others who are learning together.
Join us here!
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How I can help you today
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