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As a new season of Storage Wars prepares to launch on A&E on April 16th, I decided to watch the previous season’s two part finale episodes, Nobody’s Vault But Mine and Still Nobody’s Vault But Mine, which both aired on March 25th.

I hadn’t had a chance to watch the show since the news of Dave Hester’s lawsuit broke last winter and he stopped filming. I was curious to see what the show would be like without Hester and his infamous, “Yuuup!”

As I’ve stated before on the blog,  previous to this job I had never been a fan of the show, but immediately watched everything I could get my hands on to familiarize myself with the world of storage hunting and the cast and all their various bidding methods, and the tips and tricks they sprinkle throughout the show. I was instantly hooked when I did begin watching.  I quickly made my way through the first few seasons of the show and then started to watch the Texas episodes as well as catching the first few episodes of the New York spinoff.  I was a huge fan of New York, and found Texas to have its own unique flair as well.

A few things struck me as I watched the latest installments.  For one thing, the cast seems to be much more self-aware than they were in the early episodes. For example, Darrell actually mentions that he wants to buy a vault that appears like it may contain artwork, because he’s now known as the art guy. While it is true that he is speaking to his status within the ranks of the cast within the setting of the show, he is also clearly drawing on his public persona and the media surrounding his purchase of a unit full of original Frank Guttierez artwork that aired in December and was valued at a whopping $300,000.

The show also appeared to take a sly poke at Hester’s claims during the segment of the show where each cast member searches through their lockers to find items to take for appraisal. As is standard to the show’s format, they check in with each cast member during this process. Barry has won a vault with a desk inside and he proceeded to rifle through several drawers looking for something unique and potentially valuable, as Barry is well known for loving collectibles and vintage items, sometimes even refusing to sell items that he wins. Suddenly Barry seems excited and after finding nuts inside the middle drawer of the desk. He appears thrilled and proceeds to alert the audience to exactly what he has found. He claims that they are “Brazilian prophylacanuts” and that they are extremely rare and get their name from the contents inside. He then smashes one of the nuts to reveal a contraceptive device.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t giggle out loud when I watched.

After a beat, Barry reveals that he brought the nuts himself to liven up the last locker of 100 that the two shows covered. While Barry has always been a cut up, this specific gag pertaining to finding something “rare” and strange inside a locker did seem like it could be A&E’s clever way of addressing the recent Hester lawsuit, by using lovable, prankster Barry to address the situation without actually addressing the situation; using sight gags and props and avoiding giving the news any further traction or allowing it to become part of the focus/conversation of the show. 

Since the second season of the show, new bidders have been introduced and have popped up periodically to spice up the show and ruffle the feathers of the other bidders, including Nabila Haniss, the late Mark Balelo, and much maligned Jeff Jarrod. In the two episodes I watched, Mark was present, as well as someone who was new to me, Ivy and a team of auction hunters, Herb and Mike who I’d also never seen before.  Like with all present and past cast members, each of these periphery characters have distinctive personalities that help them stand out and make for great reality television programming. Ivy was much more in the vein of Hester and Sheets, while Mike and Herb were like two glorious spotlight hogs, taken to chewing the scenery whenever possible, and reminding me of Chris and Tad in the New York version of the show.

Initially, I felt like the show had jumped the shark a bit by getting rid of Hester, especially when Mike and Herb got an appraisal on beauty crowns from a child who looked like she could have been on Toddlers and Tiaras and just ended up at the wrong taping. But then I recall all of Barry’s shenanigans through the years, and it doesn’t seem so outlandish for the tone of the show. 

While the cast may be a bit more media savvy these days, and it is a bit more difficult to follow them as believable everyday joe blows, it is good to know that some things never change and that the show continues to entertain and follow the same tried and true format that has made it so popular. Previous to Barry’s gag at the end of the second episode, during the first episode he unearthed some pretty impressive vinagarettes from the 17th and 18th century. Every object has a story and a purpose and a history, which is what makes Storage Wars so cool and interesting. While the drama amongst the bidders tend to draw a lot of attention on the show, I for one, remain more excited about all the unique items  that the show creates a platform for and am always amazed by just what people will put in storage. 


 
In honor of Halloween, here are three of the most compelling haunted items sold on eBay. Take some inspiration from these sellers and get your spook on! Who knows...maybe you'll come across one of these items at the next storage auction

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The eBay Haunted Painting

This painting, entitled “The Hands Resist Him”” was created in 1972 by artist Bill Stoneham, and is arguably one of the most publicized haunted items sold on eBay. Its story is undeniably creepy: originally making its debut in a California gallery after its creation, it was bought by actor John Marley (of Godfather fame). After Marley’s death (and the subsequent death of both the gallery owner and the art critic who reviewed the painting), this spooky artwork mysteriously ended up in a dumpster behind a brewery, where a young couple picked it up.

From there, things started getting creepy. The couple’s 4 year old daughter claimed that the children in the painting would wordlessly come out of the painting during night and fight with each other, so the father set up a camera to record the painting. He allegedly caught images of the children moving (though no video has ever been seen), and after that they decided to sell the painting on eBay.

From there, the eBay listing caught fire and thousands of people flocked to the page to catch a glimpse of the haunted painting. People who looked at the image supposedly fell ill or fainted, and just the mere sight of the image made children cry hysterically (but who can blame them, it’s CREEPY!). After 30 bids, with the initial bid at $199, the painting finally sold on eBay for $1,025.00. 


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The Dibbuk Box         

This wine box was bought by an unknowing patron of an estate sale held by the family of a 103 year old Jewish woman who had passed away. The granddaughter called the wine box a “dibbuk box” (dibbuk is the Hebrew word for “a ghost or disturbed soul that possesses the body of a living person”) and warned the new owner not to open it. The box seemed to bring misfortune to everyone who owned it: one owner’s mother had a stroke after holding the box, another owner lost all of her hair, and what might be most remarkable is the similar nightmare many owners have had.

Several owners of the dibbuk box claimed to have had the same reoccurring, violent nightmare in which a family member or close friend transforms into a disturbing, gruesome “old hag” that violently attacks them. Some have even claimed to have woken up with bruises and cuts.

The box has had many owners over the years and has been sold on eBay several times. It was sold for $280 the first time it went up for auction. Since then, it has been researched by paranormal investigators and Jewish Rabbis alike. In fact, the dibbuk box is even the subject of a few books and a major motion picture, The Possession, which was released in August of this year. 


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The Haunted Rubber Ducky

You didn’t think you could get away without a good laugh, did you?

This story comes from 2004 when a man listed an allegedly haunted rubber ducky on eBay. According to his story, his toddler son received the duck as a gift and the two became inseparable at bath time. The whole thing seemed strange to his parents, however: he never showed any affection towards the toy yet he insisted on it being around at all times or he would start crying hysterically.

Eventually the boy began to claim that the duck was fighting with him, but no matter what his parents tried, the boy refused to give up the duck. Then one fateful night, things took a turn for the worse when the rubber ducky started melting all of the other toys in the bathtub. When the son tried to knock the duck away, it bit his hand, leaving a cut.

So naturally, the best thing to do in this situation is to sell your child’s tormentor on eBay. Don’t call a priest, don’t throw the thing away—put it up on eBay and make a couple of bucks off of it. Amusingly enough, the duck quickly sold for $107.50….but the buyer never paid. Who knows…maybe the buyer was really the angry ghost of the rubber ducky.


So do you think any of these items are actually haunted? Who knows....but it's certainly true: there's a market for everything out there, even the spooky, haunted, and downright bizarre. 
 
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Many people have opposing opinions on whether or not you should make nice with your fellow storage hunters. After all, it’s a business; these people are your competition, so you should harden your heart and take no prisoners. And you know what, that makes perfect sense—but I’m the type of person who likes to kill ‘em with kindness, so to speak. I’m of the belief that being nice can get you a lot further down the road than being a nasty old grouch.

Now, I’m not saying you have to be best buddies with every single person you attend storage auctions with and invite them over on Super Bowl Sunday. But chances are, you’ll find yourself at the storage facility early with a couple of the same regulars waiting for the auction to begin. Sure, you can stand there silently scowling like the mysterious lone wolf that you are, or you can drop the tough guy/gal act strike up a simple conversation. After all, every one of you has something in common or else you all wouldn’t be standing there at 6AM on a subzero winter morning.


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So here’s a radical idea for the next time you’re in this situation: why don’t you try being nice? Maybe you’ll find out through simple small talk before the auction that Joe’s passion is collecting Pez dispensers and he’s really hoping to find more to add to his collection. Lucky for you, you end up buying a unit that has a whole box of them. So then Joe offers to buy them all from you, on the spot. And he tells you to call him any time you find more. Done deal. You just made your first connection. That’s a lot easier than trying to sell them one by one at the flea market, isn’t it?

You see, you don’t have to be best friends forever. You just have to be nice. You might be thinking “but Dave Hester’s a jerk and he’s a millionaire!” Point taken. But being a jerk works for Dave Hester because he has been in this business for a long time, and is now in a unique position where he doesn’t have to answer to anyone. He’s a TV star. People watching at home eat it up when he raises the bid and then drops the unit on Jarrod and Brandi. But since we all don’t have the benefit of cameras following us at the auctions, being a bitter, spiteful fuddy-duddy like Dave Hester loses its charm.  


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Think of it this way: say you’re looking online for reviews of this new restaurant in town.  Each review you read says the same thing: the food is great, but the service is terrible. You can hear the owner in the kitchen screaming at his waiters. Thus, the waiters are miserable and hate their jobs, and in turn, hate you. What’s more, you’ve heard rumors that the owner sabotaged his competition’s food when the fancy New York City food critic came to town. But the food is great, trust me.

Does this really sound like some place you want to eat? Sure, the food is good, but at what cost? This relates to you as a storage hunter. Okay, you’ve got some great products you’re looking to sell, but if you’re a conniving, ruthless son of a gun, people will take notice. People will talk. Other sellers won’t want to network you, they’ll purposely bid against you, and potential buyers will be too afraid to approach you. Word of mouth spreads like wildfire, especially in such small crowds.

Contrary to popular belief, backstabbing and being a jerk isn’t always the best life strategy. I know many will disagree, but I don’t think it works for businesses, either. You can still be assertive, you can still show the newbies who’s boss, but you don’t have to be a jerk. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Give it a shot and see for yourself the difference it can make. 


 
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Put those cards down, kid! Do you have the copyright for those?!
As a storage hunter, you know that the resale industry is very important. Why even attend a storage auction if you can't resell the goods you find, right?

Well, thanks to a case currently being reviewed by The Supreme Court, reselling goods that you bought might soon be considered illegal. That sounds absolutely ridiculous, right? How is that even possible when you already paid for it fair and square? Well, according to this absurd and alarming article , it's entirely possible. Take a quick look at it.

 The basic gist of this story is about a young man named Supap Kirtsaeng who came from Thailand in 1997 to attend college in the good old U.S. of A. When he discovered that his text books, made by a company named John Wiley & Sons, were significantly cheaper to buy in his home country, he asked his family to buy copies for him and send them over here. After he was done with them, he resold them on eBay and somehow managed to make roughly 1.2 million dollars. John Wiley & Sons, after hearing about this and probably pretty burned that a college kid had managed to outsmart them, subsequently sued him for copyright infringement. This is the money-grubbing, legal-action-happy kind of thing that would happen only in America.

Kirtsaeng countered the case with the first-sale doctrine, which up until this point, protected and allowed buyers to resell goods that they had legally purchased without the permission of the original copyright holder. This included all goods, ranging from DVDs to books to artwork and anything in between.  However, in 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower court’s ruling that anything that was manufactured overseas is not subject to the first-sale doctrine, meaning, by their skewed logic, that it only applies to goods physically made in the U.S.

Kirtsaeng’s case does not end here, however; The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the case on Oct. 29.

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Mario, what are YOU so happy about?!
In the meantime, let’s talk about how this affects you as a storage hunter, and the country as a whole. John Wiley & Sons miraculously win this case; this could mean some serious changes are in store for the resale business. Changing this law would mean you could not even simply sell your car, even if it was manufactured by an American company. Do you know how many foreign made parts are in that thing?

Hey, are you trying to sell at a flea market? Be careful, I heard the police are confiscating non-American made goods. Hey storage hunter, did you find a Nintendo DS in a storage locker? Sorry, you can’t sell that unless you get permission from Nintendo…they’re a Japanese company, after all.  In fact, using this logic, the auctioneer probably can’t hold a storage auction without getting permission from every single foreign copyright holder for every single item in this locker!

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The only man who can save us.
Does that not sound like the most ridiculous joke you’ve ever heard? We might as well be living in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie where the entire world has fallen into poverty except for Big Brother, who laughs and watches us starving and killing each other just to survive. And if that happens, I expect to Arnold Schwarzenegger to come in, guns blazing, and save us all from our imminent doom. Give me a break!  

Imagine: companies like Goodwill would probably go out of business. Half of the stuff you donate couldn't be sold or purchased without permission from the copyright holders. Nobody would care enough to donate their goods or even hold a tag sale…getting a copyright to sell a Furby sounds like too much work. So instead, we start throwing everything out; perfectly good items that we no longer need go in the trash, piling up on street corners, landfills, sewers, backyards—everywhere. Resale, as well as the concept of recycling, becomes obsolete, and sooner than later we’ll be living in mountains of garbage that we can’t resell and won’t bother to reuse.

Now obviously, this is an extreme worst case scenario, but what I’m trying to illustrate is just how ridiculous this is, and the fact that we need resale. So many Americans depend on secondhand goods, whether they make a living off of selling them, or they’re able to live more comfortably by buying them at reduced prices. And this is exactly why I think this case doesn't stand a chance.

So storage hunters, get out there and exercise your rights to resell goods! Help your fellow Americans live better lives by saving them some money. Help the environment and the world we all share by keeping junk out of landfills. And help yourself by knowing your rights and standing up for them! 

 
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Practically everyone and their grandma is on Facebook. In fact, Facebook now boasts over 950 million users logging on in a given month…29 percent more than a year ago. With facts like that, it’s easy to see why Facebook is the most successful social media website in the world. Many businesses big and small have taken notice, making Facebook fan pages a must-have for any aspiring entrepreneur in the year 2012. You're probably thinking: what does this have to do with storage auctions? Well, even you as a storage hunter can use it to your advantage! Here’s why:

Free Advertising

This is the best reason for any business to make a fan page. You have a place to reach out to fans and potential customers without paying a penny! Facebook does offer paid ads that will help boost your reach, but they’re not necessary to be successful on Facebook. Word of mouth, even in the digital age, is one of the best ways to gain a following. If you have a shop of any kind, promoting it is the best way to make sales. How are people going to know to buy from you if they don't know you exist?

Connect with a Larger Fan Base

You may be well known to the antique dealers and collectors in town, but if you’re looking to broaden your horizons and network with people all across the globe, this is the best way to do it! Not only can you find new customers, you can also make new connections. Who knows, if you ever decide to  travel to a California storage auction, wouldn’t it be nice to have a familiar face when you got there?

Show the World What You Got

People on Facebook love pictures. This works great for if you have an eBay store. Share links to products with the community on Facebook to spark interest, and maybe even get people to share the photo with their Facebook friends. The more eye catching the photo, the better! Tread lightly with this, however: if you post too many pictures with a “BUY NOW!” caption, people are going to get angry and assume you’re just spamming them. Nobody likes a spammer.

Get Real and Share Your Stories

Facebook fan pages are a great way to show customers a “behind the scenes” look at what you’re doing. Take pictures of the bizarre things you found in a storage unit, or share a funny joke that the auctioneer told the crowd. People love feeling like the seller they’re dealing with is a real, relatable person, and it will make people trust you more. The more people trust you, the more people will want to buy from you!

Offer Specials, Promotions, Etc.

If you’re running a sale in your shop, Facebook is a great way to let people know. Certain selling sites like Etsy even allow sellers to offer “coupon codes”, which you can share exclusively with people who like your Facebook page. May Facebook savvy users offer free giveaways through Facebook, or offer discounts if a certain amount of people like their page. This is an excellent way to get more traffic flowing through your page—people can’t refuse a bargain!

So storage hunters, if you have a shop of any kind, whether it’s good old brick-and-mortar or online, Facebook is an indispensable tool to build your customer fan base. Whether we like to admit it or not, we’re a society that thrives on social media, and only the smartest and internet savvy businesses survive. 


 
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For some people, "secondhand". Who would spend hours at a storage auction picking through somebody's old unit just to find worthless, used junk? Who would step foot into a thrift store and rifle through old, nasty things that people threw away? Well, all of that is a huge misconception, because secondhand goods are pretty awesome.

With the economy the way it is, more and more people are turning to secondhand goods, and the stigma of "used" items is becoming far less--making storage auctions an even more viable source of product for your eBay store of flea market table. So next time someone tries to belittle you for picking through old storage units, here are some great comebacks that you can use to stop them in their tracks. 

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It's Cheaper.
The most obvious and probably best reason to shop secondhand is the price difference. Say your child wants an XBox 360 for his birthday. There's no way you can afford it new....but go on eBay and look at used ones. You'll be surprised at the money you'll save! Som people get hung up on things like not having the original box, or a tiny superficial scratch here and there, but really--if the product works as well as a new one, what's the big deal? The only difference will be the amount of money you spend. And for us, that's a good thing.  
It's Good For the Earth. 
Many people don't realize that by purchasing and selling secondhand goods, you're actually doing the environment a huge favor. All of those goods you found in the storage unit you just won could have easily ended up in a landfill, sitting there for years and taking up more space in our already overcrowded dumps. But by selling and buying secondhand goods, you're keeping all of these perfectly useful goods out of the dumps, and in the homes of folks who might not have that much money to play around with. So not only are you helping the Earth, you're helping your fellow human beings! 

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It's Unique. 
Sure, you can go to the mall and buy a brand new, mass produced ACDC shirt that was made in China. Or, you can shop secondhand and get an authentic World Tour tshirt from 1979. It's up to you...but we know which is the cooler option. Secondhand goods can make really great gifts, as well, especially for collectors or people with unique interests. 

It's Fun. 

Most importantly, buying and selling secondhand goods is fun! You never know what you're going to get--it's a brand new treasure hunt every time. You might buy a storage unit filled to the brim with antiques, or maybe vintage comic books, or something completely different. If you keep your eyes open, you can find some incredible things that people just decided to throw out. It goes to show you that the old saying is true: one man's trash is truly another man's treasure.  

So what are you waiting for?! As you can see, the odds are clearly in your favor. Start your storage hunting career today and become a master of secondhand selling!