# Estate cleanouts and storage units > Abandoned storage units, estate cleanout finds and mystery lots, sorted and resold piece by piece. A won unit or an attic full of boxes can hold anything from old vinyl to a broken vacuum. You win by sorting fast, researching the few valuable pieces with care, and moving the rest on cheaply. Live shows suit this stock. Viewers on Whatnot stay to see what you pull out of a crate, and unknown items get a fair market price in the room. Better pieces earn more as careful single listings on eBay, Etsy for vintage, and Poshmark or Depop for clothing. Furniture and bulky pieces go faster as local pickup on Facebook Marketplace. Keep a box for personal papers and photos from the start. They come with most cleanouts and should never go on sale. ## How to pack it - Wrap each piece in bubble wrap, with extra around handles and rims. - Pack it in a double-wall box and fill every gap with paper. - Shake the box. If anything moves, add more fill. Avoid: Thin boxes for china and glass. Heavier packages stacked on top crush them. - **[Double-wall boxes, 18 × 12 × 8 in, 15 pack](https://sellersetups.com/us/product/double-wall-boxes)** ($45 to $70): Double-wall cardboard resists crushing better than single-wall, so your boxed sneakers arrive intact. - **[Bubble wrap, 12 in x 175 ft](https://sellersetups.com/us/product/bubble-wrap-roll)** ($15 to $30): A long perforated roll costs several times less per foot than the small packs sold at the post office or a drugstore. - **[Honeycomb paper wrap roll](https://sellersetups.com/us/product/paper-void-fill)** ($20 to $35): Stretches into a cushioned mesh and goes in the paper recycling. Choose it if low-plastic packaging is part of your shop's pitch. - **[4 × 6 in thermal labels, 500 fanfold](https://sellersetups.com/us/product/thermal-labels-fanfold)** ($8 to $16): Fanfold stacks feed flat behind the printer and hold more labels than a roll. 4 × 6 in matches the label size USPS, UPS and the marketplaces print. ## Shipping per order - USPS Ground Advantage, 1 to 2 lb: $7.61 to $13.42. Shoes, jeans and boxed items up to 2 lb, tracked with $100 insurance. - USPS Ground Advantage, up to 3 lb: $8.64 to $16.30. Heavier clothing bundles and boxed items up to 3 lb, tracked. - UPS Ground, up to 5 lb: $12.00 to $25.00. Tracked UPS Ground for boxed items up to 5 lb, for when it costs less than USPS. ## Bidding on a unit or quoting a cleanout You usually see a unit from the doorway, so look for clues: branded boxes, furniture shapes, sealed plastic totes. Set a ceiling before the auction opens and stick to it. Count the cost of emptying it. A truck rental, a helper and dump fees can wipe out the profit on a unit that looked cheap. ## Sorting a full unit in a weekend Set out four zones: sell singly, sell in bundles, donate, and dispose. Move every item once, into a zone, and don't stop to research during the first pass. Photograph labels, maker's marks and serial numbers as you go. Research the sell singly pile in the evenings with your phone photos instead of handling everything twice. ## Researching the pieces worth real money Look for sterling and karat stamps, signatures on art, pottery marks and first edition details in books. These turn a $5 lot into a $100 single sale. Check sold prices, not asking prices. If you still aren't sure, get a second opinion before you list low. ## Showing mystery finds live Unbox on camera with an overhead arm and good light so viewers can see marks and damage. Read out flaws as you hold each piece up. Start interesting unknowns at a low price and let bidders compete. Plain household items sell better as a bundle than one at a time. ## Packing odd shapes, glass and decor Cleanout stock means china, glass, picture frames and old toys, rarely in their own boxes. Wrap fragile pieces in bubble wrap, fill every gap with paper and use a double wall box for anything breakable. Do a shake test before you seal it. If anything moves, add more fill. Heavy boxes often ship cheaper with UPS Ground than USPS, so compare on Pirate Ship before you print. ## Honest listings for used and vintage goods Describe wear, chips, smells and missing parts in plain words, and photograph them. Cleanout buyers accept age and expect you to tell them about it. Writing as is doesn't protect you on eBay, Mercari or Poshmark. If an item doesn't match the listing, the platform's buyer protection usually sides with the buyer, so the description has to be accurate. ## Common mistakes - Bidding on a unit without counting truck rental and dump fees makes a loss look like a bargain, so add disposal to every bid. - Researching every item before you sort the unit wastes the weekend, so sort first and research the shortlist. - Showing a letter or photo with someone's address on a stream exposes them, so clear personal papers before you go live. - Shipping china in a thin single wall box ends in a refund, so use double wall and fill every gap. - Keeping slow items for months clogs your space, so set a deadline and donate what hasn't sold. ## Setups - [Storage auction garage setup for Whatnot, Etsy and eBay](https://sellersetups.com/us/setups/clearance-lockup-live-and-etsy): Sort a won storage unit into four zones in a weekend, open mystery crates live, and keep the 20 year old pieces back for Etsy. ## Questions ### How do storage unit auctions work in the US? When a renter stops paying, the facility can sell the contents under its state's self-storage lien law, after the notice steps that law sets out. Sales run on site or through an online auction site, usually as a whole unit seen from the doorway. Read the terms on cleanout deadlines, cash deposits and sales tax before you bid. ### What do I do with personal documents I find? Set aside IDs, financial papers, letters and family photos and hand them to the facility manager or the estate client. Shred anything they don't want. Never list or show personal details on a stream. ### Can I sell old electronics from a cleanout? Sell them as untested or for parts or repair unless you have tested them, and say what you checked. Leave out anything with frayed cords, scorch marks or a missing plug. Old plug-in items can be a fire risk. ### How do I price things I don't recognize? Search eBay sold listings with a photo search or the maker's mark. For anything that looks old or unusual, ask on a collector forum or put it in a live auction from a low start and let the room set the price. ### Is cleanout income taxable? If you buy units or cleanout jobs to resell, that is usually a business. Profit goes on your federal return, typically on Schedule C, and you deduct what you paid for the lots along with your other costs. The IRS site explains the rules, and a tax professional can apply them to your case. ### What should I do with things that won't sell? Give each item one or two chances, then bundle it, donate it or recycle it. A thrift store drop-off and a dump run are part of the job, so budget for the time and the gas.