When Mike Haskell was a kid, he sold books on eBay for a few dollars and flipped discontinued Lego sets for a profit. By the time he turned 18, he had scaled that instinct into something considerably more serious: a storage unit flipping operation called Mike’s Unique Treasures that generated roughly $135,000 in 2025 — and another $85,000 between January and mid-July 2026, according to ForumDaily New York, which covered the story based on a CNBC report.
Haskell buys abandoned storage units in New York and neighboring states, sorts through the contents, and resells items on eBay and at auctions. His base of operations is his mother’s home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, where the garage, hallways, and spare rooms have gradually filled with antique lamps, vinyl records, Cold War memorabilia, wooden furniture, and stacks of books — each container neatly labeled with a lot number or description in black marker.
The story is a useful lens for anyone curious about physical reselling as a side hustle. The headline number is eye-catching, but the mechanics underneath it are what actually matter.
How Storage Unit Auctions Work
The business model starts with a legal process most people never think about. When a storage unit tenant stops paying rent, the facility eventually acquires a lien on the contents. After a statutory notice period, the unit goes to auction — typically sold to the highest bidder, sight mostly unseen. The buyer gets whatever is inside; the facility clears the debt.
Haskell’s first unit cost him $10. Inside was a carbon dioxide cylinder he sold for $40 — a modest 4x return that was enough to get him hooked. His typical maximum bid is around $500, though the most consequential purchase of his career so far cost $450: a unit that turned out to belong to disgraced Manhattan art dealer Andrew Crispo. Inside were a painting by Dadaist and Surrealist artist Man Ray and several drawings by modernist Walt Kuhn.
That single find changed the trajectory of the business — and convinced his parents it was worth taking seriously.
What You Actually See Before You Bid
Bidders typically get to view a few photographs of the unit’s contents, but they cannot enter or handle anything before placing a bid. That information asymmetry is both the risk and the appeal. Haskell describes it plainly: not knowing exactly what’s inside is part of the excitement.
But he’s also developed a more systematic approach than simply hoping for treasure. His method involves reading contextual clues — what he calls “connecting the dots.” University memorabilia in a unit, for example, might not be valuable on its own, but it signals that the previous owner completed higher education, which in turn raises the probability that the unit contains more substantive items. “You don’t make money by looking at things that are right in front of you,” he has said. “You have to connect the dots between different little objects that might not seem like they’re worth anything at first glance.”
He and some friends also built an AI-based tool that searches for notable individuals among storage unit owners — a way of flagging units that might contain historically or culturally significant items before bidding.
The Sorting and Research Process
After winning a unit, Haskell spends several hours emptying it, then transports everything back to his mother’s house for sorting, research, listing, and storage. Items can sit there anywhere from two weeks to two years while he waits for the right buyer.
To estimate value, he uses Google Lens and ChatGPT alongside direct comparisons with completed eBay listings — a practical combination of AI-assisted identification and real market data. eBay’s sold listings are particularly useful because they show what items actually cleared, not just what sellers are asking.
His primary sales channels are eBay and live auctions. For niche or specialist items — art, collectibles, memorabilia — auction houses can reach buyers willing to pay more than a standard eBay listing would attract.
The Real Startup Costs
The viral framing of “trash to treasure” tends to underplay what it actually costs to run this kind of operation. Here’s a more grounded breakdown of what someone starting out would need to budget for:
- Transport: A truck or van is essentially non-negotiable. Storage units contain furniture, appliances, and bulky items that won’t fit in a sedan. This is one of the largest upfront costs.
- Bid capital: Even at Haskell’s $500 maximum per unit, running multiple bids per month requires working capital. Many units will contain little of resale value, so the model depends on volume across many purchases.
- Storage space: Haskell uses his mother’s home, which has absorbed a significant amount of inventory. Anyone without that option needs to factor in the cost of renting storage — which adds a layer of irony but is a genuine operational expense.
- Listing and shipping supplies: Boxes, bubble wrap, tape, poly mailers, and a reliable scale add up quickly when you’re shipping dozens of items per month.
- eBay fees: eBay charges a percentage of the final sale price plus any applicable payment processing fees. These need to be factored into margin calculations before listing, not after.
- Time: Haskell currently spends 20–25 hours per week on the business. That’s a meaningful commitment alongside school or a full-time job.
The Risk Profile: This Is a Volume Game
The Crispo unit is the kind of story that makes storage unit flipping sound like a reliable path to windfall profits. It isn’t. Most units contain ordinary household goods, broken furniture, and items with little resale value. The business works because the occasional high-value find more than compensates for the duds — but only if you’re buying enough units and managing costs tightly enough to stay profitable across the whole portfolio.
Haskell’s approach reflects this. He caps bids at $500, keeps his sorting operation lean, and uses free or low-cost tools (Google Lens, ChatGPT, eBay’s own search) to research items before investing time in listing them. Treating every unit as a potential jackpot is how people lose money in this business. Treating it as a numbers game with disciplined cost controls is how Haskell has made it work.
How to Find Storage Unit Auctions Near You
Haskell regularly uses several websites to find upcoming auctions. The main platforms in the US include StorageTreasures, Bid13, and AuctionZip, which aggregate listings from facilities across the country. Many states also require facilities to publish lien sale notices in local newspapers, so checking local classifieds can surface auctions that don’t appear on the major platforms.
A few practical tips for evaluating units before bidding:
- Look for density and organization: A unit packed with labeled boxes suggests a methodical owner who valued their belongings. A unit full of loose garbage bags is a different proposition.
- Check for furniture quality: Solid wood furniture, even if dated, tends to have resale value. Flat-pack particleboard generally doesn’t.
- Spot contextual signals: Branded items, sports equipment, musical instruments, tools, and electronics are all indicators worth noting — even in a brief photo review.
- Set a walk-away price before you bid: Auction energy can push bids past rational limits. Decide your maximum before the bidding starts and stick to it.
Treating It as a Real Business
Haskell’s mother helped him sign documents when he was a minor, and sometimes negotiated with buyers while he was in class. That kind of operational support matters — but so does understanding the regulatory and financial side of running a resale business.
In most US states, reselling goods commercially requires a sales tax permit or reseller’s certificate. Depending on volume, income from reselling is taxable and should be tracked carefully. eBay now issues 1099-K forms to sellers above certain thresholds, so keeping records of purchase costs, transport expenses, and platform fees is essential for accurate tax reporting — and for understanding whether the business is actually profitable.
Margin tracking doesn’t need to be complicated. A simple spreadsheet recording the cost of each unit, the revenue from items sold out of it, and the associated shipping and platform fees is enough to identify which types of units are worth pursuing and which aren’t.
Haskell is heading to Emory University in Atlanta, and he’s candid about the uncertainty ahead — Atlanta is less densely populated than the New York tri-state area, which means fewer storage facilities and potentially thinner auction competition, but also a different market dynamic. He’s already thinking about adjacent opportunities: building and managing storage facilities, and house flipping. The skills transfer.
For readers considering this model, the most useful takeaway from Haskell’s story isn’t the $135,000 figure. It’s the discipline behind it: capped bids, systematic research, careful inventory management, and the patience to wait for the right buyer rather than liquidating everything at a loss. That’s what turns a weekend hobby into a business.
