Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 183 - 182: Making a Small Fortune

Chapter 183: Chapter 182: Making a Small Fortune

The auctioneer, who is also the manager of the freight yard, explained the rules briefly using a loudspeaker and began opening the containers in sequence.

The first container was opened, filled with densely packed paper boxes.

From the front view, only the paper boxes could be seen, and nothing else was visible.

The boxes ranged from one-meter cubes to the size of shoeboxes, with no labels on them, making it difficult to discern their contents.

After opening the container door, the manager said:

"These were declared as electronic products from Pengcheng City during customs clearance. Take a look, everyone. The auction will begin in three minutes."

With that, he stepped aside.

Someone stepped forward to touch the boxes, but the manager quickly stopped them.

There wasn’t much more to see after that.

Howard Richardson whispered:

"Brother, what do you think? Should we bid on this?"

"We can." Sean Knight whispered back. "These packaging boxes have no labels, so I guess they’re second-hand mobile phones, pads, or notebooks. If the starting price isn’t too high, we should be able to make some money."

At that moment, Zane Sterling approached them and asked:

"Brothers, are you interested in this container?"

"A bit," Howard responded. "If the price isn’t too high, we plan to take it."

"Alright, then. I won’t compete with you guys," Zane said politely, which made Sean quite fond of him.

This guy seems quite decent.

Of course, he might not be after this container in the first place.

Three minutes later, the container auction started, with a starting price of 1,000 yuan and price increments of at least 500 yuan each time.

"3,000!"

"3,500!"

"4,000!"

"5,000!"

The bidding kept going back and forth. Although there was no tongue-clicking sound, Sean’s familiar feeling returned.

The price reached 28,000 yuan, and fewer people were bidding.

Howard timely raised his sign:

"30,000!"

His participation shocked the few people who thought the container’s auction was about to end.

This guy doesn’t play by the rules!

He didn’t bid at first, only to suddenly step in at this moment, apparently coming prepared!

"35,000!" someone upped the bid, seemingly trying to scare off the competition.

"36,000," Howard calmly offered.

"36,500!" someone else with limited financial capacity reduced their bid increment.

"38,000!" another person still thought they could try to compete.

Although the bidding wasn’t as crazy as before, the competition remained intense.

The temporary auctioneer, who was also the manager, was somewhat surprised. He hadn’t expected the first container to be so sought-after!

He suddenly thought about suggesting to his boss that they should do this more often. More auctions would mean more funds for the freight yard.

"51,000!"

"52,000!" Howard maintained his steady pace, which annoyed the other competitors.

This is a tough opponent!

Two of the bidders, who had previously competed against each other, exchanged glances and shook their heads tacitly.

Then, they stopped bidding altogether.

Sean saw everything that happened.

Heh, some people wanted to play by unwritten rules, huh?

Didn’t see that coming.

Eventually, Howard secured the container for 52,000 yuan.

The eager auctioneer handed Howard the paperwork to sign and pay.

"This belongs to you now. Please clear it out by today," the manager said after collecting the money and writing a receipt. Then, he proceeded with the auction for the second container.

Howard eagerly went over to open the boxes, and several people watched from the sidelines.

Sean asked:

"Not going to bid anymore?"

"Nope. Our domestic stuff is really abundant — unlike when I went with you, where the containers were filled with junk!"

Sean couldn’t help but chuckle.

Indeed, domestic containers are usually utilized to their fullest capacity, packed to the brim.

It’s rare to see containers like the ones found in New York Harbor, which are filled with garbage and second-hand clothes and seem quite "spacious."

Since Howard didn’t want to bid any further, Sean didn’t continue either.

The main reason was that they didn’t have a proper channel. Even if they won another container, it would be difficult to handle its contents.

In fact, Sean had already checked the other two containers.

One was filled with high-quality imitations of various boxes and bags. If a distributor could be found, it would also be profitable.

The other container was full of wood, which was pretty good as well.

However, these two containers were unlike the first one, as the wood and bags were visible as soon as the container doors were opened. It’d be hard to find a hidden bargain in them.

"Chargers?" Howard opened the first box, revealing five charger boxes inside. He wasn’t disappointed but rather surprised: "There are chargers, which means there must be compatible electronic products, like phones or tablets. Nice!"

Sure enough, after opening another cardboard box, several mobile phones were found.

Although they were second-hand and two or three years old, there were so many of them!

Howard eventually turned the task of unpacking boxes into a game. He would pick and open boxes, throwing chargers to one side, and excitedly showing Sean the phones and tablets he found.

"Brother, you should unpack some too! Half of these are yours!" Howard said with a smile. "Don’t be lazy!"

Sean didn’t argue with him. He slowly opened a few boxes, then asked:

"What do you plan to do with all these items?"

"Sell them!" Howard kept unpacking as he answered. "I have classmates who deal with second-hand goods. I can ask them. Don’t worry; there’s a market for these things."

Sean felt relieved.

At this point, the other two containers were also auctioned off.

As expected, since the items were blatantly displayed, the container containing the bags went for eighty-three Thousand, while the one containing the wood went for 161,000 — both high prices.

Of course, compared to the items, these prices still allowed for a considerable profit.

Zane Sterling successfully bid on the container with the wood. After completing the paperwork, he didn’t immediately check his goods, as the manager said the items inside still needed to be inspected.

He walked over to Sean and asked with a smile:

"Good stuff?"

"Second-hand goods." Sean pointed at the second-hand mobile phones inside an open box.

"Darn! You guys made a fortune!" Zane looked regretful. "Well, it’s your turn to get rich."

Sean had already figured out his intentions. Zane probably targeted the container with the wood.

"You’re getting rich too. The wood seems to be of good quality."

"Haha." Zane Sterling chuckled. "Brother, wanna exchange contact information? We might have a chance to make money together in the future?"

"No, thanks. I won’t be around here in the future," Sean shook his head. "I don’t think there’ll be any opportunity."

Zane didn’t insist. A few more words were exchanged before he walked away to talk to the manager and staff.

Howard had had enough fun with unpacking and called someone to come over. He planned to hand over the goods right there.

Sean laughed and said:

"Brother, you’re good at this!"

"Of course, you did the same back then. I went all the way there, so I should at least learn something, right?" Howard said proudly.

He had reasons to be happy — there were hundreds of second-hand phones, and they were sure to make a huge profit this time!