Storage auctions, conducted online. Input, feedback and some questions answered.

Hello everyone,

Disclaimer - I am an employee of Sealed Online Bids - A central resource for online storage auctions.

I know some of you are familiar with us, and I know a few of our members actually post here.

After a quick search I found a few posts regarding our service and I wanted to clarify a couple things regarding some comments that were made, then open this up to any questions, comments or feedback you may have. Fire away.

First off, contrary to our business name, we do NOT operate under the sealed or silent bid format. That was our original intent, but it was quickly dismissed. Our auctions are standard live format, just like eBay, etc. We will be changing our name at some point soon, to alleviate any confusion. We do actually provide the option for self storage businesses to conduct sealed or live format auctions, but everyone of course chooses "live" as their preferred format.

Yes we are expanding across the US and Canada. Currently our staff is deploying a team of sales reps in nearly every key city in the US. Right now we are in Nevada, Utah, Ohio, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Arizona and California. Like I said, many more are on their way.

Our team makes certain that the companies we work with abide by the laws and cross every T and dot every i. In the beginning I went along with one of the biggest self storage companies in the US, to witness their entire legal process (cutting locks, photographing contents, etc) to get a firsthand look at what is done. I have done this with many others and they all are very strict - foul play is a a big misconception. I'm sure it happens out there somewhere, but not with us.

If you have questions, feedback, comments, etc. feel free to speak up. We're all about customer service and want to make sure we're doing what we need to, to make this work great for everyone.

I personally hope yall get some lockers to auction off here in San Antonio or surrounding area. Hope your sales team really sells yalls name down here

jrossjr79: Texas in general is a big push for us right now, mostly because of the demand and the huge physical size of the territory.

We actually just secured a new self storage business that has 6 locations in Texas - Austin, Allen, Forney, Grand Prairie, Murphy and Terrell (we will announce who the self storage company is on Facebook once the ink dries).

We don't have reps placed in Texas yet, but that is in the process. From what I'm told, the plan is to get sales personnel out in the field targeting Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in an attempt to get a triangle-effect of coverage going.

jrossjr79: Texas in general is a big push for us right now, mostly because of the demand and the huge physical size of the territory.

We actually just secured a new self storage business that has 6 locations in Texas - Austin, Allen, Forney, Grand Prairie, Murphy and Terrell (we will announce who the self storage company is on Facebook once the ink dries).

We don't have reps placed in Texas yet, but that is in the process. From what I'm told, the plan is to get sales personnel out in the field targeting Dallas, Houston and San Antonio in an attempt to get a triangle-effect of coverage going.

thats good to hear, lol, mmm, tell you what put me on your sales rep team, I will get you some facilities here in San Antonio and surrounding areas.

What  u got in the Los Angeles area

BigBizzz - The same company that is bringing us the new Texas locations, is also bringing us another 300-400 facilities in quite a few different western regions and states (through numerous affiliations). California, LA specifically, will fall into this deal. I'm hoping to see California rolling by late fall. We are working on other tactics that will hopefully kick in even faster. Speed to market is our focus right now.

Keep an eye on us - like I mentioned above, we post any breakthroughs in content to Facebook as soon as we can make it public.

Ill check yall out keep updating

Any prospects for Washington? While I like going to the auction s in person I would be up for trying the online business it woudl give me an opportunity to see more places. 

Do they ever pull a unit from auction because the owner came and redeemed it?  I have seen this a lot at live auctions where a payment is made while the auction is going on.  Oce the bidder had paid it is over and the unit belongs to the biidder till then the owner can pay it off.

Have to say I have bought the best stuff off this site.

@drbecker - Washington: right now the closest thing we have going on in your general region is Vancouver. Washington (Seattle namely) is coming, but actual times are yet to be determined. It depends if the people making the decisions above me plan to hire someone in EVERY major city in the US. i have been told what the primary cities are, but I've also heard the plan to put a few sales reps in every city in the US with a population of a million or more (then work their way down to outlying regions).

Lots going on, lots to do yet.

 Looks like what we need in south part of NM as its a pain to drive 180 miles round trip and wind up empty. some caravans do 300 miles in one day round trip. and the auctioneer is an employee of the LKR co. its crazy she scatters the lkrs out so 5 may be listed but they will do 1 at this place then she say ok were doing 2 next  week then if you make that auction it's 1 more next week. and the last locker gets listed again next month and go's for sale finaly.
 Then goto the next place or town same drill. So if you dont watch the website for auction dates and towns if you miss one your out cold. its just us regulars that showed up the week before, however its still nutts and you end up going home empty.  the gal may sell 3 lockers for a total of $150 and spend 10 hours doing it and 300 miles later they didnt make a dime they should have just opened the doors and let em go.

not to mention any " u store it " names.  I bet they would be all over it...LOL...

It gets just as crazy going AZ direction all they way to Tucson..

in fact AZ auctioneers end up all the way to elpaso TX.. LOL now thats a ride doing nationals storage. all the way down I-10 jog up to this town down to that one back up and across LOL.. its just insanity..

a site like this would make life much easyer here all around...

I know these kind of questions are going to get asked alot in this thread, any known plans for NC?

I'm not that familiar with your company but think the online auctions are a unique and kinda cool idea. That said personally though attending auctions can be a pain in the butt I kind of enjoy the whole process of making my auctino schedule for the day going to the auctions, being able to physically see the unit and every nook and cranny not just what someone took a picture of.

I don't ever think this business will be back to what it was but eventually I think this whole fad surrrounding the storage auction thing is going to die off and this is comming from someoen who has ebooks, sells lists, etc.

I'm all about the whole work smarter not harder but the actual process of buying the units has to be an in person detailed decision if you want to consistantly buy quality units and get them at a good price.

In my mind if someone can't take the time to attend an auction which in a  is a lot easier and more fun than the process of selling stuff I highly doubt they are going to be at the flea markets on the weekends at 6am or running all over town to consignment shops, dropping off craigslist sales or whatever else.

It is a cool concept and pretty much every type of sale venture and purchase is available on the internet so I suppose there will always be a market for it.

I''ll have to check out your website, I suppose I should have done that before commenting on something I know nothing about really but it is very interesting and I'll check it out. Curious to see if I may change my mind and decide to take a shot at online atuff if pics are good it seems like you can get a good idea of the unit and its contents.

I know these kind of questions are going to get asked alot in this thread, any known plans for NC?

@Fayettenam Man - no problem at all. I haven't heard anything about the Carolinas, but there are definitely enough big cities in NC for our plan of attack. Various trade publications have led us toward certain hot-spots and some are surprising. Will we end up there? Definitely. Just not sure when.

Like i said above, we are interviewing new sales personnel right now - some will be starting in the next couple weeks. Depending on how this goes and how much of a management load our Sales Manager can handle, I'm hearing that we'll keep hiring and hiring until we are in every state in the US. The market is there, the demand and the customer base is there; it's just a matter of time. And hopefully not much time.

@rulesforrebels - In the beginning, I heard a lot of negativity from the "live auction regulars" as we call them. A bunch of "it'll never work - I have to see it in person." But it's working and working really well. Just as bwd111 said above, his best (read: most profitable) finds have come from us and he's been doing this for almost 10 years. Even he was a big skeptic in the beginning. He'll tell you, among many others, that being there in person isn't as necessary as you're eluding to.

Also note - our software is in constant development. We're working on a feature now that will provide much more detail in regards to the unit's contents.

But I'm glad that it sounds as though you have a pretty open mind about it. For you, my biggest pitch is the fact that you can follow your live auction schedule around all day long, day after day, and may come home empty-handed. Lots of efficiency potentially lost. With our service, you have upwards of 7 days to study the contents, bid on only things you are interested in, then make that drive to simply pay and vacate the unit.

Funny you mention the fact that the industry will never be the same since the advent of the TV shows. We actually started this business before the shows came out (almost a year before). The shows certainly have helped us, but we had our biggest client locked in before the shows even started.

I'm not that familiar with your company but think the online auctions are a unique and kinda cool idea. That said personally though attending auctions can be a pain in the butt I kind of enjoy the whole process of making my auctino schedule for the day going to the auctions, being able to physically see the unit and every nook and cranny not just what someone took a picture of.

I don't ever think this business will be back to what it was but eventually I think this whole fad surrrounding the storage auction thing is going to die off and this is comming from someoen who has ebooks, sells lists, etc.

I'm all about the whole work smarter not harder but the actual process of buying the units has to be an in person detailed decision if you want to consistantly buy quality units and get them at a good price.

In my mind if someone can't take the time to attend an auction which in a  is a lot easier and more fun than the process of selling stuff I highly doubt they are going to be at the flea markets on the weekends at 6am or running all over town to consignment shops, dropping off craigslist sales or whatever else.

It is a cool concept and pretty much every type of sale venture and purchase is available on the internet so I suppose there will always be a market for it.

I''ll have to check out your website, I suppose I should have done that before commenting on something I know nothing about really but it is very interesting and I'll check it out. Curious to see if I may change my mind and decide to take a shot at online atuff if pics are good it seems like you can get a good idea of the unit and its contents.