Storage Battles Raising Buyer's Premium To 15%

I didn't say they were stupid; however, a lot of them assume that they're only paying a 10% fee to sell. Most don't realize that buyers are reducing their bids to compensate for the buyer's premium. As the industry grows, more storage operators will become aware of the high fees Storage Battles charges. Storage Battles is getting away with it now, but eventually the industry will get tired of it and look for cost effective alternatives (like us.)

Why wait? Make some phone calls and talk to those facilities, you know who they are. Become a big enough pain, then maybe they will buy out this site :/

Why wait? Make some phone calls and talk to those facilities, you know who they are. Become a big enough pain, then maybe they will buy out this site :/

The site isn't for sale; however, I am in negotiations with a potential financial partner. We're both optimistic and we've covered the major concerns, but we still have some smaller issues to discuss before a contract is drawn up. God willing, if the deal goes through, I'll be able to hire a full-time sales team to market the site to storage operators, among other things.

Everyone has a price... you're no different.

Everyone has a price... you're no different.

I can't argue with that, but it would have to be a ridiculous number. I've received good buyout offers, but this niche is in its infancy and if it continues on the same track, online storage auctions will be a 100M industry within a decade. Selling now would be moronic. In life, you might only get one shot to make something really big happen. For me, this is it, and I plan on seeing it through until it has reached its full potential.

IT's like anything else, start with a good thing... and then they want to gouge you later on...  People will be forced to transfer over and to pay their 10$ a month.. Maybe though, just maybe you will be able to make comments about storage facilities that are not on the up and up to people that might be buying them (I doubt this)  and maybe you can contact other buyers by their bidders name/number...  Sometimes I see one item I want but don't want to buy the whole unit...

If they do this it might be worth while to pay the 10$ a month. I hope the auction site is a tad faster and can handle the workload too!!

I emailed customer support and asked them to put that feature in.  There are times when I want one or two items out of the unit and I want to be able to sell the balance to the next higher bidder.  If they aren't interested then so be it but at least its an option.

They responded " No.  Its illegal.  You have to empty out the room in its entirety"

idiots.

They responded " No.  Its illegal.  You have to empty out the room in its entirety"

idiots.

Why are they "idiots" for not wanting to break the law? 

I emailed customer support and asked them to put that feature in.  There are times when I want one or two items out of the unit and I want to be able to sell the balance to the next higher bidder.  If they aren't interested then so be it but at least its an option.

They responded " No.  Its illegal.  You have to empty out the room in its entirety"

idiots.

You could always buy the unit, take what you want out and then resell it here. That way you never have to move the contents of the unit.

Why are they "idiots" for not wanting to break the law? 

Because its not illegal.

To put a bidder history, with usernames and an internal contact feature that does not provide any real name or contact information is just a useful update

Ex:

$300 - auctionguy
$290 - jim2512
$280 - auction3429
..etc.

I win at 300 and each other name is a link that I can click and talk to the other bidders.

If i'm at a real auction i hear what everyone bids and can talk to them about selling.  If I'm on ebay I can see what other people bid and contact them ..etc.

You could always buy the unit, take what you want out and then resell it here. That way you never have to move the contents of the unit.

Thats exactly the point ... you can do that, which would make them more money which is why they don't mind that work around.

Just telling me illegal when its clearly not is just a cop out of a person who doesn't know what they are talking about.

I'm fine if they just told me to mind my business or no, its too much work but to tell me its illegal, when its clearly not, is just plain ridiculous.

I win at 300 and each other name is a link that I can click and talk to the other bidders.

Now, that's a killer feature.  Innovative and forward thinking.  As long as you clean out the unit as required, any resale arrangements facilitated through the site, after the fact, must be 100% legal - the transaction's long over at that point.  Perhaps SB/ST misconstrued how you wrote the question.

they should be offering a 5% buyers fee so online auctions actually take off and are worth it. by raising the price they are pricing themselves out of the market if theyre not careful. also i dont know if they charge on the sellers end but if they don't they should start doing that seeing as theyre the only game out there right now. And it saves the facilities the charge of an auctioneer. by offering no buyers premium(as most on site auctions do) or a very small one they will get more customers. this should not be about making money for them right now, it should be about getting a great market share quickly before someone else comes in and does it better(which would not be hard to do).

Now, that's a killer feature.  Innovative and forward thinking.  As long as you clean out the unit as required, any resale arrangements facilitated through the site, after the fact, must be 100% legal - the transaction's long over at that point.  Perhaps SB/ST misconstrued how you wrote the question.

Thats exactly how I wrote it.  I didn't expect a parade but I did expect a response that wasn't a blatant misrepresentation of the industry.

There are already barriers for users so these sites need to be quick to adapt to new features.  Otherwise they will be outpaced by scalable sites offering features that are geared towards the buyer/seller ... which in this industry is the same person.

I've been playing around on the online auctions for a couple of months now and see a bunch of areas where improvements are needed.  Its obviously going to take time for the bugs to be worked but I'm hopeful that it will all eventually fall into place.

Also ebid, if you are ebidstorageauctions.com my first suggestion to you would be to remove the registration required to see auctions.

I'm not sure if you are up or running yet but people want to see the rooms and that the site is legit before they invest the time to create a profile and provide their contact info to 3rd party.

If the rooms are good and plentiful you'll have sign ups.

also i dont know if they charge on the sellers end but if they don't they should start doing that seeing as theyre the only game out there right now.

They charge a 10% premium to the seller, a $20 cancellation fee per unit and now a 15% fee to the buyer. So, essentially, the seller is paying 25% commission on every unit sold in addition to an average of $60 in cancellation fees every month.

it should be about getting a great market share quickly before someone else comes in and does it better(which would not be hard to do).

They were the first movers in this market and they have brand recognition. They can get away with price gouging for a little longer. I agree though, someone could build a better mousetrap (we did  ), but there is a lot more to this than just building a better site. Anyone entering this niche at this point better have some deep pockets because of the enormous overhead this niche requires for marketing, development and personnel. A startup would need to invest at least 300K a year for the first few years to even stand a chance.

I'm also convinced that some of the Storage providers BID up units.. I had one that went for 430$ or so, I bid (ran it up really) to 350 and didn't want it dropped on me.  Some jerk ran up to 430 and won it, then didn't pay..  The auction site emailed me asking if I wanted it for my bid of 350..  Maybe a buyers feedback system could help. At least know they are not just bidding for the first time or something, have at least paid for a unit or two. Now if they would have wiped out all his bids I would have had the unit for maybe 100$. I would have been okay at the 350 mark except I felt I was being played..  Be nice to sorta see who you are up against if they are ligit or what.