The Future of Storage Auctions Has NOT arrived; online auctions will not prevail

2) Regular auctioneers have a vested interest in seeing online auctions fail...their interest is obvious.

That's because Storage Battles and Sealed Online Bids excluded auctioneers. Why were they excluded you ask? Because they don't want to share their commission with an auctioneer. We realize that auctioneers are an integral part of the storage auction business which is why auctioneers are encouraged to use VirtualStorageAuction.com. Since we're free to use, we're not concerned about their commission. The auctioneers can keep their money in their pockets where it belongs. 

3) We as auction buyers are the ones who will determine if online auctions flourish or not

I totally disagree. Online storage auctions are very convenient for facilities. Plus, they recover more money than they would with a traditional sale. It's just a matter of time before online storage auctions become the industry standard. If a majority of storage facilities start holding their sales online, buyers will follow. 

...personally, I'm not buying  into onlines for the following reasons:

a) I don't feel I can get a good enough view through pictures (I don't care how many they post)

I beg to differ. With the zoom feature in these photos, you can see things that you wouldn't be able to with the naked eye.

b) Until smell-o-vision comes to the internet and they can effectively give me the smells of a locker in question. Sorry.

If you purchase lockers based on how they smell, you're missing a lot of good opportunities.

c) The sense of what the buying crowd feels about a locker can not be measured in online auctions.

I have never let the crowds reaction to a unit influence my buying decision. I'll buy anything I can turn a profit on regardless of what anyone else thinks. However, you can gauge the popularity of the units being sold online by looking at the bidding activity which is located below the unit's description.

d) I can't talk to a storage manager (or other buyers) about a locker or locker owner history before making a bidding
    decision.

You have to question people's motives when they tell you something about a unit or a tenant. I base my buying decisions based on what I can see in the unit. Anything else is gambling.

Sorry, I'm just not buying online auctions and I mean that in more ways than one.

That's okay. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. You seem to be doing better as a picker anyway. 

efg etc . 
 The facility owners in my area are more concerned with getting the unit back onto the available inventory than they are with getting even with the rent . They arent going to want to wait a week or 10 days for an online auction to run , get paid and cleaned out. Especially when they are turning away new clients because they are out of 5x10s or 10x10s

I have absolutely nothing to gain by stating what I think about the online auctions. Can you Travis legitimately say the same thing?

If I read the legal notices correctly they might say: Auction, April 5, 1 p.m. (at such and such physical address).
People show up, auction happens, money paid, lkr cleaned out. Lkr available to re rented out to a new person.

A legal notice for an online auction MIGHT read like this (I hardly read them, so this isn't totally accurate).

Online auction of Lkr #456 to be held online STARTING April 5, 1 p.m. and ending April 15, 1 p.m. (followed by details on URL for online auction, terms of payment, etc, etc.

Seems like there's some lag time in there to me for re-renting the lkr, but maybe I'm just plain wrong as I am the average schlub who buys used to buy these things on a fairly regular basis.

I wonder if it isn't easier for an online buyer to back out of a deal than it is for a person who actually attends. There is a certain anonimity to the online experience after all. AGAIN

A online buyer could back out just as easily as someone could leave an auction without paying. On our site, if a buyer doesn't pay a storage facility, their IP address is blocked from using the site again. The advantage of an online storage auction in this situation would be that the storage facility can still contact the next highest bidder.

No, the notices are more like this: ABC storage facility will be auctioning off the following units on VirtualStorageAuction.com. Auction begins on March 28th and ends on April 5th at 12:00 PM.

Or, for states where online storage auctions are questionable. ABC storage facility will be auctioning off the following units on VirtualStorageAuction.com and conducting an In-Person sale. Online auction begins on March 28th and ends on April 5th at 12:00 PM. Live Sale begins April 5th at 1:00 PM. Units will be sold to the highest overall bidder.

As you can see, it doesn't take any longer than a tradition sale would.

In your quote directly above, I just don't understand how the online auction is happening just as fast a regular auction.

Yes, a live auction buyer could back out and the auctioneer would be able to sell the unit RIGHT THEN to the 2nd highest buyer (if the 2nd highest bidder hadn't left the scene)

The auctioneer won't realize that the buyer has left until everyone has finished paying. Everyone is gone at that point. The chances of the second highest bidder still being there are slim. At least with an online storage auction the facility has access to the second and third place bidder's email addresses and phone numbers.

On the other hand the online auction buyer could possibly wait a bit (day or two) to decide to pay or not? Is THAT possible? If he backed out two days after the auction ended, then then the 2nd or 3rd bidder had changed their minds as well, the day count starts to add up.

Sure it's possible, just like it's possible for a live bidder to change their mind and leave without paying. Just like it's possible for a second a second or third place bidder at the live sale to change their minds as well.


I think the TIME FACTOR here is an important issue for facilities which the point one of the posters above was making.

In your quote directly above, I just don't understand how the online auction is happening just as fast a regular auction. It has a 5 or 10 day spread as opposed to the one hour live auction. Again, maybe I'm just dense.

The auction online auction would begin before the auction date and end on the auction date.

An interesting aspect of the new site is the ability of running both auctions at the same time and ending the online auction just before the in person auction.

If you do that then the unit sold online and cannot be auctioned off again in person.

Also, the storage facility can press a button and notify the highest online bidder that they were outbid at the live sale.