The Future of Storage Auctions has Arrived

Virtual Storage Auction is now live. Check it out and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them on the site's forum.

http://virtualstorageauction.com/

As promised, the site is completely free to use. No buyer's premium and no seller fees. It's not just for storage facilities, private sellers and auctioneers are welcome to sell their units as well. It will probably take a few months to get going, but once the storage facilities that are using Storage Battles realize that they can get the same service for free, they will abandon ship. Since the site is free and offers a legal alternative to storage facilities located in states where online storage auctions are questionable, I think it will attract a lot of new storage facilities that haven't had their lien sale online before. 

Virtual Storage Auction is now live. Check it out and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them on the site's forum.

http://virtualstorageauction.com

My compliments to whomever did the layout in those units.

My compliments to whomever did the layout in those units.

Believe it or not, both are real foreclosures.

No dust, no piles of trash bags, neatly stacked boxes, aisles, etc...
I don't recall ever seeing a unit so neat, let alone 2 of them.

The first online auction was posted on Virtual Storage Auction today. It's a private sale in California with what appears to be store fixtures.

http://virtualstorageauction.com/auctions/non-lien-sale-private-seller/mission-viejo-california/

It's a private sale in California with what appears to be store fixtures.

A great unit for someone opening a store or for a metal scrapper.

The first online auction was posted on Virtual Storage Auction today.

Congratulations !  The FIRST is always memorable ! 

Now to see how it plays out especially considering the following:

1) Starting price appears to be $1,010 (I don't think anyone can bid $1K as it already says current bid..though I think that's not an actual bid).

2) Reserve not met...wonder what that amount is?

3) Store fixtures (at least in my area) are quite common especially in bulk. There are at least two stores that have them for sale in bulk or piece by piece.

4) In the Mission Viejo area I would think a lot of that stuff would be available too.

5) It's not available for two months. I guess if your store opening was 2 to 3 months from now you could take a chance you would get it; if you already had a store and could wait two months that would be a LITTLE different.

BUT, it will be interesting to see what it goes for.

I hope no one gets bent out of shape because of the two pics and a clist link I am providing below. I am doing so only to show what I think many prospective buyers would do if they saw the gondola auction above starting at $1K. If I was in that area and needed shelving I would look on clist right after seeing the listing. I would have found multiple sales of stuff available right now, that I could touch, haggle on price and take away with me today.

The first pic shows gondola sections at $100 per section. You would 10 at that price (don't know how many in the auction since we can't count them (really) and lister didn't elaborate (something I think I would have done) ).



The next pics shows similar gondolas being sold at $251 each.



The link below shows a lot of product but gives no price for all or by the piece.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/bfd/3721334296.html

Of course the Los Angeles area is huge, but depending on where one lived I would guess there would be product available.

That said, I'm sure this lkr will sell...we'll just have to wait 2 months to see for how much.


Edit: A while I ago I did an edit and said (mistakenly) the sale was in Fresno, not LA area. I don't know where I got that idea as I checked it again, and Mission Viejo IS in the LA area. Sorry for any confusion a few of you may have experienced if you read this around 3:45 pm Pacific time. 

Edit #2: Now I know why I had Fresno on my mind. The map in the listing shows the marker near Fresno. Fresno is 265 miles NORTH of Mission Viejo.  Map needs some work assuming the sale is really in Mission Viejo.
No $100 gift card needs to be sent....happy to help with this fledgling project. 

Yeah, we will see how it goes. The seller definitely left plenty of time for exposure. I'm going to be keeping an eye on how many views he gets.

I think anyone who is planning on opening a store starts looking for this type of stuff months in advance.

You're right, the seller should elaborate more. I sent him an email suggesting that he add some more detail. People can ask him questions through the site though.

Here's where Fresno is compared to Mission Viejo.

Since he didn't add an address, the maps thrown off.

Since he didn't add an address, the maps thrown off.

Clist has that map feature too (you can opt to use it or not). I don't use it, instead I put in my own graphic map
with a nice big red arrow pointing to my storage unit location.

I put in my own graphic map
with a nice big red arrow pointing to my storage unit location.

Is the red arrow labeled "Waldo"?

Since he didn't add an address, the maps thrown off.

Looked at it today (4/8/2013) and map now shows a marker in city of Mission Viejo. Chances are any one interested in this auction in California already has some general idea of where that city is, but the early Fresno map shown did throw me for a loop for a few minutes. Just a bug. Users can't be expected to cooperate with the fine points of the software the way a software planner would.

I'm going to be keeping an eye on how many views he gets.

The first time I looked at it there were 20 views; now on 4/8/2013 there are just over 80 so that's a big jump in maybe 3 days. I think I looked at it maybe 8 times of those 80 plus.