Auctioneer

I was at a unit auction last night...the storage unit owner was acting as the auctioneer.   I was the the leading bidder when he decided to also start bidding on the unit.  Is this legal and ethical?   

Welcome to the forum. Legal? Yes  Ethical? Not so much. Did he outbid you?

he decided to alo start bidding on the unit. 

He was running the bid up to his own benefit, everyone there should've immediately walked away.

He was running the bid up to his own benefit, everyone there should've immediately walked away.

Or, he could have looked through the unit before the auction and found something he was interested in.

Or, he could have looked through the unit before the auction and found something he was interested in.

He would've removed it.

I can't imagine why he would have done that unless there was a whole lot of something he wanted. Otherwise he would have just taken the desirable items and auctioned off the rest so he didn't have to clean out the locker. Did he win or just run it up a bit?

He would've removed it.

Not necessarily, there is always the chance that the tenant will pay up at the last minute. Besides, there is nothing stopping a manager/owner from making the highest bid, then reducing the amount on the paperwork.

its all part of the game. especially when managers run the auction it's anything goes. I LOVE the unprofessionalism though, it keeps a  lot of people that are interested in "fairness" or that feel they are entitled away from a very lucrative auction.

he had to have just been bidding it up.

If he was smart and wanted something in the back he could have just auctioned it off, stated it was contingent on the owner paying ... say he was giving them another hour, then go into the unit grab the stuff and then let the winner empty it out.

This would allow him to get what he wants while not risking the owner paying at the last second.