Every man for himself or is there etiquet buy a half dozen go home?

You can only get 'bid up' if you are too proud to stop bidding. I think the whole idea of 'bidding someone up' is funny... Like people who don't win the auction trying to make themselves feel better

Sam

There is no such thing as bidding someone up

Of course there is. Bidding someone up is nothing more than throwing out a few bids on a unit knowing someone else will pay even more. The one bidding up doesn't want the unit, they're just making the one that wants it pay more by doing this. The immediate advantage to this is that the winning buyer can run out of money faster and not be able to bid on units later in the auction. The two long term advantages to doing this are that the winning buyer might get gun shy about bidding against you in the future or that you might cut into their profits enough so they disappear altogether.

It is funny to watch SW and read your posts... If you do this as a business, you should never pay more than you can make money reselling and the same goes for the other guy... There is no such thing as bidding someone up - just bidding what your willing to pay. I am relatively new to the storage auction scene but have been doing auctions and reselling for a decade. The auction houses love me because I will bid on ANYTHING I can make money on. And I bid until I can't make money. I don't care if I am bidding against a 'regular,' a 'whale," or the pregnant widow of 5 children.  If you want it, you have to be willing to pay more than I am...

Sam

PS - I love when someone gets the idea of 'bidding me up.' I don't have any problem with staying at an auction all day bidding 100 times and walking away with nothing while those 'bidding me up' walk out with a substantial bill.

I disagree, some may think I am being a jerk, but I have purposely bid higher on a unit just to keep a newbie from winning it or getting it for a price cheap enough to make a good profit on it. From my point of view, the industry is already too competatitve, and the last thing I need is more competition. Letting newbies get good units on the cheap only encourages them to attend more auctions and bid on more units, and then tell their friends about it. The only thing I want newbs telling their friends is how much money they lost on buying a storage unit and not to try it themselves. 

I had to deal with the same thing from the "old timers" for the first 6 to 8 months of going to auctions until they got use to seeing my face. I still see a certain group of "old timers" who like to run each other up. Part of me thinks they know that they tend to get inside information from the managers or employees, so when they see each other bidding on a unit they think the other "knows" what my be inside and bid it up. Just part of the game.

It is funny to watch SW and read your posts... If you do this as a business, you should never pay more than you can make money reselling and the same goes for the other guy... There is no such thing as bidding someone up - just bidding what your willing to pay. I am relatively new to the storage auction scene but have been doing auctions and reselling for a decade. The auction houses love me because I will bid on ANYTHING I can make money on. And I bid until I can't make money. I don't care if I am bidding against a 'regular,' a 'whale," or the pregnant widow of 5 children.  If you want it, you have to be willing to pay more than I am...

Sam

PS - I love when someone gets the idea of 'bidding me up.' I don't have any problem with staying at an auction all day bidding 100 times and walking away with nothing while those 'bidding me up' walk out with a substantial bill.

The post quoted above provided a good laugh !      Logic just went out the window !

Not sure if this topic has come up but someone had an intersting thread about do you care who wins a unit and talked about a "whale".

Anyhow, do you think there's an unspoken rule or etiquete about if someone's taken half the days units they should call it a day and go home or is it more this is business every man for himself and may the best man win?

I suppose this question is more suited towards the circuit type auctiosn where everyone is spending the day following one auctioneer around rather than just bouncing around to random auctions.

Part of me says yes extend a little courtesy to your fellow buyers but I can also see the argument if someone has the money and can get rid of that volume more power to them. If they suck they will run out of money soon enough and if they are that good they deserve to win and take all the units

I will say that when I see this on a circuit where everyone is following all day and everyone knows one particular guy has gotten 12 of the 15 units or something like that everyone groans when he bids and you start to see the whole auction following as a whole start running that person up.

Just curious your guys thoughts

That the risk you take? If a person has the money buy what you want . If you buy them all thats the way it goes.

personally i would never bid somebody up just to make a unit less profitable for them or to discourage them from comming back. i wouldn't want someone to do that to me so why would i do that to them?

also, we are all here trying to make a buck, if were all senselessly bidding on crap we don't want just to make others pay more were all missing out on money and putting more money into the pockets of the storage facility and/or the defaulted unit owners.

for an analogy though kind of wierd i would almost liken it to the mafia during prohibition or even gangs and drug sales today. the smart ones realize that though they may not like each other and may not want to be friends certain behavior causes them both to not make money. wierd analogy i know but sorta along the same lines.
get along be peaceful with each other and everyone makes more money.

the only time i ever run someone up is if someone has taken 8 out of the first 9 unites or the day or something like that. or occasionally if a newbie shows up whos too big for their britches waiving money and talking about taking every unit of the day and stuff like that.

other than that i think were all better off if were somewhat cordial and courteous to each other b/c if i run you up then you run me up and the only winner is the storage facility

Well we usually buy about 6-10 units a month on average. I only Bid on a unit I want and I feel I can make a profit from, If I wanted to I could buy every unit that is up for auction for that day but I dont. Everything is a gamble and what you see from the outside may not look as pretty once ya get inside.

Do people make money....Yep they do BUT they have lost money too and it sucks ASS when that happens.

I paid $725 for this past unit and I HOPE I break even....x fingers and toes cause I dont see it happening. The guy that got another 1 I had bid on but stopped at $400 was there loading his up also and let me tell you I should of kept bidding cause that baby was loaded with nice tools and generator and power washer and air compressor AND AND AND the list goes on and on BUT you could see any of that from the junk that was in front. Well it wasnt really junk just didnt compare to what was behind it...

Ive kicked myself in the ass the past 2 days over it.....Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

LIFE GOES ON.................LOL