Attorney Jeff Greenberger to speak about online storage auctions.

Attorney for the self-storage industry, Jeff Greenberger will be speaking about online storage auctions at the 2014 Inside Self-Storage World Expo. Dan and Laura Dotson of “Storage Wars” will also be speaking.

It should be quite the show considering that Dan seems to be at war with some other other online storage auction site owners, who will be present.

I really, really, really want to go. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend. However, I'll see if I can get a video of the workshop. I'm sure it's going to be a memorable event.

Big, big mistake. You're always talking about growing your business but you miss one of the best opportunities to do so.  If the Dotsons are fighting with your competition, why not go and try to secure them for yourself?

Doing everything by remote control just doesn't cut it...but that's just my opinion.

I agree. Believe me, I'd be there if I could. I'll be attending self-storage industry events and trade shows very soon. 

Granted, I'm a relatively new follower to this industry - but I'm a little confused about the strategic positioning of these players.  I'll be at the ISS show and looking forward to what these folks have to say.

ST's banner and logo have appeared on SW w/ the Dotsons.  And supposedly there's some connection between them and Lance - meaning the Dotsons buy into the online model by promoting ST on the show.  Or maybe those shows were filmed before ST started doing online auctions?  I dunno, predates my knowledge, you guys know I'm sure.

And now the SB/ST merger announcement, which appears to be a validation of the online model and a logical consolidation.  Even perhaps an endorsement of online auctions by the Dotson, if in fact there's a connection between them and ST.

Then, Don tweets about the online model threatening the live auctioneers (twitter hashtag #StorageAuctions) - Indicating some degree of concern on their part that online auctions will really be taking off in coming years.  Or maybe just throwing a log on the fire?

And with all this focus on SB and OSA, what about these ibid4storage.com guys?  They seem to hold consistent online auctions (all in Canada), but haven't made a push into the US market.  I wonder why?

I'm definitely biased here, since I believe that doing these auctions online makes more sense in terms of logistics and efficiency.  It'll be interesting to see if these guys speaking at the show make a compelling case one way or the other, in terms of practicality, acceptance, or legal standing.

Let me see if I can sum this all up for you.

Yes, Dan own's a share of ST. The last time I spoke with him he was trying to get ST to buy him out.

It seems that Dan is disgruntled with the SB & ST merger, because it interfered with his business plans.

I agree Dan's posts on Twitter are somewhat confusing. He's saying that online only auctions threaten auctioneer's existence; yet, he's setting up an online only auction page on his own website 

It remains unclear whether Dan will be speaking out against online only auctions entirely or whether our service (since we're free and we allow auctioneers to use our service) will be part of the debate.

It also remains unclear whether Jeff Greenberger will be speaking out against online auctions or whether he will just be educating storage facility operators (in certain states) about the risks and how to protect themselves from wrongful foreclosure lawsuits. I contacted him for an interview a few days ago, but have yet to receive a response.

This debate should be entertaining at the least, especially when you consider SB & ST will probably be sitting in the front row.

As for ibid4storage, I've often wondered the same thing. Maybe they like the niche they're in and don't want to compete with the American front-runners.