The following opinions are my own for satirical purposes. It's up to the reader to form their own opinion as to whether any fraud has taken place in this event.

So, I got this email from Jim Grant today and yes he's still claiming to be the founder of the online self-storage auction industry. In this press release...well, I'll just let you read it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Inside Self-Storage Magazine Voters Name SelfStorageAuction.com
Best Online Auction Services

PHOENIX - Inside Self-Storage Magazine readers voted SelfStorageAuction.com, an online auction site that provides bidders with a centralized place to find self-storage auctions and attend live or bid online from virtually any location, as "Best Online Auction Services" in the magazine's "2017 Best of Business" poll.

 "We are thrilled to be honored by our peers and industry professionals who recognize our team's dedication to serving our customers in every aspect of online auctions," said Jim Grant, who founded SelfStorageAuction.com. Grant was the founder of the online self storage auction industry with the ground-breaking website, Storage Battles*, which later merged with Storage Treasures*.  Grant's companies won the ISS Best Online Auction Award in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and he has done it once again with his latest venture, SelfStorageAuction.com
"This is a testament to our website being recognized as revolutionizing the storage auction industry yet again," Grant said. "Our platform is quickly growing in popularity within the United States and is currently expanding into the international market with auctions in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom due to the large demand we are receiving from other countries."
 
SelfStorageAuction.com is a mobile-friendly website that combines the simplicity, reliability and exceptional customer service of the original platform with new features that ensure stability and are more user friendly.  Through its integrated state of the art website, Self Storage Auction interfaces with all management software companies to make posting auctions easier.
Winners of the Inside Self-Storage "Best of Business" reader-choice poll are honored through profile pages in ISS Magazine as well as during a special ceremony at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas. The results are published online year-round for ISS readers to access.

   So the first thing that came to mind is "how did a company that is just a few months old and only has a handful of clients getting more votes than Storage Treasures, a company that claims to have a million registered users and thousands of storage facilities." Answer: they didn't. So, in my opinion, that leaves three possible explanations. Either A, Inside Self Storage Magazine's Best of Business Awards are for sale to the highest bidder, B someone wrote a program that casts artificial votes, or C Inside Self Storage was hacked.

But I may be completely wrong. There may be some other logical explanation for this. What do you guys & gals think about this story?

Bought one this week that looks okay. A little pricey but there were two nice reclining leather sofas showing and lots of totes. I had pushed my bid a little passed my limit, hoping that whatever was in the totes would make up for my over spending. First tote, the usual DVDs, pots, pans, utensils, silverware. The silverware was actually the same set that I have at the house, so I was pretty stoked about that. Man, I need to get a life. Next box was full of Christmas decorations, and the next, and the next, and the next. Then things changed, the next box was full of Halloween decorations, and then more Christmas decorations, and more, and more. Just as I was about to give up hope, I found a new set of JBL subs in an enclosure, a large fire safe and a home automation system. The home automation system is pretty cool. It has a master control unit with a 6 inch color screen, a WIFI doorbell camera, a WIFI deadbolt with numerical touchpad, a WIFI thermostat, a WIFI garage door controller, a security system and a WIFI surveillance camera with audio. The system is worth about a grand. Not sure what's in the safe, if anything, but I should be able to resell the safe for at least a hundred. Found out something really cool about the new Sentry safes with the touchpads and no key ....if you don't have the combination, you can slide a high power magnet over the actuator located in the upper left corner of the door and it will open. 

Update: the safe was empty, big shocker there. However, I opened some luggage and there were several pair of new boys Nike's and Addidas tennis shoes including some Jordan Melos.

These prices are out of control. Tried buying 5 units online this morning. 2 units were cancelled within 10 minutes of closing. 2 units were bid up so high that the buyers might break even. 1 unit was nice, but they bid it up to $1900 and best case scenario, after selling everything, they would be lucky to pull $2400 out of it....and that's assuming that the washer, dryer and refrigerator worked and that the furniture was all in excellent condition.

Did get one small unit yesterday, paid $55, got a 21 speed mountain bike, Dewalt drill, new Nikes, new Caterpillar boots, new Tony Lamas, lots of nice Polos, some tools and lots of other stuff that I ended up giving to my friends and neighbors. Not a bad unit for the money.

How are the prices at the live auctions right now?   

Using a dumpster without permission is a felony in most, if not all states.

Didn't know that. We have way to many laws in this country. Give it a decade and we'll see people being arrested for their thoughts.

Just a hypothetical, but let's say you came across a unit full of beer or cigarettes. Could you legally resell them? From the research I've done, it's my opinion that you can legally trade it as a commodity but you might run into some problems if you try to sell it for cash. Anyone have a different opinion or know the laws pertaining to this in their state?

I wonder if the property market is affected during the tax refunds season, or not at all?

I'm sure some people use it for a down payment on real estate purchases, but I would imagine that most people use their tax refunds to buy used cars, computers, TVs, etc. or to pay off credit card debt.

As a former real estate appraiser, I never noticed a surge in appraisal orders during tax season; however, we would see a slight rise in home equity loans right after Christmas.

If you aren't afraid of hard work or getting dirty, you can definitely score some good units on the cheap. Some of my best units were so dusty that I came out looking like a chimney sweep.