Keep your mouth shut !

Went to an auction the other day and facility had 5 units. The last one was a jaw-dropper. Best locker I've seen in a year I think.

It was a 10 x 10 about waist level high, but GREAT STUFF showing; lawmower in box (we think) fishing poles (I could care less execept for what they sell for), Craftsman boxes with popped lids and original item showing inside, good Schwinn Cruiser bike, etc etc.  This wasn't a setup. You could just tell it was quality stuff, nicely packed and with regular stuff too...not just the goodies.

So what went wrong?   In back left corner just a slight view of the right-rear corner of a black scooter fender and as the flashlight went up (and quickly down) the dash panel of the scooter.

I was the third in line and two guys ahead of me were regulars. We walked down the hall and acknowledged what we saw to each other...BUT one guy didn't even see the scooter so that was a good sign and he had already bought an $800 locker so he was out for the day.

THEN, we look back at the crowd (only about 10 !) and see that a NEWBIE is telling the auctioneer ABOUT THE SCOOTER!  Auctioneer goes in to check it out. He comes out; says to the manager "I didn't see that scooter when we cut the lock", gets his phone out and walks down the hall to call home-office about it.  Comes back...DMV going to get involved and he wouldn't sell the rest of the contents by themselves.

INCREDIBLE !  The "rat" was a NEWBIE buyer who screwed the rest of us out of the chance to get this great locker!

KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!

We had a similar situation, all you could see was a motorcycle mirror sticking out. The auctioneer informed the crowd that the motorcycle must be left behind and sold the rest of the unit.

I know the feeling! That's why I cringe every time I see a gun case, cause many facilities & actioneers in my area will not knowingly auction a unit with guns in it. Of course it's always a NEWBIE who has to get excited and yell out "Oooh, there's a gun case in there!"  Same thing with cars & motorcycles. Those are more rare & typically cars aren't "hidden" in the units, easy to spot when door goes up.

On the flip side, it's sometimes nice to stand next to newbies at the door cause they are to stupid to keep what they see to themselves and I'm like, "oooh, I didn't see that! Keep talking!" 

I've only been to one auction where they opened it up and wouldn't auction it off.
It was a 10x10 filled with new car audio boxes.  Stereo's, speakers, Amps.....

It started off as "Why would someone default $375 on a locker that is filled with tens of thousands in easily sold merchandise?"   Figured either the boxes were empty and it was a set up or it was stolen goods.   Then someone said they remembered a break-in in the news about four months previous, arrests made.....yep.....three months ago.

Bad for us but the police came.  Gave them the added evidence to convict others in break-in and store got the goods back.

Other than that our guys auction off anything.  Gun cases are pointed out.  Tho if a gun is showing the management calls police.   You can claim it but good luck.   No bill of sale. Not in your name.  Once police have guns or money in their hands.....write it off as gone.

Back to the point.
The last few auctions have all been that way.   Auctioneer, newbies, some old guy that doesn't  bid but likes to come.....all just talking away on what's in the unit.    And now!   People looking up on smartphones what things are worth and shouting out: oh!  That <blank> is selling on ebay for $1000!!

Idiots.    I'm going to start doing it back on units I don't want.  "Whispering" to my friend:  hey, see that purple and lime green stripped turtleneck?   Yeah, the one covered in rat crap.   It's a vintages design by Andy Warhol.....it's worth millions!

The only time I've endured a locker that was cancelled after the locker was opened was a really crummy situation. They opened the door, lots of great.. I mean GREAT furniture. High end stuff like Henkel Harris. The bidding got up to $1,500 and the property manager conducting the auction stopped bidding. Told us she was calling her boss, who decided to stop the auction because "the tenant made a partial payment".. I think that's code for "there's some really good stuff in there and we want it for ourselves."

Some storage facilities have a policy where they stop the bidding if the unit reaches a certain dollar amount...probably for some legal reason.

Some storage facilities have a policy where they stop the bidding if the unit reaches a certain dollar amount...probably for some legal reason.

I can appreciate that. At Public Storage, once the bid gets to $1,000 the management has to call the DM to get approval to continue. This one was kinda fishy though..

hmmm, never seen a storage facility stop the bidding because they thought it was going to high. It sure would be a sh$ty deal if they stopped the auction because they thought the crowd knew there was something really valuable in there and decided they are going to keep it for themselves.

Makes me wonder if some auctioneer companies would be worried that the bid is going higher then anyone actually has money to pay and it's just a pissing contest between a handful of bidders to see who gets "dropped" with it, or maybe they would be concerned that if the bidding is going so high the contents might be worth it for the tenant to sue them over, so the facility & auction company might want to double check and make sure they have done everything legally required, dotted all I's and crossed all T's, before selling off what appears to be a very valuable unit.

or maybe they would be concerned that if the bidding is going so high the contents might be worth it for the tenant to sue them over, so the facility & auction company might want to double check and make sure they have done everything legally required, dotted all I's and crossed all T's, before selling off what appears to be a very valuable unit.

That's the most likely reason.