Silent auction

Today I went to 4 silent auctions.
First one had 3 units and there were only 5 bidders, but prices were high per my standards.
The next one 5 lockers and around 8-10 bidders and again prices a bit high then went to the next it was supposed to have 3 lockers but oncethere it was only 1. They open the locker and it has a loveseat pretty nice, 2 dell monitors flat screen, 2 dell servers pretty old abouut 10 cable boxes and 10-15 what seem to be cable boxes but not sure also there was a pioneer stereo box not sure if stereo was in it. I didnt bid but someone won it with a 152.00 bid.
The last one was odd it was silent as well but once I got there the manager took me to all the units open them and gave a piece a paper to write my bid he said he will call me if i won or not. Had never seen or heard of it being done thid way but he told me thats how they do it. I wrote down my bids and seems like I didnt win.
Well maybe next time.

Jose, this seems funny to me how the auction was run.

I love silent/sealed bid auctions and actually seek them out so I've been to MANY and have never seen it done how you described.

I have always seen all the papers opened on the spot, highest bid takes the unit. Everyone hears what the winning bid was. Its nice b/c you always wonder how short you were, gives you insight into what to do next time and most importantly you know everytging is on the up and up.

For all you knwo this guy has a buddy pay him a buck less than the best offer, storage company only loses a buck, his freind gets in for rock bottom price. Heck he could even be buying the units himself if he likes the price.

I think all bids should be read off on the spot. IF he were up to something and you heard him say highest bid won at $350 and you bid $375 you know he's pulling a fast one on you guys.

The only legitimate reason I could imagine was if there was a huge crowd and he didn't wanna sort through 50 papers but really how hard is it to flip through and just toss papers out until soemthing beats the number you have in your hand.

Something seems strange about this to me

Jose....

Someone else wrote about  the same type of silent auction...where they just collect your bid and call you later if you won.

I did a search on sealed bid and silent bid but couldn't locate the article.

This wouldn't work for me!  Too many opportunties for things NOT going our way.

seems really fishy to me

Movieman,

That was my first post and first auction.

Here is the link...

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=987.0


I think it feels wrong, as well.

Wayne

Movieman,

That was my first post and first auction.
Here is the link...

http://storageauctionforums.com/index.php?topic=987.0

I think it feels wrong, as well.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne for providing the link. I knew I'd read about that approach before...and it STILL feels out of whack!

Jose, just curious if the guy mentioned before the auction happenned that this is how the auction would be run?

I just thought of why this is even more suspicious. At least in my area it seems to be the unit belongs to the owner until the auction happens. The good thing about this is it makes it tough for a manager to loot a unit.

With this setup you described though the manager held the auction so the unit no longer belongs to the owner. Then he probably has a few hours befor he calls you and notifies you that you won where he could go through the unit. The origional owner no longer has any rights to the unit and you really don't know what you have or what happenned to the unit between the auction and when you take possession of it.

Here's what I would recommend people do in the future at silent auctions. In front of everyone ask if they will read the winning bid while you guys are all standing there.

If they say they will call you guys later not in an accusatory way but maybe in front of everyone say why don't you just read them now, I'd be curious to see how far off I was if I don't win or something along those lines.

May not make you any friends at the facility but I think you can do it in a way as to not piss off the owner but also get other buyers on your side.

Even if there's 50 or 60 people at the auction which I doubt, how long does it take to grab one number, if its $400 keep throwing out papers until something beats $400, tehn keep that paper and keep tossing until something beats that. WIll probably take a whole 3 minutes to do.

The guy didnt say how it would be run, it was listed at 2pm i got there around 1:45 and he came and told me how it was run. There were no other bidders there just me and him. Apparently the auctions ended at 2 and they have all day to allow bidders to come in and look at the units. I didnt really like the way it was run and will probably not go there again.

Assuming others are at the auction I would basically call the guy out and say why don't you just read the numbers now. I would kind of play dumb and not do it in an accusatory way but if you did it in front of others I gurantee you would have others echoing your point and pushing for the numbers to be read on the spot.

Either the auctioneer or facility manager buckles to the pressure and reads them on the spot or he doesn't you piss him off and who cares because you probably dont want to go back to those auctions anyway.

Today I went to 4 silent auctions.

I'm assuming that you went to the Security Self Storage Auctions. I kind of wonder what's really going on there. I have made several sealed bids and have never been able to get a unit. Plus all four facilities are in some pretty shady areas.

I'm assuming that you went to the Security Self Storage Auctions. I kind of wonder what's really going on there. I have made several sealed bids and have never been able to get a unit. Plus all four facilities are in some pretty shady areas.

Only one of them was the Security Self Storage, the others were Private Mini.

This is how my first silent/sealed bid auction went down. About 15 minutes prior, the facility manager gave everyone (about 12 buyers) about 12 sheets of papers with the unit #s, as well as your point of contact. At auction time, each one of us got into 2 15-passenger vans and then headed out onto the lot, which had both indoor and outdoor units. The manager's staff showed each of the units, which we were only able to see at the door without touching. Of course, with each unit came a bid, if you wanted to. One outside unit even had bidding on a car!

After showing the 12th, all of the buyers headed back to the facility headquarters, where with whatever we bidded on, placed within a manilla envelope that we had to seal. The manager, as well as her staff, said that if we won, she would call us.

Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, I received the call on the unit that I bid on. When I returned to the facility, the manager still had 12 stacks of papers with everyone's bid on it. Out of curiousity, I asked on how many people bid on my unit, and she just counted the sheets of papers and said "3" besides yourself, without divulging who bid on it and what.

Kinda thought it was a neat and fair process, being my first time at a silent/sealed bid. 

This is how my first silent/sealed bid auction went down. About 15 minutes prior, the facility manager gave everyone (about 12 buyers) about 12 sheets of papers with the unit #s, as well as your point of contact. At auction time, each one of us got into 2 15-passenger vans and then headed out onto the lot, which had both indoor and outdoor units. The manager's staff showed each of the units, which we were only able to see at the door without touching. Of course, with each unit came a bid, if you wanted to. One outside unit even had bidding on a car!

After showing the 12th, all of the buyers headed back to the facility headquarters, where with whatever we bidded on, placed within a manilla envelope that we had to seal. The manager, as well as her staff, said that if we won, she would call us.

Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, I received the call on the unit that I bid on. When I returned to the facility, the manager still had 12 stacks of papers with everyone's bid on it. Out of curiousity, I asked on how many people bid on my unit, and she just counted the sheets of papers and said "3" besides yourself, without divulging who bid on it and what.

Kinda thought it was a neat and fair process, being my first time at a silent/sealed bid. 

Thats how it usually goes at a silent auction. With one exception, at least around here, at each locker they look at all the bids and decide who won and how much they bidded on it. Other than that no info is released.

I am agree with Jose.