Sunday Auction that sucked

Todays auction was bad in several ways.

1. Bad units.
2. Few units, as people had paid up on many.
3. Crowded.

1. Public storage must have their own type of clients, i have never seen so many ****ty units from one company. It is almost like they have a magnet to crap.

2. it looked good last niht with many units unpaid, sadly almost all of them was paid up this morning. This made the compatition harder on the remaining units. And with alot NEWBIES with no brain's and to much money in their pocket, this day turned out to be a from hell.
I am not gonna compete with newbies that bids 825 dollars on a 250-300 dollar unit. And some units that normally would go for 50-100 went today for 300-400 dollars.  I HOPE IT TASTE GOOD WHEN YOU SEE HOW YOU THREW YOUR MONEY AWAY!

3. When people show up and have no plans on bidding, and at the same time brings their whole family, (kids, infants in strollers,etc) and on top of that do it in a inside climate controlled storage facillity with limited space, that just makes me wonder.  Another thing is when the same "no bidder" "family picnic" people stands infront of the unit and blocking the veiw for others who are there to bid and buy, then it has come to a point where something has to be done.


A storage facillity here in Memphis has taken this problem to heart, and they Charge a $25.00 fee per person. This fee will be paid back by the end of the auction, and this prevents alot of people to enter. I just wish everyone could start to do that.

Todays auction was bad in several ways.

1. Bad units.
2. Few units, as people had paid up on many.
3. Crowded.

1. Public storage must have their own type of clients, i have never seen so many ****ty units from one company. It is almost like they have a magnet to crap.

2. it looked good last niht with many units unpaid, sadly almost all of them was paid up this morning. This made the compatition harder on the remaining units. And with alot NEWBIES with no brain's and to much money in their pocket, this day turned out to be a from hell.
I am not gonna compete with newbies that bids 825 dollars on a 250-300 dollar unit. And some units that normally would go for 50-100 went today for 300-400 dollars.  I HOPE IT TASTE GOOD WHEN YOU SEE HOW YOU THREW YOUR MONEY AWAY!

3. When people show up and have no plans on bidding, and at the same time brings their whole family, (kids, infants in strollers,etc) and on top of that do it in a inside climate controlled storage facillity with limited space, that just makes me wonder.  Another thing is when the same "no bidder" "family picnic" people stands infront of the unit and blocking the veiw for others who are there to bid and buy, then it has come to a point where something has to be done.


A storage facillity here in Memphis has taken this problem to heart, and they Charge a $25.00 fee per person. This fee will be paid back by the end of the auction, and this prevents alot of people to enter. I just wish everyone could start to do that.

So everyone pays $25 and if you win you get the $25 put towards your unit price? Do people who don't buy get the $25 back?

In my area Uhaul has started charing a buck to see each unit. Doesn't sound like much but when you got 125 people paying say $3 to see 3 units it adds up.

Personally I'd rather just see places add a buyers premium onto the unit price however I guess that doesn't do anything about the lookers just taking up space.

$25 seems a little excessive to me though reguarldess of what's done with it.

In my area the PS are more highly regarded. They are known NOT to enter the lockers like some of the independent operators (and some of the chains). Thus, regional differences, but good warnings to be aware of no matter what state you are in.

The venting...we all need it, but I am getting closer to just waiting it out for the crowds to go down.
I have a backlog of goods for those days when the auctions are sparse...now the backlog is coming out because the crowds are huge and no new goods added for a couple of weeks from auctions.

In Everett (North of Seattle) there is a facility that EVERYBODY that is there for the auction has to go in the office and put down a $100.00 cash deposit.  They give you a little bidders book (it's a silent auction) and if you win, they will put your $100 toward the cleaning deposit, which you will get back once you empty your unit.  If you don't buy anything, then they call everybody back in the office after the auction and give you your money back.  It does help keep the crowds a little smaller, and you don't get all the kids running around.  If you don't put down the $100 up front, you don't get to look!

Every auction i have been too there has been a kid in a stroller sometimes 2. Is it really that big of a deal to watch an auction? Is it that interesting that you have to take the baby in the 20 degree weather for a 5 minute auction. Crazy.

In Everett (North of Seattle) there is a facility that EVERYBODY that is there for the auction has to go in the office and put down a $100.00 cash deposit.  They give you a little bidders book (it's a silent auction) and if you win, they will put your $100 toward the cleaning deposit, which you will get back once you empty your unit.  If you don't buy anything, then they call everybody back in the office after the auction and give you your money back.  It does help keep the crowds a little smaller, and you don't get all the kids running around.  If you don't put down the $100 up front, you don't get to look!

This is the way the one sealed bid auction in my area is conducted, but last time they didn't get a $100 deposit from me because I gave them my resale number.

Roy,

I feel ya... I attended those same auctions today and was quite aggravated by the crowd. We were barely able to inspect the lockers before the lockers were sold. Of the 50+ people, there were less than 10 of us bidding at all.

I will say on a good note, I took home one locker for $350. I'll make it back from one box of very nice china and should be able to make a decent profit with the rest. 

My wife is kicking herself for letting that one locker go for $2. She has friends that could have used the toys and kids bike in there. Oh well, next time!

Again, nice to meet you today.  Memphis is a little far for us, but with no other options we made the trip today. I doubt we will do that much in the future. Best of luck to you.

Justin

Do you think if an announcement was made asking all observes to step aside if not bidding prior to looking at the auction, folks will move out of the way?  At least ask the non buyers to show some courtesy for those who want to bid and move the heck out the way until after the bidding.

I like the $25 looking fee that goes towards your purchase if you buy.... but maybe it should be something like $5 per unit that is going to be auctioned off per person. It would suck to pay $25 to see one unit, but $25 to see 5 is fair... it would definitely cut down the number of people

would suit me if the ones that arent even registered wasnt allowed in front of the auction. that would clear half of them out. ya see people walking straight thru the gates, then standing in fron of the locker when its being auctioned. I told the auctioneer that if he would back the people up that dont want to spend money, he'd make more. Hard to bid when ya cant see anything.Maybe a midget on stilts with night vision goggles isnt such a bad idea.

Yeah, at my last auction I thought about setting off some fire crackers just to wake these people up and get them to move. Sheesh people, I understand your curiosity but look, push your stroller, grab your kids arm and move along.

I'd be happy to put up a $25 "bidders Deposit" to go look and bid. If you win one the 25 comes off the price, if not you get your 25 back at the auctions end. Also, only the bidder plus 1 other allowed in and no kids under 16 allowed. That would eliminate a lot of looky loos and whole families and turn it back into a business.

I'm not from California, but I was looking at auctions being held their, and some storage facilities state in their ad: "No children allowed at this facilities auction."  Love It!

The auctioneers here keep the front moving and the bidders in back until everyone has seen.  After all have seen then the bidders can get better looks.
In any auction if the bidders and lookers are stopping right in front then there is an auctioneer problem.  They will eventually lose money from lost bidding if they let it continue for long.