Hi All,
I went to my first "vault auction" last Saturday at Daly Movers in Gardena Grove. Some of you may already be aware of the following scam, but if you're not, please warn any of your friends that go to these.
A vault auction is when a warehouse or moving company sells items by the crate, rather than from storage units. They either sell a whole crate at a time, or "by the piece", which means they stack boxes outside, and you have to buy a stack of boxes (not just one) all at the same price. For instance, if you see a box you want and you bid $45 for it, you have to buy the two boxes underneath it also for $45, so the total is $135, plus 10% sales tax, plus a 10% "buyers premium".
Here's the scam I discovered: I bought a carefully wrapped box that was full of "stuff". When I opened it, it contained a wicker box which contained old National Geographics from 2003. However, this thing had been wrapped with not one, but four different kinds of tissue paper, apparently for no reason. On one of the handles of the wicker basket was an auction tag from ANOTHER moving company, complete with lot number. This company had bought all the junk another company couldn't sell (and of course they went through the wicker box before they wrapped it), and slapped their own auction tag on it. The other box I bought turned out to contain a box from Belkin Movers, yet ANOTHER moving company. The box had been marked "computer screen", "quilt", "clock", etc. There was a quilt and a broken clock in it, but no computer screen; then I noticed the handwritten label was different and newer-looking than the others.
They set one decent-looking box on top of others that are full of book or other junk, so you have to buy all three.
I don't know how much they bought this random crap for from other moving companies, pretending it was from their own company, saying it has been in Their storage "for years". Is this legal? Is there such a thing as auction fraud?
Beware of these "by the piece" vault auctions. Unless it looks like new merchandize from a wholesaler and not personal items, the boxes have all been gone through, and rewrapped as if they are actual stored, unopened items. A lot of people got scammed that day. Please pass this info on to all your friends who are in this business. We don't deserve to be defrauded this way. Thanks.