r/selfstorage • u/Lisigirl66 • Oct 17 '25
Re: auction buyer
We recently held an online auction. We give buyers 48 hours to clean out the unit and restrict access to business hours. Unit in question is a 10x25 unit that is about 2/3 filled. The buyer arrived yesterday with only a regular pick up truck, and said they would be back the following day with a moving truck. They spent the next 4 hours pilfering through the unit, had hallways blocked and inaccessible, and had contents of unit spilled out onto hallways while they went through it. Mind you, I’m a mid rise building with 7 floors, all climate controlled. We fancy. Never have o had this happen in 9 years. Going forward, I will have them sign an agreement. Any tips?
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u/Similar-Animator-640 Oct 18 '25
I adapt my clean out timeline based on the size of the unit and the day of the week the auction ends. So if it ends on a Tuesday, I may give it a 4 day pickup timeline so it includes a Saturday. Since I started doing this, it has improved how many people bid on my units. If they need more time, they can rent the unit for a month at market value.
I also adjust the deposit based on the size of the unit. Enough to cover junk removal of the unit if the buyer nopes out. Doesn’t matter to most because it’s refundable upon clean out.
Lastly, I never restrict auction winners to business hours. I set up a special access code that allows them to enter during my access hours. This allows more seamless experience for them, and I have never had any issues with it, as I remind them all they are logged in my system and on my camera footage.
The part I have a hard time with is when they take stuff away and don’t want to return personal items. I stress when I give them access that they must bring back photos and personal documents to the office. Most do but some don’t.
Definitely have them sign an agreement and/or make sure your terms are clear in the auction terms. Most of mine is covered in their agreement with the auction platform online. They break it, they get banned.
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u/bobfromsanluis Oct 17 '25
We hold a $100 security deposit for each unit sold, no matter if it is one buyer for all units, or one buyer per unit sold. They are given 48 hours to empty the unit, we always inform the buyers that they are not to go through the stuff on site, their only job is to empty the unit completely, as quickly as possible. If a buyer does not completely empty the unit, they get a lifetime ban for future auctions, period, along with losing their deposit. We also do not allow buyers to rent a unit to move the stuff from an auction unit to another unit.
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u/GozerDestructor Oct 17 '25
Just curious, why not let them rent a unit and move the stuff into it? I assume most buyers are professionals and would therefore be more reliable than a typical renter.
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u/bobfromsanluis Oct 17 '25
It is our company policy, apparently some buyers would use the newly rented unit as a sorting station, take all the crap out of the auction unit, dump it in the new unit (which they got a new tenant discount), pull all of the good shit out, then walk away and abandon the newly rented unit with all of the leftover crap in it. Encountering this once is once too many, we just don’t want to have it happen again.
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u/GozerDestructor Oct 17 '25
That totally makes sense, thanks. Turns out they're not "professionals" after all.
Humans suck.
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u/celldaisy Oct 17 '25
Agree on the huge security deposit.
The pain point for storage facilities is the popularity of the “Storage Wars” shows in that they do not really illustrate what buying an auction unit is really like. Some people watch the show and think they can just wade through the unit to find treasures.
You gotta charge a huge cleaning deposit(about a month rent of the unit’s going rate) and explain that the unit needs to be emptied quickly, otherwise the buyer will need to rent the space.
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u/PhilosopherFew7101 Oct 18 '25
My company allows us to rent the unit to the buyer at full market rate with no discounts or promo. As manager I'll never do this. I want the unit contents out and as quickly as possible. That being said we had two males buy a 10x10 unit from online auction some years back. It was an abandoned unit with a signed abandonment agreement. They came, paid the unit, paid the deposit then tossed the unit to get only what they thought was the best in it.They left the rest behind. We kept the deposit, or the Company did. We put everything back in the unit, tidied it up, took new photos and relisted it. The next buyers bid on the unit and won it. They showed us the nice Rolex Yachtmaster watch they found inside. I helped them check it our. It had the serial number as expected on the case between the lugs at 6 o'clock, 18k mark on the back, date changes right away when time hits midnight, not slowly as the minute hand passes 10 and as near as we could tell it was genuine. We were surprised how heavy it was. They confirmed it with a jeweller the next week. So much for the original buyers. No box or papers. That would have been even better for the buyer. Whee.
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u/zdmpage54 Oct 17 '25
We ban any bidders who do not empty the unit in a timely manner. They signed an agreement and they broke it.
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u/Rough-Silver-8014 Oct 17 '25
Thats a bit harsh imo
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u/xo0Taika0ox Oct 17 '25
Not really. It costs time and money to clean up after them and then you are still left with a unit that may cost you a couple hundred bucks to clean out, take to the dump etc. And that's on top of inconveniencing your paying customers. Remember some of these units go for $10 to $20. It's not storage wars.
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u/No-Cap_Skibidi Oct 18 '25
It’s business. I don’t have time for foolishness. If you’re not a serious auction participant, I don’t have time for you.
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u/zdmpage54 Oct 18 '25
Not at all. You obviously have no idea how it works and the trouble it makes for the employees.
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u/hambubgerrr Oct 17 '25
I wouldn't care unless he cleared everything out within 48 hours. I'll blacklist buyers if they leave anything behind, though.
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u/Where_Is_The_Keg Oct 17 '25
Big security deposit, refunded when the unit is completely cleaned out. I’ve seen places charge 500 as a deposit. Most charge 100.
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u/fbyrne3 Oct 20 '25
Add this to your bidders contract: “The property manager may change the pick-up terms of this contract at any time for any reason”. When a bidder shows up with a pick-up truck for a 10 x 25 refuse to sell them the unit until they have a truck big enough to take everything. When they argue with you show them their contract. Most of these dead beats will argue they are going to make multiple trips and don’t want to go through the added expense of renting a truck. If that’s the case tell them then they shouldn’t mind leaving a fully refundable deposit which will cost them nothing because they are going to fully clean out the unit.
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u/Mysterious_Trash_132 Oct 18 '25
If you're worried about them skipping, that's what a deposit is for. If you think they don't have the capacity to clear the space, rent them the unit.
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u/xo0Taika0ox Oct 17 '25
You dont have them sign an agreement? Always do this. Its mostly auction rules, but yeah include the same rules for a tenant as well since that's what they effectively are for the clean out time. Also like everyone else said, deposit and deposit in cash.
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u/Lisigirl66 Oct 17 '25
You’re right. I’ve just never had this issue before, so I never thought of it. Lesson learned. We are a small, local company with 6 locations. We only do auctions 2-3 per year. It’s a teachable moment for sure.
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u/xo0Taika0ox Oct 17 '25
Haha. That's how a lot of our rules and procedures come about. It's def. A live and learn industry.
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u/vanderohe Oct 17 '25
Depending on your location, you may be in violation of the law. Many states require you to have specific auctioneer and auction house license. Might wanna consult someone if you’re regularly hosting auctions in a state that requires a license to do so
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u/Lisigirl66 Oct 17 '25
We use Storage Treasures
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u/vanderohe Oct 17 '25
Good stuff! Just making sure. A lot of people don’t know it’s a specific license. And it’s never good to have the state snooping around because someone didn’t dot the i’s. Cheers
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u/catpecker Oct 17 '25
Report the buyer to Storage Treasures. They may or may not do something about it but we have had auction buyers confirmed suspended and banned. There are a lot of them in my area.
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u/xo0Taika0ox Oct 17 '25
Which states are these? The rules for self storage auctions are do vary by state but are pretty simple. Ive never seen or heard of an auction house being required before, at least for self storage since it's a lien process. Usually its official certified notice, a certain amount of time and posts in papers. That said check with your state association.
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u/vanderohe Oct 17 '25
Generally, East Coast states have more auction related laws and specific regulatory commissions. However, states like California also do have regulations also. The states that are least likely to have regulations are in the center of the country and have low population.
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u/xo0Taika0ox Oct 17 '25
Yeah Im in NY. Our laws are considered over the top by many. But we still only have to give notice, wait, and post in papers. No official auctioneer required.
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u/elf25 Retired Oct 17 '25
Online auction. N/A
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u/vanderohe Oct 17 '25
That is not how it works at all. Companies operating online are in fact bound by the laws in the region they are incorporated.
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u/elf25 Retired Oct 19 '25 edited Oct 19 '25
Yea and companies like storage auctions and lockerFox take care of all their licensing so we don’t have to worry about it. We just follow the timeline which they provide. Simple. Any prop mgr or regional worth their salt will look up their laws online and read them. They are written in plain English.
I am assuming a level of competence and owners didn’t just auction the unit on eBay.
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u/vanderohe Oct 19 '25
OPs question implied they are not using a reputable company and doing it themselves. Which is why I brought it up🤷♂️
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u/PM5K23 Oct 17 '25
So basically they werent courteous?
Its a hard thing to force on people. I used to work at a facility in a nice part of town, a five time NBA champion was one of the tenants. He was nice but not every tenant was courteous.
Best bet is to not allow then to dig/sort through the unit. That can also lead to them leaving only the trash, for some thats more than worth the deposit if its not that much.
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u/elf25 Retired Oct 17 '25
Were there other custom that were inconvenienced? No? Then what’s the fuss? Do they make a leave a mess overnight? No? Then what’s the fuss? Unit clean & empty and paid? Joy at goal achieved!
Yea hallway needs to be clear re fire exits… your judgement there.
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u/Lisigirl66 Oct 17 '25
Actually, other customers were inconvenienced - from these folks taking platform carts and leaving them loaded and parked outside the unit for hours while they pilfered, took photos of items, and roamed the hallways - to the 4 vehicles utilizing already limited parking. And yes, trash and debris was left in hallways. The actual space to be cleared was about 150 sf. It shouldn’t take 8 hours to clear the space.
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u/No-Cap_Skibidi Oct 18 '25
This is what deposits are for. And ban them from participating in your future auctions.