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| Storage auction rules |
Ever wonder what rules you will have to follow when attending a storage unit auction? Find out by reading here!
Most storage facilities will have a basic set of rules that are pretty much the same all the way across the board, however some will also have their own sets of rules that you will need to follow during the auction as well. In addition, different states will have varying rules that you should be familiar with too.
I know, rules are not always a good thing and are sometimes meant to be broken, but in this case if you do not follow the rules, you could face being banned from going to another storage unit auction ever again (at least at the facility or with the auctioneer that you broke the rules with and I have seen it happen!).
So it is very important that you play by the rules and play fair if you want to continue participating in the treasure hunt.
I have listed the basic rules, as well as some others that you might encounter while auction hunting, in this article. Keep in mind that all storage facilities are different and you might even encounter some other rules that are not listed here.
Though, the auctioneer will typically tell you the rules at the beginning of the auction.
Auction hunters rules across the board
-Once the unit door is opened, no one is allowed to enter the unit or touch anything inside the unit. In other words, you can look, but you cannot touch. You have to make your judgement based on what you can see alone.
-Storage auctions are payable by cash only, You cannot pay with a check or credit card and you have to pay on the day of the auction, no later. Some will require payment right after the bids are finished and some will allow you to settle up at the end of the facilities auctions.
-If you win a unit, all the contents of your unit must be removed by the end of the business day (This gives you a few hours roughly). This includes the Good, the Bad and the Ugly! You are not allowed to use the facilities dumpsters or trash cans to dispose of your waste either.
If you leave anything in the unit, you will be charged a cleaning fee at minimum, at worst, you will be banned from that storage facility for future auctions.
-You must purchase your own lock, Once the lock is broken off the unit door and you win the contents, you are responsible for the contents within. You should put your lock on the door right away (I have seen where someone did not lock their unit thinking everyone would be busy with the next unit and someone went back and went through their stuff!)
I just wanted to add that some folks will push the rules and get away with doing certain things during the auction (slightly entering the unit, touching or moving stuff by the door), yet they are very well known auction hunters and this does not mean that you will get away with the same type of stuff so just follow the rules and you will be fine.
Independent storage facility rules you may encounter
Occasionally, you will see the following rules at some facilities:
-No verbal bids, Some auctions are silent bids only. Meaning, you have to write your bids down on paper and hand them to the auctioneer. During these types of auctions, there are no verbal bids allowed.
-Lowest bid amount, Many, but not all facilities will have a lowest bid amount set. This is the lowest amount of money that they will take for any unit, even the bad ones (typically to cover some of their auctioneer costs). It is usually at least $20 and can go up depending on the facility.
Personal effects
The last thing I want to mention is that some facilities will request that you turn in any private items you find to the office (mostly the smaller, family-run facilities as the larger chains do not want to be bothered with it).
For example, personal photos, IDs or personally identifiable documents that belonged to the units renter. As long as I have been auction hunting though, this was never a requirement.
I will do it as a courtesy if I have the time, but you do not have to feel obligated to do it and some facilities will not allow it anyway. They all differ in their requests/rules and guidelines.
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