Question
I met this lady a week ago, and she does estate sales for people. She also does auctions at a storage place for bins that the person has not kept the rent up on.
Well we got to talking last friday and since then, I have been helping her and learning stuff. She pays me a hourly wage that is very low but the idea behind this was for me to find some nicer items to sell on the internet. She does not sell on the internet but wants to learn.
Well my question is...I have this person's pictures, and the sale is tomorrow. What the storage owner did was to throw out the trash from the bin, and the pictures were part of what got throw out. I got paid to take the trash out, and my son is going to help me get it all sorted as there was good stuff mixed in with bad stuff. But the kicker is, there might be a valuable item in this mess and we hope to find it, as the lady begged to get into the storage bin to save this item and they said no.
Well anyways if she shows up tomorrow, do I fiqure out a way to get her pictures back to her, or do I just keep my mouth shut.
From the paperwork I found so far, she was evicted from her last apartment due to not paying her rent.
If it was me, I would like my pictures back. Just seems odd she did not find someone to take them and put them up for safekeeping for her.
Answer
The agreement between storage business and the renter is that if they fail to pay the rent, all property in the unit will be sold to pay the rent. Any excess money remaining will be returned to the renter (it they can contact them).
The pictures would be nice to return since it's a useless item to try and sell. But she lost them along with all her other items, so nobody is under any obligation to return them.
Answer
You could always slip her a note with your phone # on it when the storage owner isn't looking. If she calls you can meet her somewhere & give them to her.
My auctions
Answer
Wow. Around here you're not aloud to touch anything in the bin until the auction is completed. You bid only on what you can see from the door. I'd be pissed if I was bidding on a bin that was already gone through by an auctioneer.
Generally, by the time of the auction, the person has had ample opportunities to pay the rent for their belongings. If they show up, you can certainly give them their personal pictures and stuff, but you're not obligated to. Most don't show up day of auction.
Lynn
Lynnber almost everywhere
selling books and other stuff
Lots and lots of my Ebay Auctions
Answer
Well the lady did not show up today, so I still have the pictures. It was a cold bitter winter day.
The owner of the storage bin, must have checked the bins to get them ready for the auction. He is the one who cleaned out any trash or broken stuff. The bin in question here had a LOT of real trash in it. I was the one who took the trash out from the owners work/storage area off his trailer onto my pickup truck.
The pictures were in the trash, amongst the bags and boxes.
The lady who I was helping today did all the rest of the arrangements. No one bid on the BINS with the door down, then the door went up, and still not a bid to pay that stall rent. Then we had to physically go thru each bin and piecemeal the stuff out to make the rent due to the owner. Only a week today knowing this women and helping her. At this point in time, I am still learning. First time I ever attended a storage bin auction, so yes I had questions. My husband even went along and volunteered his help today. He bought 1 item for $5.00, and I bought nothing. I was too busy helping people load their vehicles. It was interesting to say the least.