Abandoned treasure: make money with UK storage auctions

When people stash their possessions in a storage locker and then stop paying the rent, their items aren't just driven to the tip. To make some of their money back, storage companies hold auctions where buyers can come and bid on the contents of lockers, whatever might be in them.

Storage auctions aren't just a bit of fun. They're a money-making venture for thousands of sellers. The idea is to find something, usually a lot of things, that you can sell on and make a profit with.

Often, the contents of the locker have higher value than what you pay for the locker itself. Furniture, jewellery, clothes, antiques, and other valuables are just some of the wonders you might buy.

You may well have seen auctions for abandoned storage units on TV, maybe in shows like Storage Wars. However, the whole process is very different in the UK, especially with the move to online storage auctions that dominate today.

While today's storage auctions might not be what you've seen before, there are still a lot of reasons to get involved. If you start bidding today, you might get to put your hands on some bits of history a person has left behind and even make a bit of cash out of it.

How storage unit auctions work in the UK

Storage Hunters and Storage Wars might give you an idea of the excitement of bidding on storage space, and the potential for profit, but they don't reflect how the process works elsewhere. It's not just in the fine details, either.

Almost all storage auctions in the UK take place online. The first time you see the items in the lot will almost certainly be after payment, when you pick them up. The scenes of successful bidders going through the contents of storage units and inspecting them before bidding are, unfortunately, just for TV.

Online storage auctions

Online auctions usually take place across a handful of websites that specialise in shifting surplus items for storage operators. You look at photographs of the lots for sale – often taken from the doorway – and register for the auctions of any that catch your eye.

Almost always, you buy the full contents of the storage locker, rather than individual items. You take the good with the bad, the rubbish with the expensive goods, and take responsibility for all of it.

The auction website might give information about the goods inside the locker, such as an overview of what's inside (furniture, electronics, etc.), or they might give very broad information about the lot itself. It varies from website to website, and sometimes from auction to auction.

Once you've registered, you place the bid you're willing to pay for the locker's contents. It's very similar to any other online auction, despite the unusual items on offer. If you offer more than anyone else, success! The belongings left in the locker are yours.

Storage auctions UK websites

For the most part, UK storage auctions have websites specifically designed to run them. They don't often go through conventional auction houses. You can just google 'storage auctions near me' and click on the first result, but we thought it would be helpful to break down some of your best options.

For the most part, the format is very similar for each site. Bargain hunters will get largely the same experience from each. Nonetheless, some UK online storage auction websites do stand out above the rest in terms of reputation.

IBidOnStorage

IBidOnStorage is one of the UK's most prominent storage auction websites. It offers buyers a bevy of auctions up and down the country, including current auctions and upcoming ones you can mark on your calendar.

It's fairly transparent, setting out where a locker is, offering several pictures of the contents, and letting you know what the current high bid is. On top of that, they offer partial or complete listings of the contents, helping you make more informed decisions with your bids.

On their auctions page, you can filter by country or even by county, letting you target specific areas or pick somewhere close to home for convenience.

With frequently over a hundred auctions active, IBidOnStorage is never a bad first port of call if you're looking to get stuck in.

eKonnect Storage Auctions

Another long-standing and well-trusted website in the UK, eKonnect Storage Auctions have helped thousands of buyers, both first-time and experienced, get their hands on storage lots for reselling.

What sets eKonnect Storage Auctions apart is their detailed preparations ahead of an auction. They offer reasonably thorough inventories, even noting certificates of authentication where present for rare items.

You might still get some surprises, but you'll at least know some of what to expect. This gives you a good baseline for what to bid.

In-person storage auctions

It's vanishingly rare to have in-person storage auctions in the UK, but they do occur very occasionally. In these, you'll be able to visit the unit and have a brief look before bidding, but that's about it. Even then, your view will be from the doorway, instead of rooting through the locker.

If you want to bid on storage auctions in person, whether to ensure you know a little more about your potential haul or to be close by if you win, get in touch with local auction providers in your area. They may be able to point you in the right direction.

Collecting your new items

The storage facilities are looking to recover their storage space with these auctions, so they won't want to hold on to them for long. In almost all cases, you need to drive to the area shortly after you win to pick up the locker's contents. It's rare for them to deliver anything to you. In general, companies will hold the items for 24-72 hours, which is your time limit to pick them up.

The highest bidder at storage auctions in the United Kingdom needs free time to pick up their winnings, a large enough vehicle to transport them back, and storage to keep them until they sell.

The legal requirements

Buying other people's possessions has an uncomfortable ring to it for many, but bidding on storage units is completely legal. By overstaying the terms of their rental, or not paying the bills to have their items stored, the original owner has lost all right to the locker's contents.

When a customer defaults like this, the storage company is entitled to hold an auction to recoup some of the back rent. This is also a perk for buyers. As the company wants to clear their storage units as soon as they can, they're not pushing for the best price possible.

On top of that, there are legal checks and removals before any bidding takes place. As long as the platform does its job properly, you won't accidentally get somebody else's sensitive documents, illegal items, or anything else that you're at risk from. If you have concerns, speak to the company behind the auction.

Selling items from storage locker auctions

Once you have the goods from an abandoned storage locker auction, that's the storage company's job over. In your house, or in your own self-storage unit, you have any number of strange or mundane finds. Now it's your job to sell them however makes you the most money.

Different sellers use eBay, Depop, and other online marketplaces, or hunt down specialist communities on Reddit and other forums for niche items. Plenty also sell closer to home with Facebook Marketplace or local auctions, especially with bulky items like furniture.

It's important not to forget the power of selling in person. Car boot sales, garage sales, and local antique shops can also be a great way to shift stock from a storage unit auction, especially if you find some unusual or quirky items.

Are abandoned storage auctions worth it?

There's no denying that storage auctions are a one-of-a-kind side gig. They have more potential to unearth hidden treasures than lost luggage auctions, have more variety than many Amazon return pallets, and offer bigger hauls than police auctions.

If you want to find and resell lots of items at once, storage auctions are a brilliant opportunity. However, they're not a guaranteed money-spinner. They're designed not to give you full information about what you're buying, with no ability to cherry-pick. You have to make your bid on faith that you'll manage to turn a profit.

It also requires time, effort, and consistency. Unlike the storage auctions on TV, most of your money isn't going to come from individual, perfectly intact treasures, like rare antiques or priceless jewellery. Most of the profit in a storage auction comes from fixing up and selling everyday items like furniture and clothing, shifting large amounts for fairly low prices.

To be a successful storage hunter, you need to be willing to put in the work and also to have some resources at your disposal. A car or van is essential, as is lots of storage space (a locker's worth, at least!). If you don't have these things, then you'll struggle to spin any money from this side gig.

UK storage auction tips

Online storage auctions can be worth it, as we've covered, but you can maximise your chances. There are a few things to make sure to do or to avoid at storage auctions to protect your money. Even then, these never guarantee that you'll profit. However, they do boost your likelihood of avoiding a bad bid and, if you're a winner, making more money.

Set yourself a maximum bid and stick to it

Abandoned storage auctions are exciting. That's one of the reasons they're such a popular side gig among enthusiasts. However, you don't want to lose your head in the excitement and end up spending more than you can make back.

Before you go into any auction, set yourself a maximum bid you don't intend to go over. You might do this at the outset, with a budget you can afford to part with. Alternatively, you might come up with a maximum based on photos of the unit and how much you think you can make.

There's no guarantee of making your bid back, but you'll have a better shot if you stick to what you know you can afford. These auctions always have risk, but you can always minimise it.

Make sure you have transport and storage

As storage auctions are held to clear space, the company doesn't want to keep your winnings any longer than they have to. You're expected to clear the entire contents of the locker within days of buying it, no matter what.

If you live close to the storage unit site, that makes transport easier. Aim for these places if you can. If you might be travelling a fair chunk of the country, however, you only want to make one trip. Renting a van, or buying one if you plan to do this regularly, is a good start.

When you have the items, you need somewhere to store them. Given that their quality and cleanliness may not be up to scratch, and that there might be a lot of them, you likely want to do this outside of your home. A garage, large shed, or even a locker of your own is almost essential. The latter has the added perk of coming with security.

Consider the location 

There are a few reasons to think about where the locker being sold is located. The first is practical. You need to handle getting the items yourself. If you pick something hundreds of miles away, you're adding the cost and time of a long journey, transporting a lot of items, and maybe even accommodation.

The other reason is related to potential profit. There's no guarantee that a storage locker in a more affluent, well-off part of the United Kingdom is going to yield expensive items as part of your winnings. However, you're generally more likely to find top-end items, or even just a better quality of everyday items.

It's usually not worth going in for hundreds more pounds based on location. Nonetheless, it can influence how much you expect to make, and maybe how much you're prepared to bid.

Go through every item

There's no getting around it; a lot of what's stored in lockers is rubbish. Plenty of it is just excess tat with no real use in either keeping or reselling. The flipside, however, is that it's very hard to tell these from potentially worthwhile items at a glance.

After you've transported your storage locker auction winnings home, your first step should be to give them a dedicated sort through. Look at everything you've bought, consider if you can possibly sell it, and what it might be worth.

This includes broken, damaged, or otherwise worn items. Can they be repaired, cleaned, or disassembled for parts? The range of things you can sell online is staggering, and you don't want to throw away value after you've already bought it.

If something is worthless, then by all means throw it away (or donate it to charity if it’s still useful). If you're not sure, however, it might be worth hanging onto until you can assess more. Even if it's only worth a few pounds, there's no sense in losing out on that in the interests of being quick.

Don't just hunt for valuable items  

Tying into this, there's the bulk element of storage auction selling. A lot of what you buy will be mundane, everyday items that sell for a few pounds apiece. Boxes, clothes, home electronics, tools, and the like will make up much of what you buy.

Don't get so caught up looking for rare collectables, expensive jewellery, or high-end tech that you pass on these lower-value items. It takes time, but selling the everyday items might well be the difference between a profitable storage unit and one that's not worth your time.

With that said, do keep an eye out for those musical instruments, valuable historical photos, or flat-out piles of cash laying around. You never know!

Do your research

As part of going through the items in a storage locker, it's worth doing your research. You're not expected to be an expert on fashion, rare coins, vintage collectables, board games, vinyls, and anything else you might find. However, you don't want to pass up a fortune because you didn't realise how much it was worth.

If something looks unusual, rare, historical, or niche, find out what it's worth. The internet's a good place to start. Google can fill you in on a lot, and enthusiast forums for whatever you've found are often happy to share information.

With some items, such as jewellery, you can even take them to a shop to get valued. Don't just go off gut instinct for price. Arm yourself with as much information as you can before selling.

Flex some of your practical skills

People often store broken things and forget about them. Not everything you buy when you enter an auction will be in pristine condition. This doesn't have to be a problem, especially if you want to learn some new skills or sharpen pre-existing ones.

You can fix broken electronics, mend or upcycle furniture, and even patch up clothes. Even just giving the things you buy a clean will help you make your money back.

If you don't have much experience, then it's worthwhile to learn before you try and flip storage lockers. For particularly expensive items, such as high-end electronics, you might even want to pay to have someone else fix it up, assuming this costs less than you expect to make from selling it.

Don't throw away these hidden treasures

Few side gigs come with the excitement and potential of storage auctions. Apart from the money you can make, you also get the potential for entertaining stories and fond memories of rare finds further down the line.

It's important to remember that it's not guaranteed profit, and that much of the money comes from selling more conventional items that people have just forgotten to throw away. Nonetheless, it's something people get into for a mixture of fun and money, and often find both if they're talented.

So, if you feel up to repairing or cleaning items, fancy training your selling skills, and have the transport and storage to manage on a practical level, why not give abandoned storage auctions a try?