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Have you ever driven past one of those storage buildings and wondered what is behind all those neat little roller doors? These units are a perfect storage solution when decluttering your home, or just when you need to hide away your 80s vinyl collection that your spouse threatened to burn after the last late-night DJ-sesh.

And if you allow your imagination to run wild, the contents of those storage units can be anything from an undiscovered Pierneef to a pint of Einstein’s urine.

One of the only local online auction sites is I Bid On Storage, and we managed to catch up with the owner, Grant Daniel, who told us that these auctions are more than just ‘treasure hunts’, but a very profitable sideline for some.

Since starting I Bid On Storage 4 years ago, Grant has added 8 500 registered users to their platform and sold the contents of more than 2 000 storage units. As an owner of a storage unit business in Cape Town, Grant had instances where the owners either stopped paying rent or simply wanted to get rid of everything in one go, so the online auction proved a way of turning one man’s junk into another’s treasure.

Although we are obviously more interested in the ‘treasures’, Grant says that most people who buy the contents of the units manage to double their money when reselling the goods they find inside. The platform is different from ‘blind buying’ sites where you have no idea what is inside, and they have pictures of the items inside online, as well as cataloguing the contents.

The idea is to bypass those dodgy Gumtree deals in Canal Walk’s parking lot, and allow people to either sell or buy unused items ‘in bulk’. Most of the registered buyers make a solid profit on everything they sell, so as a side-line business, it can be very lucrative. And yes, every now and again, someone gets a lot more than they bargained for.

A lot of the sales are from estates, and sometimes you would find that grandpa squirrelled away some unknown treasure. Buyers have found antique cars, collector’s playing cards, jewellery, art, and even a collection of Vivienne Westwood costumes.

Grant told us of a unit that had uncut diamonds hidden away – a find they naturally had to declare to authorities. And yes, one time there was even some cash stuffed into a drawer. Some people like to stuff money into couches for safekeeping.

Several TV series have explored this mystery over the years. The premise is simple, if the owner of a unit defaults on payments, the storage facility is allowed to auction off the contents of a unit to the highest bidder, who often buys whatever lies behind the metal door sight unseen.

Storage auctions are big business in the US, and it is estimated that the nearly 50 000 abandoned storage units might hold $1 billion worth of unclaimed contents. You never know what you will get, and sometimes the getting is good.

One of these surprises happened in 1989 when a man and his brother bought the unseen contents of a unit on Long Island. When the unit was finally opened, the contents turned out to be one of the submarine cars operated by James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me.

The car was eventually auctioned off and nobody other than Elon Musk paid $1 million (R18 million) for the white sports car.

Another unexpected discovery was a storage locker in the San Fernando Valley that went under the hammer for an undisclosed sum. When the new owners finally rummaged through the interior, they were amazed to discover Action Comics No. 1 – the first Superman comic.

This find turned out to be a comic book from Nicolas Cage’s collection that was stolen.

Cage had bought the comic in 1995 for an estimated $1 million (R18 million). Five years later, he had reported it stolen to his insurance company. Cage called its resurfacing 11 years later an act of “divine providence.”

There is a whole world of treasures to be found in abandoned storage unit auctions. People store things that seem precious one day but is forgotten the next. Whether you are hunting for treasure or want to begin a profitable sideline, the I Bid On Storage website is a must-see. Who knows what you may find?

Perhaps in the coming weeks, we should find one of these units and go treasure-hunting ourselves. We’ll keep you posted on any discoveries.

[source:mf]