Applying best practice when auctioning a customer’s goods

When you’ve followed the process of managing overdue storage payments and reached the point where you have to dispose of a customer’s goods, what does best practice look like at the point of disposal and why is it important?

First and foremost it is crucial to the industry’s good standing and success that members adopt best practice as it makes good business sense and could save you from considerable losses, both financial and reputational. Best practice will also minimise your risk as well as maximising the debt recovery that you can achieve when disposing of the goods.

So what is best practice at the point of disposal? Two elements are crucial.  First, complete a thorough inventory, and second, auction the goods wherever possible, as it evidences that the market has set the price secured for the goods.

The importance of a thorough inventory cannot be understated. In practice, this means going through every bag, box, drawer, or cupboard in the customer’s unit and listing whatever you find. We have done these thousands of times but often store staff is asked to do this alongside their other duties. Store staff will often find they don’t have sufficient time to create thorough and accurate inventories and they might not necessarily identify what items are of value and therefore won’t get the best possible return on their units. Often when visiting a store we get told “There’s just a load of junk in there” or “It’s mostly just rubbish.” This shows that store staff does not necessarily know what will sell a room or what items buyers will find valuable.  However, with thorough inventories, detailed photographs, and displaying units in an attractive manner, abandoned goods will get bought and cleared. Incomplete or poor inventories not only have lower debt recoveries but can mean you have to pay out more money to dispose of the goods via a skip or a “junk removal man” as well as leaving you open to challenges or claims from the customer that you didn’t achieve best market value for their goods.

Online auctions have become a good place to dispose of items as they reach far more buyers than a local auction house and with the likelihood of higher sale prices. However, the prevalence of online auctions for disposing of a customer’s goods has increased the transparency of the process and highlighted the considerable variation in adhering to best practice. We encourage everyone to be thorough and utilise best practice to achieve the best market value whilst reducing risks when disposing of abandoned goods.

The YSN’s new WhatsApp group has been a brilliant way to discuss with members the disposal of abandoned goods and how to get the best market value, whether that is by directly using an SSA UK Supplier Member who offers managed room clearance services or by assisting the group with tips and advice for achieving best practice with online auctions.  

We would encourage any existing or potential YSN member to join the conversation, whether via online forums, in-person meet-ups, or of course, on the YSN WhatsApp group chat. All these routes have been incredibly beneficial for discussions on topics such as disposing of abandoned goods.

Hannah Marks – Keepers Cottage
YSN Member