"Storage Wars" questions regarding dealing with previous owners

[halohalo]

State: California

Not sure which forum to put this question in. Criminal? Contract?

Hi,

I have a business in California that primarily gets its merchandise through storage auctions (like "Storage Wars", "Auction Hunters", "Storage Hunters", etc. on TV). Once in awhile we find units that I would assume the people did not intend to lose. Not always due to the monetary value of the items, but sometimes due to what I personally would perceive as items that would have sentimental value. Through investigating on the internet (taking time & effort), I'm usually able to find contacts for the previous owners of this merchandise or their relatives.

So here's a few questions...

If I wanted to offer this merchandise for sale to the previous owner or their relative first before offering to the open market, would there be anything legally wrong with this? For example, would there be any privacy issues with offering tangible goods (not personal diaries, etc.) to a relative of the owner?

What if the person felt like the price I was asking was too high? Would there be any legal concerns if I was asking greater than (what a judge may determine to be) FMV? Some things are just hard to price, and I start them very high to get an idea for what anyone will pay for them. That is my usual way of pricing these things. For example a painting, or clearly old unmarked art. My concern is that if I ask $1000 for something that someone "feels" is worth $100, then there could be some issue since I am offering it (first) to the previous owner.

Photos. Typically we find many, many, photos. Whenever possible we'll sort as we go and give these back to the storage company to get back to the owner. Often the company is unhappy, and occasionally they refuse to accept them. Apparently they are only required to accept personal documents like ID cards, tax returns, etc (?). For me, it's time consuming to slow down and sort photos, remove from (sellable) frames, package & pay for shipping, etc. Would there be any concern with charging 4-5x the shipping cost to for my time and effort to return photos to people?

Thank you for your insight.

 

[sandyclaus]

State: California

Not sure which forum to put this question in. Criminal? Contract?

Hi,

I have a business in California that primarily gets its merchandise through storage auctions (like "Storage Wars", "Auction Hunters", "Storage Hunters", etc. on TV). Once in awhile we find units that I would assume the people did not intend to lose. Not always due to the monetary value of the items, but sometimes due to what I personally would perceive as items that would have sentimental value. Through investigating on the internet (taking time & effort), I'm usually able to find contacts for the previous owners of this merchandise or their relatives.

So here's a few questions...

If I wanted to offer this merchandise for sale to the previous owner or their relative first before offering to the open market, would there be anything legally wrong with this? For example, would there be any privacy issues with offering tangible goods (not personal diaries, etc.) to a relative of the owner?

What if the person felt like the price I was asking was too high? Would there be any legal concerns if I was asking greater than (what a judge may determine to be) FMV? Some things are just hard to price, and I start them very high to get an idea for what anyone will pay for them. That is my usual way of pricing these things. For example a painting, or clearly old unmarked art. My concern is that if I ask $1000 for something that someone "feels" is worth $100, then there could be some issue since I am offering it (first) to the previous owner.

Photos. Typically we find many, many, photos. Whenever possible we'll sort as we go and give these back to the storage company to get back to the owner. Often the company is unhappy, and occasionally they refuse to accept them. Apparently they are only required to accept personal documents like ID cards, tax returns, etc (?). For me, it's time consuming to slow down and sort photos, remove from (sellable) frames, package & pay for shipping, etc. Would there be any concern with charging 4-5x the shipping cost to for my time and effort to return photos to people?

Thank you for your insight.

Here's how I see it.

You are a person who buys auctioned storage units and their contents. Like many people who do that, you want to turn around and resell the contents to make a little profit off of the deal. No problem so far.

You, however, have some heart and sympathy for the people who lost their valuable keepsakes and property through the former owner's inability to pay their storage bill. You recognize that a lot of the items in there have value that is not just in dollars and cents, but true sentimental value, so you want to offer the former owner an opportunity to get back those things that they lost. So far all well and good.

Then you decide you want to make a HUGE profit off of these poor souls who have already lost their precious items. That's where I take issue.

Legally, the items in that storage locker are yours. You can do with them as you see fit. You can keep them, toss them, or sell them for what the market will bear. You are, however, trying to create this niche market for the more valuable items by trying to nickel and dime the former owners of the property, because they are the only ones who know the TRUE value of what they have lost. You are taking advantage of them by price gouging - making them pay big bucks to get these items back because you're sure they'll pay it just to get them back in their possession again. That's what NOT OK, in my book.

Don't get me wrong. You can certainly do as you wish, and you can follow your business plan and probably make a fairly decent profit. But there's a reason why many of these people lost the items in the first place - because they couldn't afford the money to pay for their storage fees, which usually were far less than the actual value of the items they contained. If they couldn't afford to redeem their storage unit, do you really think they are going to have the thousands of dollars you're asking for to get back many of their rare and sentimental items? And even if they could find the money, do you think it's really fair to make them pay such a premium to you to get them back?

I mean, if you are doing this as a service to those people who have lost their precious memories, that's one thing. But then to try to make a profit of 4-5x of the shipping cost for photos or other trinkets, that's just unconscionable in my book. Make the profit for your time, just don't try to claim that you're doing it out of the goodness of your heart.

 

[calatty]

This is of course a business ethics question rather than a legal question. I think charging 4-5 times the shipping is not unreasonable. If I lost my family photos because I hadn't paid my storage locker bill, I would be happy to pay $30 or $50 to get them back. It would be another thing if you were ransoming the pictures for a $1,000. You are a business person, not a charitable organization, and you have no obligation to give them back anything, so I see nothing wrong with turning a little profit.

 

[LdiJ]

This is of course a business ethics question rather than a legal question. I think charging 4-5 times the shipping is not unreasonable. If I lost my family photos because I hadn't paid my storage locker bill, I would be happy to pay $30 or $50 to get them back. It would be another thing if you were ransoming the pictures for a $1,000. You are a business person, not a charitable organization, and you have no obligation to give them back anything, so I see nothing wrong with turning a little profit.

I don't have a problem with someone turning a profit. If he wants to factor in a percentage of what he spent on gaining the items, plus shipping, plus a reasonable profit, that is legit. However, since an average phone album is going to weight anywhere from 5-20 lbs, 4-5x shipping costs is unlikely to be 30-50 dollars.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

You should not have legal concerns as you legally own the items. What you have are morality issues. The value of sentiment, in the situation you presented, is 2 fold. A fixed price, absent consideration of the marketplaces background leaves you open to crossing the line between profit and immorality. Certainly, asking a profitable amount for priceless heirlooms is good business. What happens when your price structure leaves you holding hostage the memories of a poor family? I would say your human obligation takes precedence, when the business profitability is not feasible. Let your conscience be your guide.

 

[InsaneJane]

So you are buying storage units that have been abandoned. You are also taking the risk of paying more money than what may be able to be recouped from the resale of the items.
I don't see any problem with notifying the previous owners or those that may have high intrest in those goods.
Realize that you also may end up notifying some that have because of theif have a legal right to those items.

Good luck