The Mystery Trunk, Record Bidders, and Why I Love This Business

Sometimes the best blog posts write themselves – you just have to be paying attention when they happen.

Last Friday, I started writing at pickup, but my laptop began overheating in the 90-degree heat with a heat index pushing 100. So I closed it up, figuring I'd get back to writing later. You know how that goes – other things take precedence, and suddenly it's Thursday.

But Thursday brought its own story worth telling.

The Louis Vuitton Trunk Nobody Could Open

I found myself glued to my screen, watching lot #93 in our 133-lot auction: a vintage Louis Vuitton trunk with no key.

The bidding was steady from the start: $4,790... $4,810... $4,840. I watched those increments climb, finally hitting the $25 jumps at $5,175. By the time the dust settled, that mystery trunk – sitting in a house that smelled like dog, with broken straps and no way to peek inside – brought $5,550, plus our 15% buyer's premium for a total of $6,382.50.

Not bad for the complete unknown.

It got me thinking about what drives people to bid on mysteries. It was definitely the Louis Vuitton name – that's a no-brainer – but what's really inside an expensive trunk? Was it vintage clothing? Family heirlooms? Documents? Or just old linens and mothballs? The thrill of possibility drove that price up, bidder by bidder.

When Records Fall

Speaking of things that work – we had our own record-breaker today. A mid-century modern home with "goodish bones" drew 48 registered bidders. That might be our highest number yet.

There's something about those clean lines and architectural bones that really speaks to people, even when they need work. Maybe especially when they need work – there's potential in those spaces that people can envision.

The Stories That Keep Going

Wednesday brought two property closings (thankfully at the same title company – small mercies). One went to a young couple taking on a real fixer-upper. I told them to send pictures when they're done with their renovations. I always hope buyers will share those transformation photos, but you never know.

Just like I'm hoping the new owner of that Louis Vuitton trunk will let us know what treasures – or disappointments – they found inside.

Why We Say "Begins to End"

Quick sidebar: You might notice we say our auctions "begin to end" at a certain time rather than just "end." There's a story there, and it's a doozy.

Several months into running online auctions, we had a bidder purchase one item – quite a bit of money, actually. She and her husband drove through two states to pick it up. Nice people. We even had someone stay after pickup hours to help them load.

One month later, we received a letter claiming we owed her $10,000. Her position? At 6:30 pm she "owned" two items because our listing said "ends at 6:30," but the auction kept going due to our soft close system – 20 seconds between lots with one-minute extensions for new bids. Even though there was clearly a countdown timer showing for each lot, displaying the extensions in real time. She argued she had to "buy back" one of her own items.

It was shocking, honestly. We had an attorney write her a response letter, and I got busy writing proper terms and conditions. What started as about 5 to 10 generic sentences grew to our current 34 paragraphs with sub-paragraphs for personal property auctions.

Now we're very careful with our language. Details matter in this business – sometimes $10,000 worth of details.

Back to Writing

I should probably walk the dog now and get back to all those other things that keep pushing blog writing to the side. But maybe that's the point – sometimes the best posts come from the interruptions, the real-time moments when business and life collide in interesting ways.

After all, I got a whole post out of watching a trunk auction while procrastinating on the post I was supposed to be writing.

The writing finds its way, eventually.

Happy Bidding!

Kara C. Belcher-Miller