Mastering the Soft Close: Bidding Strategies for Lockerfox Pros

Summary

Bidding for abandoned storage units in online auctions can be both exhilarating and maddening. For Lockerfox pros, the ultimate goal is to win the most lucrative units. And to do that, there are a couple of strategies that need to be mastered.

The last five minutes of an online storage auction can be the most critical. It is during this time that amateurs tend to get flustered while pros turn bids into profit. If you have ever lost a storage unit with 10 seconds to go or found yourself clicking endlessly to refresh a page as an auction expires, you know the sting of a missed opportunity.

With Lockerfox, winning does not necessarily mean having the deepest pockets. Successful bids are built on an understanding of platform mechanics. More specifically, online bidders need to master two things: the soft close and the proxy bid.

The Soft Close: What It Is and How It Works

First-generation auction sites, whether built to handle storage units or general merchandise, relied on a hard close strategy. Bids were scheduled to close at a specific time. They were never extended. A soft close is different. It is what Lockerfox offers storage auction bidders.

With a soft close, bidding is never abruptly ended. Whenever a bid is entered within the final two minutes of an auction, the closing bell resets. An additional two minutes extends the bidding. This cycle continues until no more bids are placed within that two-minute window.

Soft closes are intended to mimic live auctions. If you were to visit a storage unit site and bid in person, the auctioneer would continue extending the bid time until no more bids were received. Everyone has an equal shot at winning as long as they are willing to up the bid. In essence, a soft close eliminates the practice of "sniping."

Sniping: A Rookie Mistake

Sniping is a rookie mistake, and it's bad. What is it? It is the practice of waiting until 5-10 seconds before the auction close to place a bid, with the expectation that other bidders will not be able to get their bids in before the clock runs out. The strategy works with auction sites that still use a hard close. But it is actually counterproductive on the Lockerfox platform, thanks to our soft-close strategy.

A rookie who snipes is not getting the last word. In fact, he is giving his competitors an additional two minutes to think about upping their own bids. That is plenty of time to take a quick look at the budget for any justification to go a little higher.

The most successful Lockerfox pros don't snipe. They do not wait for the clock to turn red either. They establish their presence early. Here's something important to remember: when you bid early, you're telling the bottom feeders – bidders looking for those $20 units – you mean business.

More often than not, this will clear the field of casual bidders long before you even need to start worrying about a soft close.

The Power of Proxy Bidding

Mastering the soft close takes time and practice. It is a good skill to have in your back pocket. Yet it's not the only skill Lockerfox pros utilize. Another is proxy bidding. A simple way to understand proxy bidding is to remember the phrase "set and forget."

Sometimes it is necessary to closely watch an auction all the way down to the final two minutes. But other times, it's not. Remember that every second you spend staring at a screen is time that you are not actively making money. You could be sorting your latest haul, selling inventory, or looking for leads on new auctions.

How Proxy Bidding Works

A proxy bid is essentially the maximum amount you want to spend on a particular storage unit. So with Lockerfox, you can bid 2 ways:

• Bump by $10 – Try to take the lead by going up $10. All bidding is in $10 increments.
• Your Maximum Bid – Bid more than $10 higher. If the current leader doesn't have a proxy bid, you'll take the lead and the system will fend off challengers, up to your max. bid.

Let's say you are looking at a storage unit you are comfortable paying $500 for. The highest current bid sits at $100. You can bid $500. You'll take the lead at $110. As long as no one bids more than your current bid, you're golden. But if someone outbids you, Lockerfox automatically ups your bid to the next increment – all the way to your maximum of $500.

Things get really interesting when proxy bids are in play during a soft close. Say another bidder jumps in slightly higher than you. It takes less than a second for your proxy bid to move to the next increment. That could be demoralizing to another bidder who has no idea just how aggressively you will pursue the storage unit.

An automated bid that appears in less than a second tells competitors that you have a higher ceiling. On the other hand, there tends to be a natural delay when multiple bidders are trading bids manually. If it takes a few seconds to up your bid, you are giving the competition hope that you might be close to giving up. An automated proxy bid says just the opposite.

Best Practices for the Final Two Minutes

You still need a tactical mindset for the final two minutes if you're bidding by proxy. So here are three best practices that should help you win more often than you otherwise would:

• Avoid the round-number trap. Set your proxy bids at off-hundred numbers, like $510, for example. Most people use round numbers, giving you an advantage when they hit the ceiling and give up.
• Walk away when you reach your limit. The adrenaline of the two-minute drill is real. So set your limit and walk away once it's reached. You will avoid spending more than you planned on a repeat basis.
• Trust your proxy bid. Do not get nervous in the final two minutes and manually override. Otherwise, you are likely to disrupt your own bidding logic.

Mastering both the soft close and proxy bidding can take the anxiety out of the final two minutes. It can also help you maintain a cool head so that you're not spending way beyond your budget.

FAQs

When does the two-minute extension apply?

The clock is not extended every time someone bids. Extensions only apply during the final two minutes of an auction. A bid placed with five minutes to go has no impact on the clock.

Can I still bid if my proxy limit is reached?

Yes. The platform allows you to manually override your proxy bid limit. But use manual overrides wisely.

Can two people place the same maximum proxy bid?

No. You'll just bump the existing proxy bid up to their high bid amount, but you won't know it if you don't exceed it by another $10.

Can a soft close go on forever?

In theory, yes. In reality, it doesn't happen. Experienced storage auction bidders set limits and stick with them. Casual bidders eventually have no more money to bid with. Most auctions end within 15 minutes of the original close.

Can the platform lag during soft closes?

Anything is possible. But most of the time, what appears to be lag is just the clock resetting because bidders are submitting new bids fairly quickly.