Storage Treasures LLC, which owns self-storage online-auction platform StorageTreasures.com, has acquired competing auction provider StorageStuff.Bid. As part of the transaction, StorageStuff auctioneers Cheli and Chris Rosa, a married couple, will officially join the team at OpenTech Alliance Inc., which manages the Storage Treasures website and is the company’s majority stakeholder, according to a press release.
“We have always had a great relationship with the folks at StorageStuff.Bid, and are very excited to now be on the same team,” said OpenTech CEO Robert Chiti. “With Cheli and Chris on board, we are the only online-auction company to have licensed auctioneers with licenses in all 50 states, which gives our customers a level of protection not available with other online-auction sites. They add a ton of credibility to what we’re doing, a wealth of knowledge, and valuable expertise as it pertains to lien laws for both traditional and online auctions.”
Cheli Rosa will be responsible for supporting StorageStuff customers as well as improving facility-manager and auction-buyer training programs. Chris Rosa will expand the company’s existing auction-review service. “In addition, we are going to rely on both of them to teach us how we can better support auctioneers with their live auctions,” Chiti said.
“We are proud of what we have accomplished at StorageStuff.Bid, but realized that it was going to be very difficult to compete with the level of investment OpenTech is making in StorageTreasures.com,” Cheli Rosa said. “The amount of money they spend on digital marketing, auction-buyer programs, customer service and technology innovations is staggering, so we felt joining forces was the right move. The one area they were weak was actual auction experience. Chris and I are filling that gap and bringing them our years of experience running both online and live auctions as well our professional auctioneer licenses.”
Storage Treasures expects to have all StorageStuff customers transitioned to its own platform within 90 days, at which time StorageStuff.Bid will be shut down. After the changeover, StorageTreasures.com will represent 8,500 facilities, 900,000 active buyers and 15,000 monthly auctions. To date, it has completed more than 1 million self-storage lien sales.
In March, two other self-storage auction websites merged: SelfStorageAuction.com and iBid4Storage.com. The combined entity promotes industry lien sales in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
The companies have been active in offering service to more international markets. Launched in February 2017, SelfStorageAuction.com expanded to Australia and New Zealand last August, and announced its intention to serve the United Kingdom. Based in Toronto, iBid4Storage.com expanded to the U.S. in 2014. It partnered with Australia-based auction website iBidOnStorage.com.au in January 2017.
Founded in 2010, StorageTreasures.com identifies storage self-storage auctions and facilities in Canada and the United States, offering sale schedules and guidelines for auction hunters and site owners. Based in Phoenix, OpenTech acquired a major stake in the company in 2016. It also provides self-storage kiosks, call-center services and other industry technology.
Source:
EIN Presswire, StorageTreasures The Storage Industry's Leading Online Auction Platform Acquires StorageStuff.bid
