Many would have seen shows in the USA (i have seen 1 episode) where airports auction off unclaimed items, especially luggage and contents where someone bids on a bag for example and if wins gets the bag and contents.. catch is that no one knows what the contents are, and in many cases there is a treasure trove of goodies to be found when bags are opened (of course not always).
Brisbane Airport recently used Pickles auctions to put some of their lost property under the online hammer.
Many item lots were obvious what you were getting, however along comes the fun suitcases/bags and contents up for grabs.
Not sure if this was going to be anywhere similar to the ones we see in the USA, however my interest was peaked…
last weekend they had a viewing of the items.. i thought I would make a call to pickles.
I was asking if we were able to see the contents of the bags on that day, i was advised "no, the contents remain hidden behind the zipped up bags, they also mentioned that electronics will not be turned on and some other things"
Ok so i am bidding blindly, still sounds fun, and knowing my bids are along side other blind bidder (not knowing contents) i gave it a whirl and won 4 of the suitcases.
I go in and pick them up, noticing that 2 of mine, along with 2 others that I did not win, were unzipped with 1/2 the contents spewing out the side .. all outer pockets unzipped .. so it seems that they did allow people to view contents on that day (and on top of that were too lazy to zip the bags back up with their contents) i know this happened because pictures were taken and uploaded on their site with the bags completely zipped up
I already knew from this point i was not going to get anything from these purchases, unlike the USA the locks had been removed and as above contents taken out at some point.
I go home and open the packed suitcases.. it seems that prior to the airport putting these bags up for auction had taken out anything valuable .. there were handbags with nothing but 2 5 cent coins, there were other small bags with nothing inside them.. what i did find though was a shoot load of clothing, mainly womens and kids.. not even a phone charger, although 2 phone holders/cases were found within 1 of the bags.
Guessing the laptops and jewellery and phones etc on auction separately were once a part of the contents that were being sold as bag and content auctions. (ps. I sure hope pickles did none of this, but am not going to accuse them)
I have learned an expensive lesson here, and so be it.. not one to get all upset about it.
However thought i would share my experience with fellow OB's so you do not fall for these airport auctions as i just did.
I do feel scammed as i believe things were removed prior to them being auctioned, and due to the contents being taken out for viewing although i was told with no doubt this will not be done.
And feel that the airports should have done what i am going to do, and that is drop it all to a goodwill (or alike) store for them to sell.
i do feel happy for those I outbid though, as I have saved them a good amount of cash that could be used for other things (including buying all the contents and the suitcases separately and still have change lol).. your welcome.
1 of the bags that i got outbid on was stuffed with clothing (1/2 its contents out to see) and went for $320.. another which was still in tact went for over $500 .. dang i feel for those bidders.
hope this helps OB's to avoid such auctions in the future.
I don't keep anything valuable in my travel pack, because I don't trust anybody in the chain of baggage handling. I had a friend who went to South America and not only did the baggage handlers steal all her jewellery they also tried on some of the clothing as some of it has been turned inside out. That creeped me out.
I keep all my electronics and chargers with me; because I will need them at the other end.
If you got my pack at auction you would've got exactly what you did receive, a whole bunch of clothes, much of which would be in need of a good wash, my toiletries, and shoes.
What I have started doing is putting a card with my name and phone number in my handbag so people have the chance to return things to me. I have separate ones in my glasses cases.