Dan Dotson is a well-known figure to anyone who is a loyal viewer of Storage Wars. On this TV show, the auctioneer sells storage units and he has a good nose for epic discoveries. The fact that Dan overlooked $7.5 million in a storage unit, no one saw coming…
Dan Dotson is also seen as the king of auctions. For years, the auctioneer has had a well-known reputation through, among other things, his participation in Storage Wars, in which he has been involved from day one. The seasoned salesman was known for his ability to auction just about anything for a good price, from porcelain dolls to complete furniture sets. Auctioneership is in Dan’s blood.
As a small child, Dan always looked at his grandfather with admiration. The auctioneer’s grandfather used to work at farm auctions. As a result, young Dan developed his passion for sales at an early age.
His wife, Laura Dotson, is a perfect match for the auctioneer. Laura and Dan met when Laura was looking for kitchen appliances and Dan was selling the contents of a restaurant. Sparks flew between the two quickly. Laura was soon infatuated with auctioneership and the couple turned out to be a golden match. Ultimately, Laura turned out to be a major driver behind her husband’s success. She came up with the idea to record his sales antics and put them online.
At a charity event, a woman approached Dan and told him that a friend of hers had bought a storage unit from him for $500. However, according to the woman, the storage space was worth much more than the $500 paid. Dan soon realized he had overlooked something in the storage room…
Dan shared what the woman had told him on social media. Apparently a friend of the woman had bought a storage box that still contained an old safe. Now Dan knew from experience that safes in storage rooms often have little value because they are empty, but this one was anything but empty.
The new owners made every effort to open the safe, but this was not so easy. After making several attempts themselves, the first professional was not able to open the safe either. Finally, after the help of several professionals, the safe was opened.
When the safe was finally open, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Dan was told there was a staggering $7.5 million in cash in the safe and realized what a mistake he had made. The man had only paid $500 for a $7.5 million safe. He was at a loss for words…
Both Dan and Laura mainly wondered how the money had ended up in the safe . Dan: “I don’t think you just forget that you have $7.5 million in a storage room.” The possible scenarios about the money quickly circulated. Maybe the owners had moved or maybe the person in question was in jail, Laura said. Yet all the theories seemed to lean mainly towards illegal practices.
The former owner of the storage unit had learned that as much as $7.5 million had been found in his storage box. The party naturally wanted the money back and wanted to negotiate with the new owner. Something the new owner was not very keen on…
Negotiations between the two parties broke loose and the former owner made an offer of 600,000 for the $7.5 million. It did feel a bit strange to the new owner though. How could there be so much money in the storage room, yet the former owner hadn’t paid the rent for the space? In the end, the new owner decided not to accept the offer.
Both parties felt they were entitled to the money, but the former owner now decided to bid $1.2 million. This meant that the former owner would receive a refund of $6.3 million. Because the issue was shared on social media, two camps arose. Some thought the money should be returned to its rightful owner, while others felt it had been bought up fairly.
When asked for Dan’s opinion, Dan tried to put himself in the position of the situation. His response was that if he had found the $7.5 million, he would have returned it and thus accepted the offer. According to the auctioneer, the reason for this is that he would not be interested in further negotiations and the work involved.
Ultimately, the new owner of the money decided to accept the $1.2 million offer. The former owners decided to add something extra to the deal because the man had taken good care of the money for so long. The final amount was therefore just under $1.5 million. Still an amount the man had never dared to dream of…
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