Lost luggage auctions are all the rage right now. While bidding on and then rummaging through a stranger’s bag for valuables might seem strange, the UK appears to be warming to this unorthodox side hustle.
But what exactly is a lost luggage auction? What can you find at them, and why are they so popular?
As lovers of all things lost property, we felt obliged to answer these burning questions.
What is a lost luggage auction?
Ok, imagine you’re an airline (not particularly relatable we know, but try.) Every day, you move thousands of bags on and off planes. Some go missing, and while most are returned to their rightful owners, others get lost.
After a while, it becomes clear that a bag isn’t getting claimed. What do you do with it? Do you throw it away? Well, that has environmental considerations and comes at a high cost. The smart move is to sell it via a lost luggage auction.
Now, the airlines don’t hold the bidding themselves—that wouldn’t be a good look. Instead, they ship the suitcases to auction houses, which host in-person and online events to find new homes for forgotten baggage and its mysterious contents.
But why mysterious? Surely, you’re allowed a peek inside to know what you’re buying. Most of the time, you’re not.
It’s all part of the fun.
Lost luggage auction houses
There are a few players in the lost luggage auctions game, and they have different ways of doing things. We’ve listed some of the most popular below:
Greasby’s
One of London’s foremost auction houses, Greasby’s, plies its trade in Tooting and maintains lost luggage partnerships with British Airways and Heathrow. Auctions occur every Tuesday, with viewings on Monday. Greasby’s sells both empty suitcases and those with their contents intact.
Mulberry Bank
Based near Glasgow but hosting all events online, Mulberry Bank holds bi-monthly auctions for unclaimed lost luggage. Empty suitcases and their contents have been tragically separated and are sold apart. Mulberry also sells airport lost property, something we have strong feelings about.
BVCA
Bristol’s BCVA holds online auctions for lost luggage. Viewings are not allowed before the auction, meaning excitement runs high on game day. All purchases come with free postage, a nice perk for those seeking their fortune.
How much do I need to spend?
You can expect to pay between £15 and £80 for someone else’s suitcase. It might not sound like a lot, but other costs must be considered. First, the auction house adds its expenses.
This could be a buyer’s premium, which ranges from an added 15-20% onto the sale price or a flat VAT rate of 20%. Either way, know your fees before entering a bidding war.
The other cost is your time. Simply opening a suitcase and conjuring a value doesn’t generate ROI. You’ll need someone to purchase the items, potentially listing them on different platforms and dealing with people offering £1 below asking price before ghosting you.
Why are lost luggage auctions so popular?
While lost luggage auctions have existed for some time, awareness has exploded this year. But why? As is the cause of so many crazes in modern times, we can thank several videos uploaded to social media platforms, namely TikTok.
These featured would-be treasure seekers performing luggage autopsies after attending an auction, working out the value of their prize and discussing its contents.
It made for engaging content, and several media outlets picked up the trend. In fact, it was so popular that British GQ even tried their hand at an auction. Whether or not the fad will become a mainstay of UK thrift culture remains to be seen.
Are lost luggage auctions worth it?
We’re not sure, but we can confidently say you’ll likely end up with a bag of someone’s clothes. If you’re hoping for hidden treasure, a lost luggage auction is the wrong place.
Most suitcases will have already been searched for IDs to track down the owner, and if none appears, valuables are often removed and sold separately.
However, this doesn’t mean there isn’t money to be made. Several recent online videos and articles have shown there is value.
Ally Law, a Southampton-based TikToker, posted a video after splashing out £109 on a mystery suitcase. Despite not containing the collection of pristine Rolex’s he hoped for, a quick curbside calculation concluded a £121 profit.
Another popular TikToker Danielle, aka Charity Shop Life, posted several clips of her unboxing several suitcases. The results were a mixed bag (quite literally), with some semi-expensive garments and lots of worthless threads. You can see one of her videos below.
@charityshoplife Replying to @mackasauruspets opening mystery suitcases from a lost luggage auction… need a hazmat suit for next time 🤢
Essentially, you’re unlikely to get rich off it, but you might just get lucky.
Notlost’s two cents
The sheer amount of luggage making its way to market is worth noting, with Greasby’s alone receiving up to 300 bags monthly from Heathrow, Stanstead and Gatwick.
The post-COVID holiday boom is likely still affecting this. Following restrictions being lifted in 2022, a perfect storm of skyrocketing passenger numbers and low staff levels meant lost luggage doubled, with much of it not finding its way home in the chaos.
While this backlog might still be affecting the number of forsaken suitcases making their way to market, lost luggage rates have now returned to normal levels. With the dust settled, methods to reduce passenger bags disappearing into the abyss should be explored.
Naturally, we dream of a world where more items are returned to passengers, and, by airlines adopting our centralised lost luggage system, they can increase repatriation rates and customer satisfaction.
The result? More happy passengers but less amusing TikTok videos of people tearing through a stranger’s holiday fits.