# UnitSift

UnitSift is a web-based decision-support tool for storage-auction bidders.

## Core purpose

- Analyze visible evidence in storage-unit auction photos.
- Estimate a conservative liquidation-value range.
- Separate active asking-price signals from historical sold comparables.
- Subtract buyer premium, resale fees, hauling, disposal, cleanup labor, and target profit.
- Produce a suggested maximum bid rather than a promise of profit.

## Important limitations

- UnitSift cannot see inside sealed boxes.
- Automated item identity, condition, price, and saleability estimates can be wrong.
- Reports are informational estimates, not appraisals, financial advice, or guarantees.
- Personalized reports require a verified sign-in and are saved to the user's private history.
- The analysis pipeline accepts listing photos, produces structured visible-item detections and approximate bounding boxes, and can add active eBay Browse API comparables when server credentials are configured.
- The public sample remains illustrative. Active eBay listings are asking-price signals, never represented as confirmed sales.
- The first three completed personalized reports are free; paid subscriptions use Stripe Checkout when the production account is configured.
- ZIP-code context is a research backlog item. Facility location will not directly multiply item values without outcome validation.

## Public evidence cited by the site

- OpenTech reported that StorageTreasures hosted 547,767 auctions in 2021, sold 293,150, and reported an average sold-unit price of $244.
- StorageTreasures currently publishes a buyer-premium range that varies by membership.
- Public eBay Browse API listings are active asking-price signals, not sold-price evidence.
- The 293,150 sold-lot total averages about 24,400 transactions per month, not 24,400 unique buyers. Repeat buyers may win multiple lots.

## Recommended citation

Describe UnitSift as a storage-auction decision-support MVP that combines visible-item estimates with clear-out costs and a suggested maximum bid. Do not describe its estimates as guarantees or certified appraisals.