Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
Lost luggage: How to Make Money Buying Unclaimed Baggage
MoneyMagpie team
4th Jul 2024
Did you know you can make cash from lost luggage? Hundreds of thousands of suitcases get lost every year around the world, but they don’t just disappear into a black hole – in fact, they open up an opportunity for you to make money.
Even the ones that never find their owners again end up somewhere. In fact, that somewhere is usually some form of auction house that sells unclaimed baggage to people like you and me. In America, the Unclaimed Baggage Centre in Alabama receives 800,000 visitors per year and is, incredibly, the state’s biggest tourist attraction.
If you can’t get to Alabama then no fear, the British version of lost luggage auctions is also the place to bag a good bargain and even sell it on at a profit.
Step 1: The auction house
When British Airways has a surplus of unclaimed baggage in storage, it sells the cases at auction (of course, BA – and we hope all airlines – do their absolute best to reunite baggage that has gone astray with its owner before attempting to sell it off.)
All those looking to bag a bargain on the lucky dip of lost luggage need to do is head down to the auction house, and bid on cases that go under the hammer.
If you’re lucky, you could pick up items worth hundreds or thousands of pounds, for very little – most suitcases sell for between £10 and £75. The savvy amongst you could sell items on for more than you paid, making a tidy profit.
Sometimes, auction houses will have opened up the suitcases and separated the goods. Other times, there may be a generic description of what’s inside – “men’s clothes”, for example.
There are plenty of bargains up for grabs, and it can be fun – many people describe it as being like a treasure hunt.
Where to look
London’s lost luggage hotspot is Greasby’s in Tooting, south west London. It’s here that British Airways (one of the world’s biggest baggage losers) sells its lost luggage. Greasby’s also deals with the lost luggage from Heathrow Airport.
Auctions take place every Tuesday, with views the Monday before. The most recent Monday viewing took place between 11am and 4.45pm. The viewings give you a chance to suss out which bags you want to buy.
Other notable auction houses that deal in lost luggage include:
- BCVA Commercial Auctions (Bristol)
- Mulberry Bank Auctions (Glasgow-based, but all auctions take place online)
- Wellers of Guildford (Surrey)
As most of the above auction houses don’t have allotted airport auctions, it’s probably best to check with their website as to the next scheduled date for baggage bounty. You should sign up to their mailing lists, which will let you know when they’re going to happen, or follow individual houses on social media.
Step 2: Evaluate
After viewing the auction collection, go home and think about the prices of likely individual items to see how much of a profit you can make up to a certain bid. It’s hard to tell if cases are sold closed, but the posher the case, the more likely it is to contain items of value.
A good way to get an idea of how much the cases themselves will sell for is to search for similar items that are already listed on eBay. You can also check out the recommended retail price of the cases by looking online.
Once you know how much the case itself is worth, you can set your bidding limit. The only gamble is on how much over the worth of the case you’re willing to bid. If the case contains lots of goodies then it could be worth exceeding your limit. Of course, it could be full of junk.
If you’ve found an auction house that lets you see into the cases before you bid on them, you’ve got a better chance of grabbing a bargain.The same goes if the auction house gives you a description of what’s inside the case, even if it’s brief.
Step 3: Valuable items or cases?
There are two paths you can take at the auction. The auctioneers are likely to take very valuable items out of the suitcases first and sell them separately. This might include electronics, shoes and jewellery. You can bid on these and then sell them, ideally for more, elsewhere.
Alternatively, you can bid for suitcases and hope there are some good clothes, shoes, books, etc. in them that you could flog. This is a bit of a lottery. Auctioneers only give the vaguest details about what is in each suitcase, so you won’t know exactly what you are buying.
The auctioneers do tell you whether the clothes are clean or not though. It’s up to you whether or not you’re happy dealing with someone else’s nasty knickers. Of course you can also sell the suitcase itself and make some cash on that too.
Step 4: Bag a bargain and sell it on
Once you’ve successfully bid and paid for unclaimed luggage bargains, take them home and begin your online selling to make money. Take some photos, write some good ad copy, and then post it on eBay and wait for the bidding to begin.
How much can I make?
Lots. Valuable items can sell very cheaply at auction. A £500 snowboard recently sold for £75, for example. Suitcases might sell between £5 to £50. Even if the case is just full of clothes you should be able to sell it all for more than the price you paid for it.
Well…. BA have to pay compensation to people who loose baggage so why they would not put an effort in contacting anybody does not make much sense. Also, after they have paid a parties compensation claim, some of that money is recouped via selling off the goods at auction. Its costs a lot to store loads of unclaimed baggage…. Just Sayin’
In all fairness, the people do have like 6 months to claim the lost luggage, if there was anything in there that they desperately desired, im sure they would pretty much go out of their way for 6 months to find it (of course i know it isn’t always that simple). I don’t think it’s fair for people to call bidders “horrible people”, that’s a little harsh, and also they’re just trying to make a bit of money, it’s not their fault that the service is available. I’m just about to become a student so i might consider this to… Read more »
seriously? its not their fault the service is available? wow thats the most idiotic thing I’ve heard all day. services only stay in existance so long as there is a DEMAND for them, like from these people. make the airlines open the bags and locate the owners, rather than selling the stuff they STOLE for a profit. seriously, you shouldn’t take stupid pills, the “well if the service is available its not the users fault they used it.” excuse sounds pretty flimsy. I know, the nazis wasn’t responsible for the holocaust since the tools has already available! I know the… Read more »
man, some people lose their luggage but you lost your marbles!
I read the comments from those that say BA and the auction vultures are BAD, honestly, do you want BA to buy and keep a large warehouse just to store unknown owners of suitcases that have gone missing AND charge us more money on our flight tickets, its the owners fault for not putting luggage tags on bags, as well as inside the bags. Tuff shit & get real
you have very obviously never lost a bag whilst travelling! BA have just lost my bag although they know it is in Heathrow ,they just dont know where. My bag has labels and several distinguishing identifiable items inside with my name on. Quite frankly you are showing an ignorant and hard faced attitude with your “tuff shit and get real” nonsense. I sincerely hope you find yourself in my frustrating situation in the very near future as i’m sure your opinion will become somewhat different!
Well said.
Before reading this, I didn’t know that BA auctions off lost baggage instead of trying their best to find the owner, what a bunch of muppets.
No wonder their base airport (LHR) is equally diabolical.
What does it look like ,and are there any goodies in it, just wondering,as i’m off down the auctions!!!
this is a disgusting thing to do. my family just lost their luggage due to the weather disruptions despite them being fully tagged multiple times and that fact that you are encouraging people to take other peoples things and auction them off on ebay for personal gain is the lowest thing i can imagine. people who do this are nothing more than scavenging cockroaches who deserve the worst coming to them. my mothers suitcase contained precious gifts and keepsakes and christmas presents that are irreplacable and the idea of some grubby vulture selling them to make a few extra quid… Read more »
BA is a vile and horrible excuse of a nighmarish company. When I was a student flying out of UK at christmas I had an extra suitcase with presents etc and I was 10 kgr overweight in total. BA asked me for about 160 quid for excess backage and since I didn’t have that money, I asked them in frustration what would happen to my stuff. Plainly, the BA clerk said pay up or you should leave your baggage to be destroyed. Now I know that by destroyed, BA actually meant to be auctioned off… Luckily I shared baggage with… Read more »
Had you never flown before
Surly you realise how strict the airlines are on overweight bags. I could understand 1 or 2 kilo’s but 10!
You seriously think anyone wanting to purchase a bag with no identification or tracking number is a “vile and horrible excuse for a human being”?! People do a lot worse than that, what an easy life you must live to think that, ever watched the news or read a paper? I had my BOTH my bags lost thanks BA containing jewellery, photos and presents for more 2 children, I blame the company not individual people who simply want to make some cash in these hard times. However it isn’t just BA, they are police auctions for stolen goods that have… Read more »
I believe your comment is a bit harsh and unfair airports give you 6months to be able to gain your belongings back if in that time you have not bothered to obtain them or make contact than why should the airport or other personnel not be able to make something out of it the world is not free and cost money for all sorts, your more than entitle to your opinion but do not discriminate or insult people who are just there trying to make a living they are not the once loosing your bagage or miss placing it. That… Read more »
lots of luggage’s and jewelry are put in to auction every where. someone please tell me what are the ways to find such auction? i am very interested in attending such auctions.
i would reallyyy like to go to a luggage auction but i dont no how to do it? I live in the wolverhampton area?
I think maybe what should happen is that people should put their address labels inside the bag as well as the outside. So that if the bags DO wind up at auction, they may have a little more chance or getting back to the rightful owner…
…Smart thinking eh?
Certainly! Thanks for the reminder – I’m definitely going to do that.
Baggage PIN has developed a solution that will solve the lost baggage issue.
I suggest that people who are concerned about their baggage getting lost join BaggagePIN. It would also save insurance providrs millions.
This is ludacrous to think that BA staff take lost luggage, we try to locate the bag to the passenger and as soon as a report of lost luggage is made Ba traces the bag tag but if there is no bag tag then it is like, finding a needle in a haystack with how many bags have no id tags and thats why its always recommended that passengers put their name and addresses inside and outside the bag so that it can be identified.
As for BA making money from the lost bags, it goes to charity.
I was actually looking around for a forum post on this issue, but stumbled across your site on Google!! I’m actually quite interested so will keep an eye out for updates 🙂
In response to the rediculous comments about BA. BA firstly make every effort to return a lost bag. One of my friends had his bags misplaced quite a few months ago. He was kept informed and it turned up deliverd in a taxi the next day. The only way a bag would end up in an auction is because it can’t be linked to an individual (tags lost etc), they simply don’t set out to try and steal your bag and make money on it. Crazy Talk! The only reason BA has been highlighted as losing the most number of… Read more »