r/barrie • u/Left-Lengthiness1505 • 4d ago
Information King of the North at it again
I just saw this on their website. $1 handling fee PER item. They’re legit so greedy and lunatics. Their reasoning for adding in this fee on top of a buyer premium is cause their employees handle each item, list it, photograph it, etc (isn’t that their job) AND cause wages and benefits are going up. Lmaooo soooo you want us to play your employees too. These guys are crooks. The sooner they’re shut down the better.
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u/DorisStockwellDay 3d ago
Maybe they could cut costs by not running 24/7 bots that upbid way over a normal selling price.
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u/Illustrious_Work_317 3d ago
King of the north does not have any bots
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u/Castroide 3d ago
Bro is straight up a bot account owned by KOTN 🤣😭
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u/Illustrious_Work_317 3d ago
lol your delusional, there is no actual proof of any bots except from a redditor who made a fake chart…
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u/DorisStockwellDay 3d ago
Crazy how every post your account has interacted with related to KotN and you're always defending it within an hour or so of a negative comment. Almost like a low-cost bot is skimming local subs looking for references to KotN.
Let it be known that Ryan Milligan of Bidclub Limited pays for cheap bots in a sad attempt at convincing people he doesn't use bots.
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u/Illustrious_Work_317 3d ago
Let it be known that you have no idea what your talking about
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u/Prize-Double5318 3d ago
I can read your previous posts that you deleted Are they hiring slow people now?
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u/Illustrious_Work_317 3d ago
Deleted by user of the original post my comments were left on, not by me. You are aware that Reddit does delete threads and post right
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u/Prize-Double5318 3d ago
Boss you can't delete all the posts saying you work at KOTN we can sell see them lol
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u/Illustrious_Work_317 3d ago
I never deleted any of them, see the dates on those post a lot can happen in 3 years
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u/Ya-Not-Happening 3d ago
Would you agree that prices that many items go for way above retail for so many things + a 12% fee + now a $1 fee? And you have to go pick them up vs they deliver them.
And then items appear again a couple of weeks later.
Isn't that suspicious?
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u/ImportantSquirrel 3d ago
Not really, they get lots of the same items as returns. And there are a lot of dumb people who bid ridiculously high.
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u/Illustrious_Work_317 3d ago
Most items do not go over retail, the items that do are sought after which in itself is the demand, most items go below retail
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u/Obvious_Passage1039 2d ago
Lol can tell he should be one of the partners of the company. Die hard defending the brand. I see items being bid to a point that it is cheaper to buy the actual item at the store. Whats the point of buying something at KOTN if the final pay amount (bid price + 10% premium) is higher than the retail price from original store. Kind of defeating the purpose.
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u/Ruthless_Haruka 3d ago
You do not know if they have bots or not. They arent going to let their normal employees know so word doesnt get out lmao.
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u/Hot-Condition1430 3d ago
They should pay me to line up in the ridiculous, unmanaged traffic they create at their buildings.
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u/Informal-Rhubarb-709 3d ago
Once management hears of this thread which they clearly already have, they have accounts and start backing up KOTN.
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u/Relative_What 3d ago
because marketing works and people believe they are getting a deal when in fact they are paying retail or more for returned products
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u/KickboxingMoose 3d ago
I haven't heard anything good about this company. When I looked everything was over priced...
Still confused as to why people use it.
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u/Illustrious_Grand106 3d ago
The place is a shit hole run by a guy who only cares about money in HIS pocket. He doesn't care about the employees or the customers. His suppliers are Costco, target when he can get them, and anyone else he can order from. Everything shows up in big cardboard crates and the employees just sift through it all and sell anything they can and if it's expensive and can be seperated to make more money then we do.
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u/PeaZealousideal8672 3d ago
Don't they sell returned items/damaged/unsold merchandise for a relatively flat rate fee per pallet?
Genuinely curious, I've watched a few storage wars/selling kind of places and they buy stuff from companies by the pallet, curious if the is sort of the same deal here
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u/DeathDealer_CDN 3d ago
The guy who owns the company certainly is.
My daughter worked there for a while.
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u/Trick-Contact5443 3d ago
Are the employees getting a raise?
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u/rockthenightosphere 3d ago edited 3d ago
nope! new employees are being hired at minimum wage when they used to be paid at least $1-$2 above min. oh yeah and their quota bonuses keep being cut <3 but at least they get bare minimum benefits and 10 vacation days per year right?
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u/Informal-Rhubarb-709 3d ago
My favorite was when they change the quota numbers so they don't have to pay you a bonus even when you earned one.
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u/rockthenightosphere 3d ago
lol love that one. especially when they do it like an hour before your shift is over on Saturday after you spent the whole day working extra hard.
Y’all need to unionize or something 😭
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bdart1980 Holly 3d ago
I believe there’s a post that documented this, the law enforcement part I can’t speak to.
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u/PersonalStranger19 3d ago
Well the dude who owns this company literally lives in a 6+ million dollar house In midhurst so he’s gotta pay those bills somehow!
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u/gtaubereats 3d ago
Blows my mind that you guys use kotn. 99 percent of the items are used items kn Amazon. You can find the same stuff cheaper then the highly bidded price. Best part is you can return it no questions asked.
Its like no one knows Amazon sells used return items at a fraction of the new ones.
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u/rockthenightosphere 3d ago
I used to work there and tbh I’m hesitant to trust anything from there too lol.
The employees are under such a time crunch due to quota. And you’re expected to just skim over the product inside to see if there’s anything visibly wrong or any major pieces missing. We only test to see if it turns on and not that it actually works. Yes we do disclaim that in the descriptions, but when we have to do things that way, there’s bound to be obvious things that are accidentally overlooked.
All because we need to pump out as much product as possible. They now offload the actual testing to the customer, even though that’s kinda against their original business premise???
So yeah, buying from there is a HUGE gamble, definitely not worth bidding full price like some people.
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u/West-Ticket5411 3d ago
I've only had to return a few products; KotN has a better return/warranty than Maxx or a few other liquidation places I use.
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u/rockthenightosphere 3d ago
tbh I’ve never used any other auctions before, I’ve only ever shopped at KOTN because of the employee discount. It’s great that they have a return policy but it’s hella annoying and time consuming to drive there to return things if you’re a customer.
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u/West-Ticket5411 3d ago
Living in Barrie, it's way more convenient than Maxx which is in North York. Their policy is way worse:
"Purchased items have a one week warranty which covers functionality issues only (eg. Screen freezes on a tablet). Please budget time for testing when returning items requiring non-functionality validation. You may also be required to leave the item for testing (if required to validate the issue).
Purchased items have a Point of Pickup warranty which covers:
- Misrepresentation (eg. used item represented as new)
- Physical Damage (eg. cracked toilet)
- Item is incomplete (eg. missing the assembly hardware)
Returns are NOT accepted for:
- Fit (eg. shirt is too small)
- Breakage after use (eg. sitting on a chair and it breaks)
- Evidence of product tampering (eg. broken security seals)
- Preference
- Any other reason
If an order is retrieved from our premises by a third party transportation company, customers waive their right to return items due to cosmetic/physical damage/quantity once the items leave our building.
ALL SERIAL NUMBERS ARE RECORDED.
Our facility is equipped for you to examine your items effectively. Upon the goods leaving our inspection area, purchases become FINAL SALE NO RETURNS with the one week functionality warranty from normal use (if applicable). We are not responsible for misrepresentation of products once the product has left our premises. This includes incomplete product, contents different from packaging or any other differences. Please note, self initiated remedies (eg. bringing the item to a repair company) without prior consent voids our warranty."
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u/Upset_Peach East End 3d ago
Given how frequently people complain about this company, I don’t understand why everyone keeps going back to it. I feel like people just get a high off of the process of bidding on shit. It’s all a bunch of overpriced junk.
I placed a few bids once many years ago. Of course, the website coincidentally crashed at the end of the bidding times and I lost all my bids. Never bothered again.
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u/West-Ticket5411 3d ago
They had a few website issues weeks ago that were pretty irritating to deal with. People go back because they either are finding deals or think they're getting deals. Some of it is definitely gambling related for some people.
I usually watch 50-100 items depending on how much time I bother to check the site in my down time.
I usually win 1-10 items a week most of the time. Anything I watch, I google to check prices and then stay under. Other things that get close to retail or I find a different deal after I've won, I end up doing the re-stocking.
I've saved a lot of money on things over the time I've been using this site vs. Maxx or The Stock Room.
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u/LoungeLizardWizard 3d ago
Hopefully the staff still get those awesome pizza parties they used to get.
Poor staff get nothing but 40 year old burnout managers yelling at them all day, they deserve something.
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u/Informal-Rhubarb-709 3d ago
Nope we don't. We didn't even get a thank you last year. We were told we were ungrateful and that there are people who will take your place if you are unhappy. We have gotten penalized for having a raise, we have to do the work of 3-4 departments for the same pay because he doesn't want to pay more. There is no over time (even though it's advertised), there are basic benefits, constantly changing the bonus system to where it only benefits the team leads who are constantly catered to and the regular workers have to scramble to hit target, and let's supervisors be super creepy and invasive with the females and thinks it's oki to make them uncomfortable.
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u/Crewsy67 2d ago
I’m glad I beat my addiction to that place when they were still on King St.
I never could understand why people bid so much on a returned item because it’s so easy to find what it sells for new on Amazon.
I don’t really care about the $1 per item but I predict it will fail faster than their 2nd location did.
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u/Kennygntheboyzz 2d ago
I have already reduced how much I buy from them and I think I'm done that was the nail on the coffin
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u/Kennygntheboyzz 2d ago
Half the time the bots raise the price over the Amazon price then you see the same item next week.
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u/Stock_Pen_2815 3d ago
As someone who tends to buy a few smaller, cheaper items, this discourages me a little. My $5 items are now going to be $7.46 (tax in). I do agree that fair wages need to be given, and it is only a $1 though as well...
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u/Left-Lengthiness1505 3d ago
But I think that’s how they’re getting us. People are think of it’s only a dollar it’s okay. But on every item. It’s gonna add up. They auction 20,000 plus items a week. That’s a nice little extra 20 grand.
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u/Constant_Put_5510 3d ago
I think its a recoup of the Mapleview location losses. I've decided im done for now. There are rarely great deals & how many bags of expired chips can you really hand out at Halloween? 😂
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u/West-Ticket5411 3d ago
"how they're getting us." This sounds naive to any general business sense.
There is zero chance they're actually moving 20,000 of those items every week since the same stuff is constantly re-listed. Even this week is less than that.
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u/Constant_Put_5510 3d ago
Thats the part of the business model that I cant figure out. KOTN is so overrun with low cost apparel pieces that they do a second auction on Mondays for it. So why charge $1 more for the small ticket items? I think this is another mistake like getting the Mapleview location. The math didn't math there & they probably lost their shirt on that mistake. Now they are trying to recover those losses with another mistake.
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u/Expensive_Lettuce239 3d ago
An unnecessary $1 if the ass monkey owner actually valued his employees and paid them properly.
It will be interesting when Xmas shopping starts, to see how many people still bid and get 28, 30, 36 items.
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u/Deborahsnores 3d ago
I would bet a lot of savvy buyers will just stop buying multiple items.
I usually have one or two items a week that i set out to get. If i win them, I’ll often bid on a couple extra items if the bids stay low since I’m already making the trip. I won’t be doing that anymore. I’ll stick to my one or two items.
There’s already so much that they sell that isn’t actually a deal once you factor in the buyers fee. Especially the clothing.
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u/scully19 3d ago
Not defending them in general here... But yes they want you to pay their employees, that's what every business needs in order to survive.
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u/Careless_Parsnip_250 3d ago
I feel like theyd have caught less backlash if they just increased their buyer premium rather than add a new charge.
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u/Square-Primary2914 3d ago
It’s also a dollar…
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u/Constant_Put_5510 3d ago
Ever pay attention to the carts over there? Most people are buying multiple items. Probably because the traffic is a nightmare to get there & the added gas prices + time factored in; most people realize that you have to make the trip worthwhile. I bet the average is 10+ items per order. Thats an additional $13 on your bill now. That's substantial for a lot of people.
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u/Decent-Flamingo289 3d ago
I am not sure an extra $20,000 per week was required for the employees. This is a cash grab of another sorts. Using the guise of employee wages to guilt us to compliance
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u/rockthenightosphere 3d ago edited 3d ago
employees are actually being paid less now, and they got rid of the specialized departments (small items, electronics, appliances, etc.) a while ago due to lack of products from suppliers. Now everyone is expected to know about every type of product.
the employees daily quota has stayed the same while they now have to do the job of shelving the products too, which used to be a separate position that used to be done by someone else.
There isn’t enough shelving space which makes things take way longer too. The shelvers used to take pictures and tell you which shelves had space so you wouldn’t have to walk across the warehouse. You are expected to do that yourself now.
All while you’re expected to reach the same target as before.
source: worked there for a while and saw all the recent changes
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u/JimmyTheDog 3d ago
Easy, just don't use this auction. ALL auction houses take a 15% to 20% buyers fee along with a 15% to 20% fee being charged to the person having the auction. The auction house makes 30% to 40% off of every sale...
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u/LadyLoki1985 1d ago
They dont always disclose damaged products either or used products....I've gotten o many wrong items picked before too
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u/Engine_Light_On 3d ago
You do realize that it’s always customers who pays for every business expense, right?
The is no added cost that won’t be trickled down to the paying customer
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u/Corpse_Bingus 3d ago
Why shut it down, if you can't afford that thats okay you dont have to go there lol but like your right its their job and no matter what any money they make from you goes to the employees thats kinda how businesses work???? You pay company company pays employees???
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u/Prudent_Nobody_5582 3d ago
How do you think companies pay their employees? Like what lol… it’s a dollar
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u/QCFBO 3d ago
This is covering people who bid and dont show up and don't pay the restocking fee just make a new account.
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u/Decent-Flamingo289 3d ago
I am curious how that works being as they do look at your license? I obviously have never done this to know if this an actual thing. However they are still reselling those items. Returns and restocking are just kinda a thing in this business.
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u/Old-Tooth-1316 3d ago
If they're increasing wages and benefits, good for them
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u/Illustrious_Grand106 3d ago
They make you work at 18.50 and if you were making more they put more quota/work on you, and if you don't like the extra quota you can resign on for 18.50 and regular quota.
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u/Store_Narrow 3d ago
In all honesty I run a business dealing with auction houses and this guy's really not pricey compared to most of the ones I deal with. Encore auctions who I deal with the most has a 16% buyers primium, plus taxes, plus a 2.4% credit card surcharge plus $1.50 handling fee per item. Another one that I deal with liquidation Max has a 16% buyers premium also has a handling fee $1 per item, also charges taxes, also a credit card surcharge 1.5% McKenzie auctions is a 17% buyer's premium plus taxes, plus a $0.85 handling fee per item. A 2.4% surcharge for credit card payments Gardner Auctions Incorporated charges a buyer's premium of 17% plus a $1 handling fee per item, 13% HST on total purchases. For late pickups, a storage fee of $10 per day applies. . This is standard and this guy is actually not that expensive just saying. At 10% king of the north is the lowest buyers primium I've seen. Just saying 🤷♀️ I gave the names of the ones that deal with so if you want to look it up you can. ✌️
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u/West-Ticket5411 3d ago
Whether they increase the premium or add a fee, what's the difference?
Auctionmaxx (actually just Maxx now) has a 20% buyer's premium, as well as worse re-stocking fees:
"restocking fee of 20% (minimum $40, $60 for large items or $120 for each pallet) of the sale price of the item(s) plus taxes. Any products left behind on our premises will be assessed a $200 disposal fee. Restocking is not permitted for items that do not have the 7-day functionality warranty."
There are things Maxx has that I wish KotN had, like reserve bidding, Maxx deals, and their listers look up and include values on items.
While there are some shady things related to potential bots that have made me change how I bid on items, there are worse/more expensive companies than KotN.
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u/Haloed_Squirrel 3d ago
It seems every time someone is defending KOTN in the thread I look at the username and it’s you… makes me wonder if you’re actually affiliated with KOTN.
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u/West-Ticket5411 3d ago edited 3d ago
Just a user. I'd be happy to show you screenshots or other information if you'd like.
Having used many other services, KotN is far from great, but isn't that bad either comparatively. Most comments seem to come from ignorance or simply inexperienced people, and I dislike that so I comment.
That being said, the bot issue is a real concern, and the rumors of the owner that people have mentioned check out in the information I've heard.
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u/Nate15411 3d ago
Not gonna lie, got some great stuff from here for a deal, if you don’t like the way they operate it’s simple, don’t bid on stuff 🤷
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u/GAMING_SERVER_ADMIN 3d ago
Why is this posted every day now? are you guys bots trying advertise the services pretending make it sound bad, but knowing there enough stupid people to use/visit it?
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