Dave Hester Auctions

THAT is certainly possible. It could also be true of Auction Hunters. The last half dozen posts or so kind of went off on a tangent from the original intent of this thread which was to  simply show the Dave Hester website, but sometimes threads take on a life of their own.

That would be my fault, but all I was stating is that I originally thought he was fake.

That would be my fault, but all I was stating is that I originally thought he was fake.

Not a problem for me jross....nor the others that followed up. Threads have a life of their own, and are like
one-on-one (or small group) conversations people have in person. They often go off on tangents. That's just the way
interaction is.

The only real problems I see with either live or written communications is mis-understanding because of the
definitions we have of different concepts and our individual ideas of what a word or a concept represents.
That may be too deep to investigate in a written thread, and as I said elsewhere, I'll never participate in a "live" chatroom  if it ever develops here.

Now did anyone notice how I hijacked this thread to even a different area of discussion...to heck with Dave Hester ! 

Hey guys,

I can put an end to all this speculation and answer most questions you have about the show. Thomas is my middle name - use it sometimes. I am an owner of storage facilities in Southern California and was one of the first to be involved with Original Productions (OP), allowing them to film SW at our locations. If you watch the show I am the one that has my store name visible in the shots. StorageOutlet.net 

Dan Dotson has been my auctioneer for 14 years and he is real as they get - 100% what you see on TV.
All the buyers are real buyers with the exception of Barry. Barry has friends at OP and the wanted a character who was not a Pro. Barry has been a collector all his life and that is what they say. BTW Barry is actually 500% nuttier off the camera. His nickname for the film crew is the "Time Bandit" from another OP show im sure....

Look up OP on line and look at the shows they have made. OP are masters at casting characters. They have great TV and its about the PEOPLE not the crabs, trucks, trees and storage units - about people!

I will only speak for the auctions that have been filmed at my stores, bc i have been there for every second. The units are real. There are 47 state laws we as storage owners have to live within and breaking the laws has substantial liability. I would never risk my core business or subject my investors to liability for a few hits on our website.

Those of you on this site that are Pros know that the Tenant can come in and pay for the unit up until the auction has started. We (storage outlet) and any operator following CA law have taken possession of the property between the time we cut the lock and take the inventory (state law) (all done video camera and a witness).

Now lets get to the conspiracy theories I keep hearing. I have the key to the door and a seal on the auction unit and I am going to give it to (OP) and let them into the unit before the auction so they can stack gold bars in there to make it interesting? ...lest go down that path and say I do? what happens when the tenant sees their unit on tv and says wow "I had gold bars in my unit" maybe I should get an attorney? Or if OP put the Gold Bars in there and the tenant came and paid the bill just before the auction starts? Demands control of the unit - which they would get. Do we sneak in in front of 200 people and get the Gold Bars? BTW im using "Gold Bars" substitute anything you want.

If you have any questions I will try to answer...
SW is now starting to film in other markets
Lance Watkins
storageoutlet.net
storagetreasures.com

Thanks for some insight!! and welcome to the forums!

Damn, I'm not one to say I told you so, but I have been saying Barry was an actor from the beginning. He just struck me as the Hollywood type.

Thanks for the insight

Thanks....good to hear from someone who appears to really know what is happening there.

Damn, I'm not one to say I told you so, but I have been saying Barry was an actor from the beginning. He just struck me as the Hollywood type.

tc I didn't see where he said Bary was an actor?

"All the buyers are real buyers with the exception of Barry. Barry has friends at OP and the wanted a character who was not a Pro."

I think Barry just knows people at (OP). JMO

I cant say 100% that Barry has never done anything to do with acting, (I have only know him since all this madness has started) but I do know he made his money in produce and he is the Godfather for Jessy James. He is a car guy, retired and generally nuts. He is a good guy and if he is acting he is doing a good job of not being as goofy on camera as he is off camera.

Lance

That explains the chopped Cadillac on hydraulics.

Barry may not have been a professional actor per se, but I bet you he had an agent and was looking for work.

No, just buddies with decision makers who has known him as a friend for years. I think he finally saw a place to plug Barry in... Cant imagine Barry on the deck of a crab boat or trusting him with a chainsaw. LOL

Now lets get to the conspiracy theories I keep hearing. I have the key to the door and a seal on the auction unit and I am going to give it to (OP) and let them into the unit before the auction so they can stack gold bars in there to make it interesting? ...lest go down that path and say I do? what happens when the tenant sees their unit on tv and says wow "I had gold bars in my unit" maybe I should get an attorney? Or if OP put the Gold Bars in there and the tenant came and paid the bill just before the auction starts? Demands control of the unit - which they would get. Do we sneak in in front of 200 people and get the Gold Bars? BTW im using "Gold Bars" substitute anything you want.

I understand before and during the auction But what about hours after the auction is over and they are unloading the unit? Is it possible they could put the gold bars in "later in the day" to make it more interesting?

Hell a lot of the "finds" are back at the store when they process it. How does anyone know that Brandy didnt slip that money in the book at the store? Yes, the painting Darell found was in the unit when he bought it But was the money planted there while they were going through this unit?

I don't mean to criticize I just know a guy....... how do i say......

I helped a guy unload a unit and there was nothing there but garbage. At the next auction I hear him gloating about his finds to the guy who lost the unit by a dollar.

 He out bid the guy by a dollar for a garbage Locker and then flat out made a story up to poke the other guy!!!!

So when I hear people making great finds at every locker they buy im very critical.

That is totally possible....However they have been showing less and less of that stuff. And they film LOTS of units that never make it to the public. Im guessing about 250K of film and edit to get 22 minuets. We can think about conspiracy theories forever... All I can bring to the discussion is my experience with all involved, which is extensive.

Dan is not only my auctioneer, but a business partner on the "Auction" site which is about 50% complete.  I did not expect this show to be very popular, was helping Dan more than anything (getting him places to film when everybody else was afraid of the concept)  in the beginning and whore out my website. Thats all I ever expected....along the way I realized our industry (storage) has done a real poor job running our auctions and I/we wanted to create a model to protect everybody involved and have the industry run professional auctions. You guys should have a fair chance to buy whats actually in the unit and a way to find out when the auctions are going on and not going on...

Lance
sorry for misspellings - im so dyslexic I can barley get a phone number correct...lol

Thanks for all the info, Lance. Great to get to hear from someone who actually has some realy insight instead of everyone else putting out all these claims of "oh, I read this somewhere or heard this."

As far as the 5 of them usually all being there, this is what they do for a living. I normally see the same handful of guys at almost every auction I go to around the Raleigh, NC area. They probably try to cordinate them getting together more so for the sake of the show, but all of these consipiracy theories are kind of funny. There is also the point that they probably follow them day after day and just use the handful of best auctions that will make for a good show to make their handful of shows for that season. Also, they always add the value of the locker up and round up, not to mention that they are saying what the estimated value may be and don't factor in that, for the most part, that is not what they are going to receive for the item. If I find an item with a value of 500$, I am glad if I can get 350 for it. Dave Hester is probably the only one getting close to full potential value. What they show at the end of the recap of winners and losers is always less from when they do the little adding up the value of everything in the lockers.

Totally agree with the "retail" value they use - I would imagine they rarely see those numbers.

Kind of like the news uses on "street value" lol