I think the auctioneer puts a buyer's premium in the ad to cover themselves, but leaves it up to the facility management to decide whether to charge a premium or not.

That's how I read it, but you could always call the facility or auction company for clarification. Contact numbers should be listed in those same ads.

I agree on the B movie thing.

As for doggin' on the auctioneer, I just have trouble imagining storage companies hiring this guy to represent them in the auction. I even think a lot of the nicknames he gives bidders are funny, but again, unprofessional.

But, I do watch the show, so I'll shut up now   

I suppose she's annoying, but she's not the worst part of the show.

Far as I'm concerned, the auctioneer is the least professional auctioneer on the planet. If he is an actual auctioneer and not an actor, it is shocking that he's been able to stay in business acting like some sort of wacked-out cartoon character.

That said, I'll still watch it. Guilty as charged.

One other thing to keep in mind.

No matter how much you finally decide on taking, you have to account for any cleaning deposits you will place on any units you win. Seems most places are asking between $50 to $100 for the deposit and that can put a decent dent into your bidding budget.

Attended my first two auctions yesterday and today.

Yesterdays auction was one facility towards the end of a caravan, publicized on auctionzip. 4 units up for bid, maybe 50-60 in attendance, some obvious newbs, hopefully I didn't look as obvious as these folks 

Anyhow, the first three units were ALL EMPTY. Not so much as a piece of trash. Fairly crappy way to start one's auction adventures. The last unit was a 5x10 lightly filled. Old TV, beat-up filing cabinet and your typical rough detritus. This sold for $40.

Today's auction was run by the same auctioneers and mostly the same crowd. Today was also the first day of a multi-day Public Storage caravan that runs through Friday. I was hoping that most people were going to attend the PS auctions, but no luck.

2 units up. first was a closet-sized unit with a couple couch coshins, old HP printer and a 3 or 4 foot tall organizational system thing. The bins were labeled, but couldn't really trust them and could see much of what was in them, but did see that most things were in zip-locks. Wife and I were interested, but wanted it around $25 and it got bid up to $45.

Last unit was a 10x10, mostly empty with fridge, washer or dryer (was covered) a piece of luggage  and a mystery box. Went for $300. Couldn't see enough of the appliances to know if it was worth that much.

So, big crowds, few units and nothing coming home with me, but happy to have those first auctions under my belt.

Got one more on Friday. 11 units in the notice. Hope there's an opportunity for me to get one.

32 here... for a couple more weeks, anyway   

The first time I heard about storage auctions was maybe a decade ago. It was some sort of story in the paper or maybe on the radio about a couple interesting auction finds. The most interesting they mentioned was the unit containing $40,000 cash... and the printing presses used to make them.

Anyhow, the whole concept sounded like a fun idea, but somewhere I got the misconception that the units were bid on sight-unseen. I believed that it was much more of a pure gamble than it actually is.

Fast forward and now we have the cable shows. Having already had some interest in these auctions, I checked out a couple shows and started doing more research and here I am.

Came home from my first auction a couple hours ago. Probably post about that in the looky-loos thread.

Thanks to Todd for resurrecting this thread. Had never noticed it and it's a cool topic.

Does anyone have a good source for determining the authenticity of designer handbags?

I may have found a near-endless source of second-hand designer bags, but if 90% of them are counterfeit, then it doesn't help me.

Any suggestions out there?