Last weekend I attended a vault auction in Sun Valley, CA, which was conducted by none other than American Auctioneers.  There was 60 units originally up for bid, but as the day progressed, that number suprisingly shot up to almost 100.  So many that the auction was stopped and is going to be continued in a few weeks.  Based on my research, I bid on and won a vault owned by a 50-something year old woman who resided in Calabasas, an upscale area of LA (right down the road from the Kardashians).  On first appearance, it looked promising.  In front of the unit was an oven, boxes and shipping crates that are generally used to package artwork, statues or electronics.  There was eight units that was (supposedly) owned by this woman, and the rest contained similar items.  I proceed to clean out the unit and remove the oven and crates first, saving opening them for last.  As I move them out of the unit, the rest comes to light and it's total garbage: Old office chairs, nasty comforters, filing cabinet, worn out lawn chairs.  And a framed porn poster, something that every middle-aged woman owns!  Not to mention that all of the boxes had been opened and retaped.  My last hope is the crates, I open them, only to discover that there's children's drawings inside.  Now I have been buying storage units on and off since 2007 and have never come across one that seems so blatantly staged.  I'm always prepared for the worst when I buy a locker but this one just seemed so shady.  What made it worse is the auctioneer (not Dan or Laura Dotson, one of their associates) was spouting off prior to selling the units about how this woman lived in Calabasas and that's it's "good stuff".  Of course I didn't take him at his word, but since I had researched the owner online, it seemed like a safer bet.
I don't know if this is happening in other places but at several vault auctions I've attended in SoCal, I'm seeing retaped boxes and the valuable items prominently displayed right in the front.  Hopefully this will serve as a warning & spare you some dollars in the future.  Curious to hear if anyone else has experienced this lately.