I think we have beat this horse pretty dead... but here we go again, cause it's just so fun to talk about!
A person participates in a Public Auction guided by the primary axiom of "Buyer Beware!"
"Staged units" is fun way in the biz of saying ' I over bid and don't want to admit it
'. I do not believe "staged units" equates to malfeasance or fruad in the legal sense by the facility owner, employees, or auctioneer.
Staging a unit may be seen as no more then a successful marketing technique by the facility. When you buy a used car, and the owner washes and waxes the car all shiny, and you buy it without asking about the engine or take a test drive, and it turns out the engine is blown, did the seller fruadulently "STAGE" the car?
My opinion is it would have to be an obviously egregious case of "staging" to have any standing in court, and would probably have to constitute a guarantee of some sort by the facility about the contents. For instance a door goes up on a storage unit and there are 20 boxes of flat panel LCD plasma TVs and the facility owner/auctioneer GUARANTEES the TVs are in the boxes and ALL the TVs are in proper working condition. You bid on the unit and win, and come to find all the boxes are either empty or filled with dirty clothes, then I think you would have a case.
As far as busters in the crowd running up the bids for the owner/facility, well thats just part of the game!
Buyer Beware, my friend, Buyer Beware!