A&E Storage Wars - interesting show :)

[Balt]

well mostly the estimate values are a bit optimistic, and labor is never taken into account, selling so many nick nacks has to take forever.

Yeah. When they are sifting through the piles of crap they just start throwing out numbers and somehow whatever they said is counted as a guaranteed value. Like I really doubt Dave was gonna make tens of thousands of dollars on all those newspapers he bought.

 

[gorcorps]

Finally saw some of this show. While interesting at first it just doesn't grab me like Pawn Stars does. Maybe it because they spend more time looking at the money side of things vs. the history of the items which is what I actually care about. They do talk about what they find but it's not really the focus. It's more a focus on the bidding process and how much money is involved which I simply don't care about.

 

[SKORPI0]

Rage187 and Modelworks made good observations.

Who in their right mind would keep something of value in storage and have it only auctioned because of not paying for storage for 3 months or so. The only reason I can think of (at this time) is they died or left the units since most of the thing inside are mostly junk anyway. Storage for 10'x5' is about $53/month in Chicago.

Staged unit? Not sure if that's fair for the other bidders, but who knows what really happens all we see are the edited parts. I'm surprised to see that the auction is the only source of products to sell for that couple who own a thrift shop. I just wonder how much money they really make.

 

[Newbian]

Who in their right mind would keep something of value in storage and have it only auctioned because of not paying for storage for 3 months or so. The only reason I can think of (at this time) is they died or left the units since most of the thing inside are mostly junk anyway. Storage for 10'x5' is about $53/month in Chicago.

More then likely they got behind the payments and when that happens they cannot access to storage locker until they pay all what they owe and fines and by then they probably can't and thus after more time it gets sold off.

 

[midwestfisherman]

I watch the show periodically. It's entertaining for what it is. The personalities are interesting. Some of the finds are interesting. American Pickers and Pawn Stars are by far my favorite two shows on right now. I don't get to watch a lot of TV but I try to make a point to catch those two.

 

[0roo0roo]

Finally saw some of this show. While interesting at first it just doesn't grab me like Pawn Stars does. Maybe it because they spend more time looking at the money side of things vs. the history of the items which is what I actually care about. They do talk about what they find but it's not really the focus. It's more a focus on the bidding process and how much money is involved which I simply don't care about.

still its better than american pickers...those guys don't seem viable as a business at all.

but yea pawn stars beats them all in that they get interesting items and spend time on them.

the biggest fail though was pawn queens, boring as sin.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/pawn-queens-tv-review-185354

 

[Rage187]

Consider this a rumor but someone said they were walking around Vegas and a Pawn Stars staff person asked them if they wanted to be on tv. They would give them the item to bring in get appraised and they would be paid for their time.

They even give you some bs backstory about your grandfather dying or you need money to gamble or some such shit.

That's why I don't like pawn stars as much anymore. That little seed of doubt.

 

[SearchMaster]

I'm surprised to see that the auction is the only source of products to sell for that couple who own a thrift shop. I just wonder how much money they really make.

They're always complaining about needing to buy some good units to stay afloat, so I'd guess they don't make much from the store at all. They probably make more from being on the show than from the store.

 

[LookBehindYou]

Did anyone catch the 3 show tie-in a few weeks ago. American Pickers guys finding an old car for pawn stars, American restoration restoring it, Pawn stars giving the car to the old man. Was pretty good. I do like storage wars, Auction hunters is good too, didnt like it at first, but it grew on me.

 

[0roo0roo]

Consider this a rumor but someone said they were walking around Vegas and a Pawn Stars staff person asked them if they wanted to be on tv. They would give them the item to bring in get appraised and they would be paid for their time.

They even give you some bs backstory about your grandfather dying or you need money to gamble or some such shit.

That's why I don't like pawn stars as much anymore. That little seed of doubt.

well it was more like that they would stand in for someone who didnt want to appear on camera or something.

 

[pontifex]

I saw 2 episodes of this last night. Its kind of interesting to see whats in the storage but everything else is dumb and boring.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Last night was quite funny with the guy thinking he might have a Nintendo worth 13k.

 

[GotIssues]

Last night was quite funny with the guy thinking he might have a Nintendo worth 13k.

If I remember correctly, top loading 8-bit Nintendos with the dog-bone controllers sell for quite a bit. There aren't many out there and they were made as a test run for the style of the Super Nintendo. $13k? I don't know, but it would fetch quite a bit.

 

[a123456]

I think they put in the Nintendo to show that the fictional(?) Mark guy is somewhat clueless but Dave needed some vacation time. He just has a lot of money to throw around from his main business and this is just some random side business.

I'm still a little off put by how off their profits are but I guess at this point, it's just something not to take too seriously since it's natural to inflate one's profits. It'd be nice to put in how much they actually sold the items for after they're sold on that summary screen at the end of the show rather than using the estimates of the people, which are going to be wildly optimistic.

I can't stand Jerrod. Why is he so intent on seeing his wife crash and burn and be wrong? They're business partners too. Granted, all of them can be somewhat obnoxious at times since the show feels that makes things more interesting. But, seriously? Dropping a bunch of heavy boxes on her and then saying "wasn't me" and "no big deal."

I'm starting to think they might seed the lockers now or the lockers on the show are maybe 10% of what they buy in total and they make an episode out of it with lots of cutting. It's the exact same formula every show. 3 of the groups buy a locker, one doesn't >80% of the time. Most of the time, they find 1 and only 1 weird item that needs to be taken to an expert. Then, they flip a coin to see if it's worthless or worth a few thousand dollars.

Edit: Also, I hope Barry gives the crap to Jerrod or Goodwill or something. I know he doesn't have the ability to sell the little stuff since he's just looking for the 1 item, but all the other stuff has value and a little thrift shop could probably move some of it instead of just sending it to the dump each week.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

I caught this on last night and watched a few of em. The Dave guy is definitely an ass, Barry (Barry Weis is his full name ) is a bit suspect not to mention he shows up with a midget with nightvision and stilts, and the married couple the dude needs to grow some balls and not let his wife put em in her purse although she is definitely the smarter of the two.

The odd thing is, as some already said, that the other people in the crowd never bid. Also, it seems a bit odd that it's always the same auctioneer and assistant. My guess is the auctioneer works for A&E and the production crew for the show goes in to these facilities and buys all the defaulted lockers beforehand, then auctions them off with their own auctioneer. That would obviously allow them to go in and plant stuff in some lockers pre-auction to keep the show "exciting," but I'm sure a few of those are legitiment finds. They're ridiculously optimistic on their value of items though.

Haven't seen any of the other shows people mentioned other than American Pickers, which is interesting because of the people they meet and some of the odd stuff they find.

That is what I've always suspected. I think A&E buys the units and seeds them.

 

[thegimp03]

I thought the show was fake when I watched an episode in the last couple of weeks where they found a locker in Boston full of a bunch of Yankees memorabilia. I was wondering why someone with valuable collectibles would keep them in a storage unit, then stop making payments and not come and claim them. It seemed suspicious to me.

 

[torpid]

The auctioneers in this show have stated a few times that they make money for the storage companies and take a cut.

 

[dpodblood]

I thought the show was fake when I watched an episode in the last couple of weeks where they found a locker in Boston full of a bunch of Yankees memorabilia. I was wondering why someone with valuable collectibles would keep them in a storage unit, then stop making payments and not come and claim them. It seemed suspicious to me.

People get behind on their mortgage payments, and when they go into foreclosure they may end up putting all their belongings into a storage locker, and going to live with friends or family. If they are really badly in debt they may even get behind on their locker payments, and that's how this sort of thing ends up happening.

I think it's an entertaining enough show. Not something I plan on watching, but I'll watch it if there's nothing else to do. And yeah, Dave's a d-bag.

 

[OutHouse]

I want to know wtf barry does or did to get all his money. He doesnt work or have a shop to sell the sc hit he finds. He drives some very expensive custom cars

 

[a123456]

People get behind on their mortgage payments, and when they go into foreclosure they may end up putting all their belongings into a storage locker, and going to live with friends or family. If they are really badly in debt they may even get behind on their locker payments, and that's how this sort of thing ends up happening.

I think it's an entertaining enough show. Not something I plan on watching, but I'll watch it if there's nothing else to do. And yeah, Dave's a d-bag.

I think a lot of the personalities of the show are just for show, like any other "reality" show. In the outtakes during the end credits over the bulk of the episodes, I've seen lots of joking around and friendly banter, even between Dave and the others.

So I'd guess a lot of the behavior is scripted to make it more "interesting."

The auction people take 25% of the gross on these sales (from an offhand comment by Laura in one of the episodes), which seems like a huge cut. But I'm sure they pay the storage companies too, either directly or indirectly from the free advertising of that location.

 

[OutHouse]

The auctioneers in this show have stated a few times that they make money for the storage companies and take a cut.

auctioneers tack on a % to the sale. The auctions I go to is normally 10% for cash or 13% for credit card.
For storage lockers the storage place normally gets 3-4% of the auctioneers %.

 

[james1701]

Is it my imagination or does Brandi look a lot like the girl that did the motel star pron vids. It looks like she put on some weight from the kids, but I would almost swear it was her.

 

[Jeffg010]

My biggest problem with this whole premise was when the show first stared it was in Las Vegas only and I was wondering how in the hell they find so many lockers that were being auctioned off. You are telling me that there is that many lockers from week to week that people are defaulting on?

The other thing is only those 4 ever were bidding on the lockers so ya this show is not all legit but sure is entertaining.

 

[OutHouse]

My biggest problem with this whole premise was when the show first stared it was in Las Vegas only and I was wondering how in the hell they find so many lockers that were being auctioned off. You are telling me that there is that many lockers from week to week that people are defaulting on?

The other thing is only those 4 ever were bidding on the lockers so ya this show is not all legit but sure is entertaining.

Google storage unit auctiond for your area. they are in LA so yea there are a lot.

 

[l0cke]

Consider this a rumor but someone said they were walking around Vegas and a Pawn Stars staff person asked them if they wanted to be on tv. They would give them the item to bring in get appraised and they would be paid for their time.

They even give you some bs backstory about your grandfather dying or you need money to gamble or some such shit.

That's why I don't like pawn stars as much anymore. That little seed of doubt.

I think that happened to someone on these forums.

What happens is some people don't want to be on TV pawning their grandpa's priceless family heirloom for gambling money, so the Pawn Stars crew pays some stranger off the street to fill in for them. Nothing wrong with that at all.