Storage unit auctions
By Aaron Broverman • Bankrate.com

Then there's the money it costs to ship the worthless junk to the dump and everything of value to their final destination, which can run you between $50 and $150 per day if you've hired a truck.

"Depending on the size of the unit, you're given one to two days maximum to clear everything out," says Kramer. Some storage facilities also ask you for a deposit -- upwards of $200 -- if the locker isn't completely cleared out by the deadline.

TV changes the model
Normally storage auctions go down one of two ways: a live bid, like you see on TV, or what insider call a "feel/absent bid", where bidders see all the lockers in one day and write down on a piece of paper their maximum bid for the units they want. The highest bidder wins the auction and gets a call from the storage facility.

Now companies like Storwell Self Storage, with locations across Ontario, are putting their auctions online because TV has made the process so popular. "In the old days, you could expect maybe 10 to 15 people. But thanks to "Storage Wars" there could be a couple hundred people clogging the hallways at every auction and most of them aren't even serious bidders. Most of them are just lookers," says Gregory D’Atri-Guiran, the founder of Storwell.

In fact, Ontario storage companies have begun charging fees to attend their auctions to dissuade looky-loos.

"We want to attract the maximum number of people, but at the same time, those numbers present a security risk for us. In the indoor facilities, the hallways are maybe 4 feet [1.2 metres] wide and we still need to conduct our daily business," says D’Atri-Guiran.

With online auctions, prospective bidders provide their credit card information to verify their identities and then log on to the Storwell auction website where they can watch a pre-recorded video showing the locker's contents.

"Online is working very well for us," continues D'Atri-Guiran. "We have 3,000 registered bidders on our site." Granted he knows he has the power of television to thank for that: "'Storage Wars' has definitely raised the interest on storage auctions. Our prices are better than what they were before."

Aaron Broverman is a writer in Toronto.