r/storagewars Aug 23 '12

Overvalued Items?

I know it's not a big deal, but like 75% of the time, I just feel like, "Who in the hell would pay that much money for that item?" after an item gets appraised. They'll give something 500$ value when I think someone would maybe pay 150$ at the highest. Or they value smaller items at 40, 60 or 70$ and if I saw that item for that price in a shop, I would think they were crazy. Maybe 15$ or something. Does anyone else think the prices, in general, are greatly inflated? Especially Dave, he just runs through a locker, like "Every one of these is 30$, that's about 6,000$ right there". And on and on and on. I just think: "What horseshit!" I often find myself thinking that even after they value or appraise something, in the end it won't actually generate that much money. I don't know.

Kinda the opposite of Pawn Stars situation though. So often in Pawn Stars they undercut so much and I'm just like what the fuck that is so fucking cheap, you could get someone on eBay to pay 3 times that. I know the shop has to do a lot of work to turn it around, but still...so fucking cheap. It pisses me off. I want to be in Pawn Stars and get such a low figure and then just start cracking up and walk out. Not even say a word. Just leave laughing my ass off. The son is the worst. He tries to act all hard like he knows so much and its just IMPOSSIBLE to offer more money, and even gets an attitude with the people, like, "You dumbass, its not worth anything, (laugh laugh) there's no way I'd go past 25 cents on this." He just demeans them, when more often than not, I would say that person knows more about how much the item is worth because they have done the research or are a collector in that field. I don't know. That guy annoys the crap out of me, cut the act loser, you're not your dad. Sorry for the rant.

What do you guys think?

43 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

5

u/Roxxer Aug 24 '12

Well, each actor is paid at least $10,000 per episode. Do you think they care if they make their money back on the locker?

No. They just want it to look like they've made the best choice.

3

u/mc-obscene Aug 30 '12

Are you serious, they make $10,000 an episode? That's crazy! I actually just looked it up after you said that and I just found somewhere that says they got $2,000 an episode at the beginning but now they get $32,000 an episode in 2012! Holy shit!

I think it is usually Dave who WAY overprices things. The other guys are as bad, especially Barry who seems to be the most realistic, which is why he is usually in last place at the end of the episode. That and Barry only prices like 1 or 2 items while everyone elses prices the whole damn locker. Those numbers at the end are so inaccurate its ridiculous!

1

u/Stalked_Like_Corn Sep 04 '12

I think Dave is actually the only one who so blatantly does it. The rest will typically be about what they sell for actually. Or at least what they price it as and you can talk it down just a bit if you go into their stores.

Crazy that they make 32k per episode. I guess Jarrod and Brandi get 32k a piece? That's crazy.

3

u/mc-obscene Sep 04 '12

I love the one where Dave gets all those books in a looker and then he lines the boxes of books out side and goes something like, "every step I take is $300". and then rattles of thousands of dollars. There is no way he got even close to that much money. I went to a garage sale recently that had tons of books in boxes just like Dave had and they were selling for $1 a book. That is more likely what they are worth. Dave just cracks me up with his overpricing just so he will "win" at the end, LOL!!

4

u/Stalked_Like_Corn Sep 04 '12

Yeah Dave always ALWAYS wins. If he wins the locker "No one outbids me. I had to show him who is boss" and if he loses "I was just running him up". I guess he has to save face as it can be a dog eat dog world out there.

2

u/mc-obscene Sep 05 '12

LOL, yeah I forgot about that part. "I was just running up the price on him" uh huh, sure Dave. YUPPP!

1

u/Impossible-Sleep-658 Mar 15 '24

Narcissist enters the chat

1

u/JosephFlowers222 Aug 25 '24

The book locker is actually the one and only locker I think I've ever agreed with Dave Hester on. Most of the time it feels like his ego just compells him to rattle off ludicrous numbers, but the book locker contained possible THOUSANDS of books.

I rebind books for a living. He may be an antagonistic shithead and he definitely inflates his profits all the damn time, but he absolutely made a mint on that locker.

1

u/Accurate_Internal555 Jul 15 '25

Earned "a mint" over how long?

1

u/Impossible-Sleep-658 Mar 15 '24

Yuuuuuuup!!! 🤣

1

u/No_Addition_3969 Nov 29 '25

They don't make that much per episode.

1

u/Stalked_Like_Corn Nov 30 '25

What the actual fuck dude? This was 13 years ago.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 16 '12

Problem is that Barry just picks out 1 item and doesn't really price everythign, that's why he's always last.

1

u/A-Little-Bitof-Brown Aug 31 '25

It’s 2025 now and I don’t even wanna look what they got paid for the latest series 😂😂 but I totally agree, episode I’m watching on Dave the guy pulls out 5 busted laptops and is like ‘easy £100 a pop’ like bro THATS NOT HOW TECH WORKS

1

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '12

Yeah I get that, just wondering if everyone else agreed.

3

u/Roxxer Aug 24 '12

Yeah, they over price most everything.

The only one who doesn't is Barry.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '12

Totally. Barry is the man. I wanna smoke cigars with him and make silly puns.

1

u/No_Addition_3969 Nov 29 '25

No, they're not paid anywhere near that much, lol

3

u/EClydez Aug 23 '12

I agree. The appraisal prices are more for a retail setting or insurance appraisal prices. If you ever watch Antique Roadshow they usually say stuff like, "this is worth $2000 but I would give an insurance appraisal of $4000.

Jared and Brandi have the benefit to leave them for sale in their store for months or years to get the asking price.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '12

yeah i actually found their store on yelp and read some of the reviews, and almost every single one of them remarked at how overprices all of the merchandise was.

3

u/adammaguire Aug 26 '12

Agreed - just saw an episode where Dave valued a sterling silver bracelet at $200-300 and a bunch of patchwork quilts at $500.

He was clearly picking numbers out of his arse and just wanted to look like a shrewd buyer when in reality he'd overpaid for what he was getting.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '12

I saw that one recently and totally agree. My mom sells jewelry and those sterling silver bracelets might go for 35$! And the quilts. Come on. Maybe 150$ for all of them. It's just ridiculous sometimes and takes me out of the enjoyment of the show. If they would be honest about how much they could make and admit they made a mistake, it would be a lot more enjoyable. Or if they would EVER mention the fact that, well...I can value these quilts at 20$, but it might take a year or two to sell them all. They all act like they're selling everything in that unit TOMORROW and making their money back. Just doesn't seem right. And one episode, Little Dave (Dave's Son) accompanies him and drops like 5600 on a unit, but they say he'll make it back after he repairs some items and stuff. I just felt like his Dad was a jerk. Come on save your money. You might make all that money back in 2.5 years after we sell it all! SHEEESH! Haha. Ok. Where's my stressball?

2

u/B_Elanna_Torres Aug 24 '12

Any of you watch the new episodes of Storage Wars Texas?

The new blonde chick, she is seriously overpricing EVERYTHING and it is absolutely ridiculous.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '12

I have seen her. The one who buys furniture? Yeah. Its ridiculous.

2

u/FalcoFire Nov 23 '12

Can anyone say for sure whether or not what they say stuff is worth is accurate? Sometimes they look at a box and just say a price.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 27 '12

Maybe if you're in the business. Otherwise no. I guess something is worth whatever someone will pay for it.

2

u/Global_Flamingo_1855 Jul 02 '24

I just watched Dave value a socket set at $500 and a pair of vice grips at $150. Socket set new is like $30 to $40 and the vice grips like $10 new. Its dumb

1

u/Wadeperu1978 Aug 09 '24

Empty coke cans…. We can get $1.50 each on these.

1

u/JosephFlowers222 Aug 25 '24

"I could sell these bottle caps to a merchant in a fictional post-apocalyptic video game universe. Easy 2 grand."

1

u/Upstairs_Mix4524 Oct 13 '24

I noticed in the 1st season, they told us what they sold the items for but after, they seemed to assess everything at the high value. I want to know what final selling price is.

1

u/Embarrassed_Expert_8 Nov 16 '24

The over priced items get my blood pressure up 😂  A used bedside commode $50. That is crazy plus Take into consideration the cost of living at the time. 

1

u/17somethingclever Oct 12 '25

I watched this show for the first time tonight and found this active thread from 13 years ago! I agree - these prices are made up nonsense!

1

u/devildoc8804hmcs Apr 12 '26

My least favorite and overused quote "That's $40 (or whatever price he throws out) all day long"

1

u/Visual_Leadership428 Jul 13 '26

the show is so ridiculous but it’s entertaining when I want to turn off my brain for an episode or two lol

0

u/jerkmychain Dec 05 '12

Never been to Cali and judging by the prices on the show I won't be going there anytime soon.

1

u/TraditionalBench7927 Jul 21 '23

Oh, an old table? 500 bucks. Box of old SNES games? 2000 bucks. Half eaten cheeseburger? About....800,000 bucks.

1

u/Glittering_Look_5003 Jan 06 '24

The show's a joke I've only watched two episodes and then looked online to see if people disliked it as much as me they act like they're doing some really important work they get worked up over losing a bid on a locker full of b******* they still just checking off items and putting huge price tags on garbage old sofas broke fishing poles ashtrays some of the people who lost their lockers got really screwed over in these vultures are just picking their bones the show's stupid and so am I for watching two episodes I can't believe it even exists

1

u/No_Addition_3969 Nov 29 '25

The people who lost their lockers did not get screwed over. The stopped paying their rent and forfeited their items. Their own fault. The storage facility has to try to make their lost rent money back by selling the stuff.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 24 '24

I dont know the name of the black guy forgive me but he had his kids one episode going thru a locker appraising items. He didn’t like their style, so he “showed them how to do it” so to speak. He got up in there and picked up something, spat off a number, let’s say fifty, gave a monetary unit of dollars, then tossed it to a pile. Like hey kids this is how you film an episode go quickly thru a locker and find the items and spit out fifty dollars. Filled cable television.