If you’ve seen the show “Container Wars” based in the Port of Los Angeles, this article clears up some of the confusion about shipping container auctions, and “unclaimed freight container auctions”. On the show, they’re bidding on all of that good stuff inside the box, on the website you’re bidding on the actual container itself.
There are really two places to buy shipping containers (either fixed price, or auction) – retail dealers, and wholesale dealers.
California Shipping Containers 