SpareFoot.com finds customers for the storage industry

Almost daily we receive promotions for new Web sites that offer to trim our costs by using the auction model to let vendors competitively bid to fulfill our needs. SpareFoot.com is one of them. This site began as a place where those who had space, such as a homeowner with an empty bedroom, could offer it as storage for a monthly fee, and those who needed storage could choose among all those in their area that had listed space. Sounds like a good, Craigslist type of operation, right? Person to person?

But the site quickly morphed into a clearinghouse for large storage rental facilities, and now when you go onto the site to look for space you'll likely be offered the choice of units in several storage farms. And I'm skeptical that the auction feature is going to save you money. Why?