I've long been into finding deals on government auction sites (seizures, surplus sales etc.) - right now for example San Diego DHS is selling 26 tons of lead shot, with bidding starting at $1,000 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
It has historically been extremely tedious though: scanning dozens of janky sites which have interminable page loading times; back buttons take you all the way back to the homepage etc.
The site I built - GovAuctions - lets you search every government surplus auction at once. You can filter by location, category, and price, save items to a watchlist, and get alerts when new auctions match what you're looking for.
Let me know what you think, if you have any suggestions, and if you find any deals in your area!
carefree-boban hour ago
This is a real public service. More people can find better deals, this increases the pool of bidders, taxpayers will get more money for the auction. Discoverability is hugely important to these auctions.
player_pianoopan hour ago
Thank you. Yes, you could definitely say that I'm undermining a personal arbitrage advantage on this corner of the Internet, but I couldn't resist trying to "fix" it and better surface all of these woefully inefficient mini-marketplaces.
RationPhantoms6 minutes ago
Doesn't seem accurate considering GovDeals has auctions in NY, NJ and CT listed but your website has nothing.
player_pianoopa few seconds ago
Yes, there's an issue with some of the auctions that are on GovDeals - I've removed all the references to those while I try and fix them.
showerst14 minutes ago
Feature request:
Let me filter and alert based on a distance, not just sort. e.g. "Lathe" within 100 miles of Baltimore. GovDeals lets you do this, but their distance filter is very inaccurate.
rurp28 minutes ago
Very interesting project! Can anyone comment on what the buying process is like? Specifically if there are any weird hoops to jump through or if it's a normal account signup and payment process. Is delivery available or do these need to be picked up in person?
player_pianoop21 minutes ago
It varies by state and authority. The majority require in-person pickup; for properties there is often longer, sometimes multi-stage bidding process (where the auctioneer periodically reviews current bids, and decides whether any are acceptable before moving to the next stage).
lazyasciiart26 minutes ago
The ones I’ve looked at need to be picked up in person, sometimes with very short deadlines.
BloondAndDooman hour ago
Good stuff,
Once an item clicked back button returns you to a reset listing, so you cannot click and item go back and retain the last position you were looking at (tested on iPhone)
player_pianoopan hour ago
Update: this should be working now.
gnopgnipan hour ago
The guides mention govdeals. But I don't see them, for instance the UC davis bike auctions are not included.
player_pianoopan hour ago
Thanks. Looks like there is an issue with these listings right now - working on it.
SoftTalkeran hour ago
Seems to be missing stuff.
I searched "volkswagen" on govdeals and found a lot of vehicles listed but nothing on this site.
player_pianoopan hour ago
Thank you. Looks like other people are having an issue finding these - I'm going to take the reference to these listings down until I can fix it.
dlcarrieran hour ago
If you want to see how quickly this can trap you in, watch the William Osman 2 channel on YouTube.
player_pianoop44 minutes ago
Will check it out once I fix a bunch the bugs people are surfacing :-)
KomoD2 hours ago
> right now for example San Diego DHS is selling 26 tons of lead shot, with bidding starting at $1,000
If that's not enough for you then there's another auction too! https://www.govauctions.app/auction/gsa-4-1-QSC-I-26-226-002
player_pianoop2 hours ago
It is truly a weird and wonderful world of things you can buy out there. Last year I contemplated buying a 100-tonne crane in New Jersey, which was going for about $5,000. The only issue was that you had to go pick it up yourself...
toomuchtodoan hour ago
I am looking for a 60 ft+ steel ship if you come across one.
player_pianoop34 minutes ago
There is a 25ft one currently at $1,550 in Montana, made from steel and comes with its own trailer! - https://www.govauctions.app/auction/gsa-3-1-QSC-I-26-284-021