What a deal!

N.C. counties selling surplus, generating revenue via GovDeals Internet auction site

By Todd McGee
Director of Communications

Davidson County auctioned off a 1990 Peterbuilt roll-off truck in fair condition for $23,100 and a metal lathe in poor condition for $552.

Davidson County realized the old adage “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” in its first experience with GovDeals, an Internet auctioneer of government surplus items that gives members an opportunity to purchase and sell equipment utilizing the global reach of the Internet. The county had a metal lathe – or at least most of the parts of a metal lathe – that it no longer needed.

“We thought about putting it in the dumpster for scrap,” said Davidson County Purchasing Director Dwayne Childress. “But I thought there were enough pieces there that we could maybe sell it, so we took some photos and put it up there and got more than $500 for it. It was wonderful. I thought we would get some pretty decent prices, but nothing like what we got. It takes a special person to see the treasure in that trash.”

Childress said the buyer, who was from Alabama, hopped in his car shortly after the auction closed around 9 p.m. on Sept. 28 and drove straight to the county to pick the lathe up the next day.

Childress said the county also auctioned two Peterbuilt roll-off trucks, a 1988 and a 1990 model. The trucks sold for $14,400 and $23,100, respectively.

“We have one company in the county … that had been buying them in the past,” Childress said. “He was probably the only one who would have bid on those two pieces of equipment, and he probably would have gotten them for about $3,500 or $4,000 apiece. So we ended up getting almost five times more than what we would have gotten had we sold them locally.

“We’ll still have our regular yearly auction. We are using this as just another tool to get rid of surplus.”

Childress said the convenience of selling the items on GovDeals – particularly heavy, bulky items like the lathe – make the process even more attractive.

“To get it physically from the department to the place where we have our local auctions, there is a cost to that,” he said. “We’d probably have to rent a truck, and it’d take several hours to do it. But to take a photo of it and sell it in its place, that’s easy. Then the buyer winds up being the person who has to transport it.”

Twenty-five counties across North Carolina are taking advantage of the NCACC’s strategic partnership with GovDeals (www.govdeals.com).

The unique, state-of-the-art online auction service allows counties to conduct online transactions of surplus, abandoned and confiscated equipment and property. With GovDeals, not only can members list their properties for sale immediately as they are declared surplus, but they are exposed to a much larger group of registered buyers interested in government surplus.

Polk County Manager Michael Talbert decided to use the system on a trial basis after being disappointed with the local offer received on a surplus 1996 Sheriff’s patrol car that was equipped with a powerful LT1 engine from a 1996 Corvette. A local buyer had offered the county $1,400, but Talbert decided to use GovDeals to see if he could get a higher bid.

The auction did not receive a lot of activity in the first few days, and Talbert began to wonder if he would get a better price. But a late flurry wound up driving the final price to $2,851 – more than double the local offer. In all, the vehicle received more than 30 bids.

“One word of warning to the people who use it – the action won’t occur until the last two or three hours,” Talbert said. “You might have it listed for five days, but it doesn’t really heat up until the end.

“We just did that one item as a test, but we will be putting other things up there within the coming weeks. It went well.”

Headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., GovDeals was formed by Information Management Systems Inc. (Informs) of Montgomery and Simonton Enterprises, Inc. of Austin, Texas. These companies have more than 40 years of combined experience with governmental agencies at all levels.

Informs has 23 years experience in software systems development, licensure, consultation and systems maintenance and specializes in the development of public sector procurement systems and student information systems. Simonton has more than 18 years of experience in public sector procurement organizational requirements, procurement software development and e-commerce, and is the custodian of the NIGP Commodity Code, used by more than 1,300 governments in 33 states.

Key points of interest

• GovDeals only sells government surplus, but any registered and authenticated buyer may bid.
• GovDeals has more than 100 clients in North Carolina and more than 600 total government entities selling in 29 states.
• More than 100,000 buyers have registered for free to bid on GovDeals auctions.
• Large and small governments share the same non-exclusive program and benefits.
• No additional software is needed – all transactions and information are exchanged on a secure Web site.
• There are no upfront charges for training and no costs for ongoing support from GovDeals’ client services staff and toll-free help desk.
• The 7.5 percent fee is only applied to payments collected from the winning bidder by the county. These fees are billed with net 30 day terms in the month following the sale. There is no listing or other miscellaneous fees.
• Every auction completed during the past 12 months may be accessed on the GovDeals site at ‘Closed Items,’ allowing any visitor to GovDeals.com to research all auction results.
• Any surplus item or item authorized for sale by a government entity may be sold immediately on the GovDeals site with remarkable results. There is no waiting for a traditional auction while surplus items lose value and fill up your warehouse, maintenance yard or parking lot.
• Heavy equipment, aircraft, trucks, cars, fire trucks, garbage trucks, trailers, equipment, mowers, tractors, traffic equipment, water meters, computer equipment, furniture, office equipment, confiscated or impounded items, bicycles and buildings for removal from real property are all examples of items sold on GovDeals.

To join GovDeals, visit www.govdeals.com and click on the “New Members Register Free!” link on the right side of the page.