Field notes for people who resell government surplus. Fees, friction, resale math and the platforms worth your time: how to tell a real deal from a money pit on GovDeals.
Original data on 1,197 GovDeals auctions around Little Rock since May. A median of 7 bidders per sale against 11 nationally, an October surge led by the State of Arkansas, and the pickup-only categories where local competition is a fraction of the national level. Pickups are the exception.
Original data: bidders per sale across 109 GovDeals categories. Farm tractors draw 46, pickups 38, desks and lighting usually one. Competition tracks price almost perfectly, and at the same $250–$2,500 price, niche equipment draws about a third of the bidders that mowers, ATVs and laptops do.
Original data: every car, SUV and EV that closed on GovDeals since May. A $2,575 median winning bid, prices softening ~9% while trucks rise, the fleet models that dominate, a ~15% ex-police discount, and how Ohio, Tennessee, New Jersey and Arizona compare.
Original data: every pickup that closed on GovDeals since May. A $3,850 median winning bid, up ~12% since June, and how Tennessee, Ohio, New Jersey and Arizona truck markets differ on price, age and competition.
Original data: every clothing, shoe and bag lot sold on GovDeals since May, valued from Poshmark sold prices by SoldStack. Itemized lots were worth about 2× the winning bid, single branded items sold close to resale, and bulk needs a steep discount. Why we're adding SoldStack as a data source.
Original data: 3,102 sold GovDeals lots matched to eBay sold prices. 58% hammered below eBay, but the typical lot only ~25% under, and that doesn't cover fees. Where the real spread lives, by category, and how to spot it before you bid.
An ice machine priced off its $36 thermostat kit. A piano priced off piano rolls. We now check every eBay sold comp for product identity before it can price a lot: 83,293 comps checked, 40% thrown out. What we found, what we got wrong first, and why a third of estimates moved.
Original data: one week of real GovDeals closings: 74% sell-through, $33.5M in final bids, a $210 median sale, 18 bids/lot. What surplus really sells for, by category and state.
We run AI inside our own pricing pipeline, and it still took 630 pull requests and a wall of guardrails to get resale numbers you can bid on. The confidently wrong prices AI gave us along the way, and why real sold data (painfully assembled) wins.
A data story: we tracked 106 real government auction lots from the gavel to the open market and charted the climb. The median lot resold for 2.4× its winning bid, a median $11,500 gap, trusted sources only.
A data story: we sorted 30,498 closed GovDeals lots into 24 categories and charted what each actually sells for, from $20 office chairs to a $620,000 helicopter. Tap any element to see a real lot.
A data story: we traced one real decommissioned 2016 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor from the factory to the GovDeals block to the resale lot, and the ~$2,680 gap a flipper keeps in the middle.
What each deal score actually compares a lot against, plus coverage and pricing. The aggregators search more sites for less; GavelGap prices GovDeals lots against real resale.
Yes, the real sites are legit. Who runs GovDeals, GSA Auctions, Public Surplus, GovPlanet and Municibid, what the real scams look like, and where buyers lose money.
Yes. GovDeals is a real surplus auction site run by Liquidity Services. How it works, who sells there, what a win really costs, and where buyers lose money.
Yes. GovPlanet is owned by RB Global (Ritchie Bros.). How it works, what military-surplus buyers should watch for, and where they lose money.
Yes. Public Surplus is an independent surplus auction site, online since 1999, with low buyer's premiums and fewer bidders than GovDeals.
Yes. Municibid has run since 2006 with 4,000+ agency sellers. How it works, what it charges, and where buyers lose money.
Profit is resale value minus landed cost minus selling fees. A five-step method for working out each one before you bid, with a worked example.
Title, condition and transport decide a fleet-vehicle flip. How to check each one, with real GovDeals sell-through and bid counts.
BIOS locks, processor generation and per-unit math: how to read a government IT lot before you bid, with real GovDeals data.
Heavy equipment has the biggest dollar gaps in surplus and some of the most bidders. Freight, inspection and resale, with real bid data.
Jewelry is GovDeals' largest category, but most of it comes from a few commercial sellers and only a third of lots sell. Value it from melt up.
The three main government surplus platforms compared for resellers: who sells on each, buyer's premiums, pickup terms, and which suits which flip.
Your bid isn't your cost. The 12.5% buyer's premium, sales tax, payment fees and shipping, and how a $300 win really costs about $494.
About 7 in 10 GovDeals lots are pickup-only. What parcel, freight and vehicle transport cost, how removal deadlines work, and how to price it all into your bid.
Which categories actually sell on GovDeals, with real sell-through rates and bid counts, and which ones need specialist knowledge.
Wisconsin Surplus, NC State Surplus, MNbid, California on GovDeals and the Texas State Surplus Store, with what each state's GovDeals auctions sold for.
Median winning bids, price ranges, and prices by model year and state for nine common GovDeals items, from real auction results (May to October 2026).
A score built on past auction prices predicts the hammer price, not the resale. Across verified GovDeals lots, real resale ran a median ~2.3× the winning bid, with the receipts.
Sourcing locally cuts the freight and pickup costs that quietly kill margin. Find government surplus auctions near you, then vet the lot before you bid:
How to find local surplus auctions, why "near me" matters for landed cost, and how to tell which nearby lot actually profits.
Fleet sedans, SUVs, and pickups retired by cities, counties and agencies, and how to bid against landed cost, not the hammer price.
Seized, unclaimed, and surplus property from law enforcement, and how to value as-is, unverified lots safely.
Loaders, backhoes, and dump trucks with the widest auction-to-resale gaps, and the freight math that makes or breaks them.