The state of California recently announced that it has begun auctioning surplus property over eBay (ebay). The property, some of which has been seized by the California Highway Patrol, ranges from bicycles to golf clubs.
In the past month, California's Department of General Services, which goes by the name californiagold2000 online, has made about $5,000 auctioning around 30 items.
Massachusetts has gone even further than that. Last month, the state auctioned a 128-foot lightship, the Nantucket 1, one of 15 of its kind. Lightships were used like lighthouses, stationed off the coast to warn incoming ships off rocks.
"The sale was extremely successful," said Paul Guerino, Massachusetts state surplus property coordinator. "We got $126,000 for this old rusty bucket."
To test out the online sale, he put one wardrobe up for bid online, and auctioned the other through the state's usual auctioneer. The offline auction brought in $150 for the furniture, but the one that sold online went for $435.
Guerino said only some of the items he gets, such as antique desk furniture, are practical to sell online.
But he's looking at eBay for another boat he will be getting soon -- a cigarette boat used by the Secret Service to patrol the compound of former President George Bush in Maine.
California looked to eBay when it realized that its traditional method of getting rid of more unusual items wasn't working so well.
"Things would sell, but it's hard," said Pete Williams, surplus property program manager for California's state government. "When people come in looking for desks and chairs, it's hard to sell them a bike. You may not get what it's worth, as you would if you sold it to people looking for bicycles."
Then the department heard about a program the state of Oregon was running, auctioning some of its goods online.
"eBay is really well known, and the market is huge," Williams said.
eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said the company is aware of several state and local governments using the site, although it doesn't know exactly how many governments are going online to get rid of excess equipment and property.
"We did not reach out and we are very pleasantly surprised that they are taking this action," he said. "Local governments and state governments have been doing auctions a lot longer than we have. Maybe it was meant to be that eventually the two forces would come together."
And other firms aren't waiting for eBay to take all of the business.
Such companies as Govworks and eCitydeals are hoping governments will turn to them for their auction needs. They're also concentrating on some of the bigger-ticket items that may not sell so well in consumer-oriented auctions.
"I think cities will use the Internet to clear out their industrial closets," said eCitydeals CEO Larry Kosmont. "Cities have a place where they can go and deal with city items like street sweepers, fire trucks."
