player_piano

Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

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!

https://www.govauctions.app/

GovAuctions — Government Surplus Auctions, Deals & More

Search government surplus auctions from GSA Auctions, HUD, and more. Find deals on vehicles, electronics, equipment, and seized property.

Apr 6 at 4:21pmWeb
Show threadshowerst2d 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.

Show threadplayer_piano2d ago
You should now see this option when you create an alert - within 50/100/500 miles of a given ZIP.
Show threadvenusenvy472d ago

Pretty cool. But a lot of it doesn't really work once you click into a particular state. For example, from this page, if you click on "All auctions in Georgia", it lists all auctions in the country. Or if you click on "electronics", it doesn't show just electronics in Georgia.

https://www.govauctions.app/auctions/georgia

Government Auctions in Georgia — Surplus Deals Near You

Browse government surplus auctions in Georgia. Find deals on vehicles, electronics, equipment, and more from federal, state, and local agencies in GA.

Show threadplayer_piano2d ago

Thanks for surfacing this. Not sure why this is breaking, but I am looking into it and will fix it as soon as I can.

Update: This should now be working the intended way (ie for Georgia, showing only GA results when you click out, and filtering for the category within GA).

Show threadmolticrystal2d ago

Suggestions:

Put the parameters into the url so searches can be bookmarked, like zip codes, terms, filters, and other aspects can be shared easily.

Description search both include (like i7, 16GB) which is good for electronics and exclude for example exclude "repair" or "needs repair" which is helpful for many things.

Category specific filters, vehicle millage range, year

Keywords like pickup, delivery, payment methods, etc.

You are probably already thinking along these lines for some of them, just an encouragement to implement. Yes categories can be fuzzy(commas, which word or plurals used, etc), so feel free to put the [beta] or [experimental] tag until a recipe that gets most of the stuff works.

Thanks for building this, I bookmarked it and already shared it with a few friends.

Show threadplayer_piano2d ago
Very kind of you - sharing this has definitely highlighted some of the rough edges :) Search / Alert accuracy is one big thing I need to make better, and I will take note of these suggestions.
Show threadxnx2d ago
I second the search parameters in URL. RSS feed of search page would also be great.
Show threadmolticrystal2d ago
RSS Feeds of searches would be great, I know alerts exist, but for this community being able to get data through alternative methods, especially RSS is very appreciated.
Show threadnodesocket2d ago

The server pallet caught my attention. I wish it listed some of the basic specs, but current bid is $55.

https://www.govauctions.app/auction/gsa-1-1-QSC-I-26-148-031

Computer servers, Computers, Monitors and assorted (Power Supplies) — Government Auction in COLUMBIA, SC

Computer servers, Computers, Monitors and assorted (Power Supplies). Current bid: $55. Electronics from Department of Medicine and Surgery — Department of Medicine and Surgery. View details and bid on GovAuctions.