PublicSurplus

I have purchased a variety of items from multiple sellers and have been completely satisfied. You do need to make sure you review the terms because some sellers have buyers premiums and sales tax but that comes with any auction. I guess like anything else in life, if you do not read the terms and win the item and then realize there are additional requirements, I can see how someone can be frustrated but in the end who's fault was it. Great site for some pretty good deals.

I try to conduct business over my cell phone. Everything OK as far as long in, search and or browse. But try to make a bid their system sucks. I have lost four bids because thier system will not take a bid! I have get in via lap top that my situation requires driving to WiFi hub. Customer service response is slow. It takes time to go thorough the learning curve but worth the trouble so far. Bottom line they are lacking in customer service on the buyers end.

Forget contacting any of these auction posters, you might get a 3 word reply that never addressed your question IF you get a reply at all or they just completely never reply which is 99.9% of the time. But what should we expect from a bunch of LAZY Government agencies and employee's. Most items don't come close to matching their description and most of it is pure recycle junk. Pay attention to the fine print or you'll get burned and NEVER buy any Automobiles without previewing them first! You'll be sorry if you buy without seeing it first.

I have been dealing with Public Surplus for about two years. The site is not a scam, one needs to know how and when to bid. You need to pay close attention to details... times listed for end of auctions to change (not sure why) times zones vary. My biggest issue is most sellers require items to be picked up. This limits their potential buyers... Washington State and Colorado are an exception. This is not a required by PublicSurplus but the sellers issue. PublicSurplus needs improvement in customer service... contacting seller via email is a plus. Just keep in mind you dealing with a computer and the learning curve is totally up to you. PublicSurplus really dose not care one way or another. They are a broker working on a percentage to provide liquidation of misc goods for small city police departments. From what I have experienced they do not bump bidding and will extend auctions based on activity. You can find deals.

I've bought about 5 items on the website. All were said to be of "unknown" condition but when I brought them home, they all worked fine. Just needed to reinstall operating system. The buyer needs to understand that they are buying surplus equipment. So the equipment may or may not work. You should be able fix it if you bid on it. I love this site and would recommend to others. Best deals on used equipment. May need some fixing. But you can't really buy an 27 inch iMac for $400 anywhere else!

Site lacks basic features that a buyer would expect from an auction site in 2010 let alone in 2022. They offer no way to create saved keyword searches that generate email notifications. The only option is to subscribe to category based email notification but inexplicably when you view a specific item they do not list what category it is in, so you are left to "best guess" if you decide you want to receive notifications for similar items. They also offer to sellers the ability to hide completed auctions so buyers cannot see them. I'm not sure how hiding this benefits the seller and it absolutely does not benefit potential buyers.

Also, for the record I have won auctions on the site. I've been happy with the purchases. I'd like to actually buy more (but per above) they don't seem to want to make it easy for buyers.

They do not publish terms on the auction! Before bidding read the fine print buried many layers deep. Everything is not listed clearly such as payment terms. Beware they will require wire transfers so the will ad another +30 to your final auction purchase. If you call for help they will not answer the phone. After many tries, you will get someone that you cannot understand and all they tell you is there is nothing you can do. Very frustrating.

I have been bidding at Public Surplus for 2 years. I have purchased 7 vehicles from auction. Also a set of golf clubs.
I fly up, drive back vehicles i purchase.
Have a Chevy Colorado i picked up with 28,000 miles. Great truck. Picked up Hybrid Ford Escape for my son. Bid on a dozen before i got one for the price i wanted.
Public Surplus has been great to me.
All of the agencies i have purchased from very helpful. I dont know why others are having problems. Everything i have bought has been in great condition. You must pay attention to detail.
I plan to shop public surplus auctions for years to come.

I like the site. I've bought an okay truck from them, and a bunch of other auctions too. I go into it with the expectation that this is old government stuff that is being retired... I've read a bunch of reviews that are negative... a lot of them look like they are payment issues. I guess I haven't had problems... so can't speak for everyone else. If you use the site it's best to realize that this not a typical consumer site with lots of customer service. It's a government auction site... a no frills design not designed to be super user friendly, but you can find some awesome deals on things. With all the challenges associated with it, I still love the site and recommend it to friends all the time... I just warn them that they have to do their homework on the auctions, and they may not ever get responses back to give them more info on auctions...

They have inside people who bid on stuff to get the price up, why else would someone buy used broken outboard in Florida where you have to pick them up and a non running car in calf. Inside bidding going on...

I do not like this company's behavior. If you go through their website, you'll realize they only exist to make money from the sellers. Buyers have absolutely ZERO protections or rules made on their behalf if they are wronged.

Some sellers are better than others. Won a small item recently, and the sellers can't even find it. I asked for a refund. Nothing. I asked Public Surplus to help... nothing. Too bad; such a good thing to items that may be heading for the dump in action.

I also agree... if the sellers don't like the prices they are getting, they just pull the item. They don't have to have any responsibility whatsoever.

I have bought many auctions and made a lot of money off this site. I read all of the reviews and nearly every bad rating is from people that just don't understand how auctions work. 1st MOST online auctions happen within the last 2 minutes. I do this myself. People bid with emotion so if you wait till the last couple minutes, you hope they are away from the computer or don't have the time to make a good decision. 2nd Yes it goes up in bid increments because that's how the site is set up. Also I am one of those guys that will bid you up at minimum increments. This is how I feed my family and if you are going to bid me out, I'm going to attempt to make you pay your maximum for it. 3rdly Many of the complaints are about the sellers not the site. I've also had bad experiences and I don't buy from those people anymore which is one less bidder to drive their prices up.

One must understand that buying salvage products that there is risk involved. What may be junk to one man may be reusable equipment to another. Descriptions given are usually given by untrained people doing the best they can. They are not auctioneers. They are folks doing their jobs. With that in mind, be specific. Ask questions about what you are buying. I've always gotten straight answers. I've used this websight many times and have not one time been disappointed when We unloaded the delivery truck.

I won the auction on a car paid for it and the following week went 400miles to pick it up finding out at the gate they relisted it and sold it before.ok nobody could have called after the money came and told me i drove 20 hours and had hotel expenses. Oh we refund you your payment so im out the time and expenses for the trip and this was not the first time i got told by the seller that this happened i send a e mail about this to them no response. Bad practice to do business the government should look at this and suspend their contract with them.

And one of the things you are paying for are low level government employees that get handed a "whatsit" and are told to sell it.
I have made many purchases off their web site. Reviewing the complaints here is seems some are frivolous.
You can't expect the secretary in the front office of the high school to know the details. One of my best purchases was about $8K of quality high end wood working equipment for $900. It was listed as "tools" without any pictures. I bought a large format scanner that retailed for thousands for $30, it was advertised as a laminator. I bought enough shelving for about 6 units of 7' tall double sided library shelving that retailed for about $3,000/unit for $350, which my wife was about to buy retail.
If it's expensive I make sure to go view it. But I needed some 32' ladders, got 2 in good condition for $35@.