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PublicSurplus has a rating of 1.7 stars from 86 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about PublicSurplus most frequently mention credit card, and next day problems. PublicSurplus ranks 190th among Auction sites.
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.
Been buying,paying,picking up items,during Covid,wife and Mr catch Covid,she dies,I sick 3 weeks. I bid on item,during this period,and couldn't pick up or pay. I explained this,they block me. Sad day,when a company can't respect a death. Caution fooling with Public surplus. Unless you can respect a crappy company,that takes no regard to a death.
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.
Bid on a pickup truck without inspection, so it's going in blind. Funny thing was when I bid the last three hours, someone bid about $200 more than anyone else about 30 mins before the auction closed. I thought it was odd because it bumped up the price to blue book levels. I understood the different fees, but this stuff should be goung for less than low blue book levels and I think they allow the seller to up the bids.
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Public Surplus is the best government surplus auction system available. Find great deals on heavy equipment, cars, buses and even airplanes.
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