# Government & Business Surplus Auctions: Where the Real Deals Are > Surplus auctions sell what agencies and companies no longer need, and those sellers must clear inventory rather than maximize price, which is why lots can close far below market. On GovDeals (government) and AllSurplus (business), the buyer's premium is set per listing, late bids can extend a lot, and you must pay quickly and remove items by a deadline, often within 10 business days. Logistics, not bidding, decide most deals. URL: https://ghostnode.co/guides/government-surplus-auctions Section: Guides Published: 2026-07-02 · Updated: 2026-10-11 · Data as of: 2026-10-10 Publisher: GhostNode (https://ghostnode.co) **Institutions don't care what their surplus sells for**, and most buyers never notice what that means. That indifference is your edge, and this guide shows you how to use it. You'll learn how **GovDeals and AllSurplus** work, what **condition codes** really mean, and why **logistics** decide who profits. When a company upgrades its fleet, a university clears a lab or an agency retires equipment, that inventory doesn't go to a store. It goes to surplus marketplaces such as **GovDeals** (more than 10,000 government agencies in the US and Canada) and **[AllSurplus](https://ghostnode.co/marketplaces/allsurplus)** (business and industrial surplus), both run by Liquidity Services. The sellers have a mandate to dispose, not to maximize price. That is the structural reason surplus auctions produce some of the deepest discounts of any channel. ## What actually shows up - **IT and electronics:** laptops and servers by the pallet, network gear, test equipment, monitors. - **Vehicles and heavy equipment:** trucks, mowers, forklifts, generators, often with maintenance records. - **Industrial and lab:** machine tools, lab and medical instruments, often worth far more to the right buyer than their closing price. - **Everything else:** office furniture, gym equipment, kitchen gear, unclaimed property. ## Reading surplus listings like a professional ### Condition codes are conservative Institutions label almost everything "used, untested" because nobody is paid to test it. "Untested" from a school district that replaced working laptops on a schedule is a very different bet from "untested" from a recycler. Read who the seller is, not just the condition field, and remember most surplus is sold [as is](https://ghostnode.co/glossary/as-is). ### Logistics decide the winner Most heavy lots are **pickup-only within a deadline**, and Liquidity Services' terms default to removal within 10 business days unless the listing says otherwise; missed removals can forfeit the lot. Lots that ship open the pool to remote buyers. GhostNode shows whether each AllSurplus lot ships or is pickup-only, and where it is, so the impossible ones are easy to skip: in its data 59.0% of AllSurplus lots were pickup-only. ### Lot sizes hide unit prices "14 laptops, various models" scares off retail buyers; divide the bid by 14 and it's often under scrap value. Bulk is where the margin hides, if you can handle it. ### Fees and extensions - **Buyer's premium** is set per listing ("as stated in a seller's listing"); GovDeals agency price schedules show options from 0% to 12.5%. Read it before bidding ([buyer's premium](https://ghostnode.co/glossary/buyers-premium)). - **Auto-extension**: listings marked for it extend on late bids; GovDeals sellers describe a 3-minute rule ([soft close](https://ghostnode.co/glossary/soft-close)). - **Pay fast**: by the listing's deadline, or within 5 days of notification if none is given. ## Strategy 1. **Pick lanes you can move.** Buying is easy; storing, testing and reselling is the business. 2. **Price at the unit level, including freight and the [buyer's premium](https://ghostnode.co/glossary/buyers-premium).** 3. **Watch relentlessly.** Surplus inventory is bursty: a fleet retirement dumps hundreds of lots overnight. Keyword monitoring turns those bursts into your shortlist instead of someone else's. 4. **Bid your maximum late**, stay for the extensions, and never exceed the unit math. 5. **New to GovDeals?** New buyers start on probation (up to 3 active auctions and a $1,000 card limit); build a clean payment history first. ## Frequently asked questions ### Are government surplus auctions really cheaper? Often. Agencies must dispose of surplus and are not profit-driven, so many lots sell well below retail, especially bulky, pickup-only items in places with few local bidders. ### What do condition codes mean on GovDeals or AllSurplus? They are the seller's rough grade. Read them skeptically and study the photos; most surplus is sold as is, and "untested" usually means nobody checked, not that it is broken. ### What's the catch with surplus auctions? Logistics and deadlines. Many lots are pickup-only, palletized or sold in bulk, and Liquidity Services' terms default to payment within 5 days and removal within 10 business days. Buyers who solve transport cheaply capture the margin. ### Can regular people buy from government surplus auctions? Yes. GovDeals, AllSurplus and similar sites are open to the public after registration. New GovDeals buyers start on probation (up to 3 active auctions and a $1,000 card limit) until they build a payment history. ## Sources 1. [Liquidity Services user agreement (AllSurplus, GovDeals)](https://liquidityservices.com/user-agreement) — premium as stated in the listing; payment within 5 days and removal within 10 business days by default 2. [GovDeals blog: new probation rules for buyers (July 2025)](https://blog.govdeals.com/understanding-the-new-probation-rules-for-buyers) 3. [University of Washington Surplus: timed auctions on GovDeals](https://facilities.uw.edu/uw-surplus/timed-auctions) — a GovDeals seller describing the 3-minute auto-extension 4. [Maine 2022 price schedule for GovDeals: 0% seller fee with a 12.5% buyer's premium (a ceiling)](https://www.maine.gov/dafs/bbm/procurementservices/sites/maine.gov.dafs.bbm.procurementservices/files/inline-files/2022%20Price%20Schedule%201662487279_GovDeals%20-%20Price%20Catalog.pdf) 5. [Baldwin County, AL: GovDeals memorandum of understanding (fee split options up to 12.5%)](https://open.baldwincountyal.gov/OpenAgreements/docs/2019-10-24%20104510_GovDeals,%20Inc.%20-%20Online%20Auction%20Memo%20of%20Understanding%2020160301.pdf) 6. [Liquidity Services 10-K (fiscal 2025)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1235468/000119312525289159/lqdt-20250930.htm) ## Related - https://ghostnode.co/marketplaces/allsurplus - https://ghostnode.co/glossary/pickup-only - https://ghostnode.co/glossary/as-is - https://ghostnode.co/glossary/buyers-premium --- About the publisher: GhostNode is an online auction monitoring and auto-bidding service. It searches 8 auction marketplaces (eBay, ShopGoodwill, HiBid, BestBid, AllSurplus, K-BID, Proxibid and mac.bid) for your keywords around the clock, keeps every match in one list with its price and closing time, and can place real bids for you on eBay, ShopGoodwill, HiBid and BestBid up to a maximum you set. Plans: Scout (free), Hunter $9.95/month, Sniper $29.95/month, Ghost $49.95/month. https://ghostnode.co/pricing