Price Government Surplus by Asking ChatGPT or Claude (2026)

GovAuctions.app is a free site for searching government surplus auctions. It also records what lots sold for: 310,000+ completed sales across the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

You can connect Claude or ChatGPT to that record. Ask "what do used Toyota forklifts sell for at government auction?" and the assistant looks up comparable sales and answers with the prices they closed at.

The connection is a hosted MCP server at https://govauctions.app/api/mcp. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the standard Claude and ChatGPT use to call outside tools. The server is read-only: it looks things up and cannot bid, buy or change anything.

What You Get Back

With a free API key, a price question returns:

• The 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile final price of comparable sales
• How many sales the range is built from, and a confidence level
• Up to 5 of the individual sales behind it: title, final price, sale month and state
• A month-by-month median, when you ask whether prices are rising or falling
• Live GSA Auctions listings, filtered by state, keyword, price or distance from a ZIP code, with a Flip Score for each lot

Without a key, the same question returns the number of comparable sales, the confidence, and a rough price band. It returns no dollar figures.

Step 1: Get a Free API Key

Go to GovAuctions.app/developers and choose Get a free key. Sign in, create a key, and copy it. The key starts with gak_ and is shown once. No card is needed.

The free key includes 1,000 calls a month. Up to 100 of them can be valuation calls: each lookup of sold prices, sold history, a price trend or a Flip Score uses one.

If you only want sale counts and rough bands, skip this step.

Step 2: Connect Claude

Claude Code

Run this in a terminal, with your key in place of gak_YOUR_KEY:

claude mcp add --transport http govauctions https://govauctions.app/api/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer gak_YOUR_KEY"

To run without a key, leave off everything from --header onward.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop can run the GovAuctions.app connector as a small program on your computer that sends your key with each request. It needs Node.js installed, from nodejs.org.

In Claude Desktop, open Settings, then Developer, then Edit Config. Add this to the file, with your key in place of gak_YOUR_KEY:

{"mcpServers": {"govauctions": {"command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "govauctions-mcp"], "env": {"GOVAUCTIONS_API_KEY": "gak_YOUR_KEY"}}}}

If the file already has an mcpServers section, add the govauctions entry inside it. Save the file, then quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

This local version has four tools: live listing search, a single listing, sold-price comps and the Flip Score. Sold history, price trends and the coverage check run on the hosted server, through Claude Code or a custom connector.

Claude on the Web, Desktop or Phone (Custom Connector)

In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors, and choose Add custom connector. Name it GovAuctions.app and enter https://govauctions.app/api/mcp as the server URL. Free Claude plans allow one custom connector. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds it under Organization settings, then Connectors.

If the dialog shows a Request headers section, choose No sign-in, add an authorization header, and enter Bearer, a space, and your key as its value. Claude sends it with every request. Request headers are in beta and not every account has them. Without one, the connector runs keyless: sale counts, confidence and rough bands, no dollar figures.

To use it, turn it on in a chat from the + menu, under Connectors.

Connect ChatGPT

ChatGPT connects to MCP servers through Developer mode, on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans, in ChatGPT on the web. Free ChatGPT accounts cannot add one.

Turn on Developer mode in ChatGPT settings, then create an app for a remote MCP server. Enter https://govauctions.app/api/mcp as the URL and choose No Authentication. Every GovAuctions.app tool is marked read-only, so ChatGPT runs them without asking for confirmation.

Developer mode accepts OAuth or no authentication. A GovAuctions.app key is sent as a request header, and ChatGPT has no field for one, so in ChatGPT the connector runs keyless: it answers how many comparable sales exist, the confidence and a rough band. For the dollar range without Claude, type the item into What's it worth? on GovAuctions.app, which is free and needs no account, or look it up in sold prices.

Example Prompts

• What do used Toyota forklifts sell for at government auction?
• What did 2015 Ford F-150s sell for at government auctions in Texas?
• Show me the individual sales behind that range.
• Are forklift prices at government auction rising or falling this year?
• Find live GSA auctions for pickup trucks within 100 miles of ZIP 80202, and give each one a Flip Score.
• What do Toyota Land Cruisers sell for at government auctions in Australia?
• Which categories can GovAuctions.app not price?
• How many GovAuctions.app valuation calls do I have left this month?

A state question uses that state's sales when there are enough of them, and the national range when there are not. The tool reports which of the two it used. Naming GovAuctions.app in a prompt steers the assistant to these tools when other connectors are turned on.

What It Cannot Do

• Live listings are GSA only. Listing search covers GSA Auctions, the federal surplus site. Lots from GovDeals, Public Surplus and the other sources are searchable on GovAuctions.app itself. Sold-price comps cover the whole government surplus market in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
• Some categories cannot be priced. Real estate and miscellaneous lots return no sold-price range, because their value depends on details a lot title does not carry. Ask "which categories can GovAuctions.app not price?" and the assistant runs the coverage check. An item with too few comparable sales returns no range until more sales are recorded.
• No sold prices for Germany or France. The connection prices the US, UK, Canada and Australia only.
• The free key has 100 valuation calls a month. When they run out, price, sold history, trend and Flip Score lookups stop until the first of the next month (UTC). Listing searches keep working up to the 1,000-call limit. Asking for a range, the sales behind it and a trend in one question uses up to three.
• Listing bids can be up to 12 hours old. Listing prices refresh twice a day. Check the lot on the auction site before you bid.
• It cannot bid. Every listing links to the auction site, where you register and bid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it free?

Yes. GovAuctions.app is free to search, and a free API key includes 1,000 calls a month, 100 of them valuation calls. No card is needed.

Do I need an API key?

No, to start. Without a key, the assistant answers how many comparable sales exist, the confidence and a rough price band. The dollar range, the individual sales, price trends, live listings and Flip Scores need a free key from GovAuctions.app/developers.

Does it work with ChatGPT?

Yes, through Developer mode on paid ChatGPT plans, without a key. ChatGPT has no field for the key, so it returns sale counts and rough bands. Claude with a key returns the dollar range.

Where do the sold prices come from?

From completed government surplus auctions recorded by GovAuctions.app: 310,000+ sales across the US, UK, Canada and Australia. The methodology page explains how comparable sales are matched and how the range is built.

Can the assistant get a price wrong?

The range comes from recorded sales, and the assistant reports what the tool returns. It can still match the wrong item, for example pricing a forklift attachment as a forklift. Ask it to show the individual sales behind the range and check they match the lot you are looking at.