Government Surplus Research & Data
Original data on the U.S. government surplus auction market, drawn from live listings across every major official platform. Free to cite with attribution — reporters and researchers welcome.
Data
Price indices, market reports and the underlying dataset.
The Government Surplus Price Index
Which surplus categories are rising and which are falling - median final sale prices across thousands of completed auctions, with 3-month movement, snapshotted daily. Free to cite.
The Government Surplus Market Report
A reseller's read on the market: how often each category actually sells, how many bidders you're up against, and what lots close for. Sell-through and bidding competition by category, from completed auctions. Updated daily.
The Weekly Surplus Market Report
One issue per week, going back to May 2026: how many lots closed, what they sold for, sell-through and bid competition by category, and the week's most contested lots. Each issue is frozen on publish, so past weeks stay citable.
Look Up What Any Surplus Item Sells For
The interactive price tool: median final sale prices by category, from real completed auctions. Search any item to see what it goes for.
Open Dataset: U.S. Government Surplus Auctions
Every completed federal (GSA) surplus auction lot as a free, copyright-clean dataset - prices, bids, conditions, and locations. CC-BY 4.0, CSV + JSON, refreshed monthly. Free to download and build on.
Research
Articles, galleries and interactive maps built on the same data.
Mining 371,000 Government Auction Closes for Fun and Profit
Six things a bidder can act on, tested against the confounds that kill most of them: sellers whose asking price usually wins, listings too thin for anyone to find, and the missing key that takes 39% off an otherwise identical car. With three patterns that looked real and were not.
The Dollar Wall: Everything the Government Is Selling for $1
Hundreds of real government lots are sitting at one dollar or less right now - a police cruiser, buildable city lots, lab freezers, an infant warmer. A photo wall of what a dollar buys from a government, filtered to lots that demonstrably close at that price. Updated hourly.
The Museum of Things Nobody Wants
A gallery you walk through, left to right, hung with government lots that nobody has bid on: a 22 storey Miami courthouse, an Air Force transport aircraft, the Wollman Rink Zamboni, a Wurlitzer piano at a dollar. Every consignor is a named public body, and every price is what a first bid would cost.
Taken: Seized, Impounded and Unclaimed Property at Public Auction
A live photo gallery of property that reached the auction block through a seizure, an impound, a forfeiture or an unclaimed-property escheat - with the agency that took each one, and a careful account of why those four words don't mean the same thing. Free to cite.
Mapping Seized, Impounded and Unclaimed Property Across America
Where taken property actually reaches the auction block, as a heat map with the objects themselves pinned on top - a Corvette, a gold bar, a Louis Vuitton wallet. Sold by police property rooms, tow yards and state treasurers, with the concentration honestly labelled: each hotspot is one seller, not one seizure hotspot. Free to cite.
The Final Countdown
A live wall of every US government lot in its final 60 minutes, as photographs. Each one counts down and goes dark the moment it closes, and the wall refills from behind. Best left open in a tab.
Bid-Intensity Map: Where Government Surplus Demand Runs Hottest
A live heat map of bidding competition across the U.S. - bids per lot and relative price increase, hex-binned by location, so you can see which regions are fought over and which are quiet. Free to cite.
We Asked our AI to Find the Best Deals in Government Auctions
We had our model read thousands of live government surplus lots and find the biggest resale deals - lots trading for a fraction of what comparable units sell for. See the top 10 open for bids right now.
How Far Away Is the Nearest Thing the Government Is Selling?
Almost every surplus lot is pickup only, so your ZIP code decides what you can actually buy. Enter it and see the single nearest live government lot to you, plus the nearest vehicle, house, weird thing and item under $100. Includes a national dot map and the country's worst auction deserts.
You Can Buy a House From the Government for the Price of a Used Car
The government resells foreclosed homes for less than a used car. Hundreds are listed under $100,000 right now - some whole houses for just a few thousand dollars. Interactive map, the cheapest listings, and what to know before buying.
What Is Your State Government Selling?
An interactive US map of government surplus, state by state. Find your state and see how many lots are up, what they're worth, and the single weirdest thing for sale.
What Your County Is Selling
Enter your ZIP, town, or county to see what your local government is auctioning right now - vehicles, equipment, seized property, even real estate - plus what's recently sold and for how much.
State of Government Surplus
Live data on what the U.S. government is auctioning right now - total value, categories, states, and the most notable lots. Updated hourly.
Half of What the Government Sells Goes for Under $210
Every US government lot we can confirm sold this summer, 116,000 of them, on a single price curve. Hover anywhere to see what actually sold at that price, from the $1 city lot in East St. Louis to the $1.8m of fibre optic cable in Fresno.
40% of Government Surplus Gets Zero Bids
Across 70,000+ completed auctions, 2 in 5 lots close with no bidder at all. Explore every sold lot by price and how many people fought over it.