A Steal Of A Deal: Sourcing Resale Goods At Police Auctions

While many online retailers cite auctions as an inventory
source, most overlook police auctions as a resource for
high-quality resale items. But if you sell products online,
police auctions represent a tremendous opportunity for you
to find all kinds of saleable products. Hundreds of millions of
dollars in merchandise are auctioned off annually, and you
can purchase many of those items at a tiny percentage of
their retail value.

Exactly where do the goods at these auctions come from?
Explains Bill Keck, founder of PoliceAuctions.com,
"Police auctions usually deal in property that's been seized
from criminals, or abandoned. The property is cataloged and
held for a time; and then, periodically, the police department
holds auctions to make it available to the public." The type of
merchandise you can find varies widely - from furniture to
jewelry to electronics to vehicles. Although many of the
items are unique, it's not uncommon find bulk lots being
auctioned off as well.

According to Keck, there are two types of police auctions:
live and online. Each offers a different experience and set of
benefits for the attendee.

* Live auctions involve fewer bidders, and provide a preview
period during which you can examine the goods up-close,
determine their condition, and identify lots you expect to
have good resale value. Once you have that information, you
can use your cell phone, laptop, or PDA to check the online
product market. Look to see the market value, the level of
demand, and the kind of competition you'll be up against.
Understanding this information allows you to develop a
successful bidding strategy.

* Online auctions are easier to locate in advance than their
live counterparts. They don't involve opening bids,
auctioneers trying to incite bids, or travel time or expenses. Many
allow proxy bidding, which can save you even more time. And since
you're already online, doing your market research is a piece
of cake.

The good news is that most police auction lots have no
minimum bid (or reserve) attached. This leaves you room to
find some high-margin deals. While a live auctioneer may try
to open the bidding at a certain price-point, if no one responds, it
will come down and continue coming down until someone jumps in.

The bad news is that police auctions aren't well-publicized,
so finding them can be a challenging task. Most police
websites, if they include auction info at all, don't update it
frequently.

Their next tier of advertising is usually the classified
section of the newspaper. This lack of publicity makes these
events difficult to track down; but it also means that, for those
who find them, there won't be a lot of competition running up
the bids.

One option you have is to simply call your local police
department (not 911) and ask about upcoming auctions. You
can also sign-up for a subscription service, like PoliceAuctions.com
or GovernmentAuctions.org, which will supply you with a centralized
source of event information.

Police auctions take a decided effort to track down, but the
value they offer more than makes it worthwhile. If you take
the time to understand what you're buying and what the value of
those items is, you can find some very high-profit buys for
your e-business. Says Keck, "Whether you're looking to diversify
your product line or just find high-margin items to resell,
police auctions provide a unique opportunity to go outside the box
and source some truly profitable products."

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