The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. government that was established to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications to U.S. government offices and provides transportation and office space to federal employees, among other things. Many of the goods purchased by the GSA become surplus goods and are then auctioned off to the public at greatly discounted prices. Think of it as the government’s way of recouping any of it’s spending for these items.
There are two reasons why these goods become surplus. The first is rather easy: the government basically purchased too many items for federal offices and wndeavors. In this case, typically the items are almost always brand new. Nonetheless, the initial bid for these surplus goods will often start at a small fraction of what was paid for the item. The second reason is because the surplus item had been replaced by either a new or more technologically advanced item. This doesn’t necessarily mean the item is defective or in bad condition. Rather. it simply means that the government felt it should be replaced with a newer more advanced model.
You may be asking yourself about what different types of items could be found at a GSA surplus property auction. GSA (along with its Contractors) holds several different auctions – both live and online auctions — and at these auctions, they sell almost anything and everything you can think of. Items range from cars, trucks, and tools to industrial machinery, mobile homes, and office equipment. The list really goes on and on which is why I recommend that everyone check out these surplus property auctions.
If you’re interested in attending a live GSA auction or participating in an online GSA government auction, I suggest you give GovernmentAuctions.org a try. They are a site that specializes in aggregating information on not only GSA auctions, but all
other types of government auctions and they cater to the United States, Canada, and U.S. territories. And if you’re looking for a possible real estate investment, their online database also contains over 100,000+ foreclosure listings.