Can I ask a question about an auction that ended earlier this evening

[Rapracing]

without being in trouble?

 

[Warthog]

As soon as the auction ends you can talk about it all you want.

 

[Rapracing]

OKAY!

There were 35 802's in Chambersburg, Pa (it said @ Letterkenny). They didn't seem to sell. They had a reserve on them. Do you think that is why they didn't sell or were they all junk? They didn't look bad in the pics, some with really low hours.

I think only two sold, 1 for $800 and 1 for $1000. The rest the reserve was not met.

Thoughts??

 

[gimpyrobb]

Yup, they didn't meet reserve. These are good units if known runners. NO WAY I'd ever pay that much for a question mark!

 

[Suprman]

GL is up to no good because they are in terrible shape now that their main cash cow the truck contract is gone to GP. The gov surplus rules specifically state stuff has to be sold to the highest bidder. But they are putting reserves on items in an attempt to drive up prices. I have seen many items with reserves that I would have bid on but the reserve was not met and it didn't come around again for auction. Sometimes stuff will come up again. Stuff is only worth what someone will pay for it. Most of the stuff is similar items week after week the gov has so much of the stuff to get rid of. Regardless of what GL thinks it's worth the market is flooded.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Its really putting "it" to the folks at the GL sites too. I have heard many complaints already about having to keep re-listing stuff that didn't sell due to these reserves.

They also aren't happy with the new management of the "new owner" Liquidity Services. So now I guess no-one is happy except the CEO. HA!

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,
I was wondering the same thing. Wow, 35 802 units up at auction. Then I saw all the reserve statements, and bids with reserve not met. Some of the units would not qualify for a bid higher than $500. It seems like it was only the Letterkenny units too.

 

[Rebel635]

Sorry to break this to you guys but those units were in excellent shape. Went and inspected them ALL last week. Other than a few units with obvious high hours and wear and tear, and one unit with smashed control board, the rest were all complete units. The reason so few ran is that the fuel filter was purposely crushed to the point that you can see the filter material inside. A few had the auxilary run switch wires ripped out. Id say that was a deliberate way to make a unit hit "surplus" status.

No signs of wet stacking (well, one did....) or head gasket (possibly one) issues but that will be confirmed when i get the four units i bought home.

Only one unit had an alternator and belt missing. Some had door travel limit brackets bent, a few had the doors bent, but overall they were a-ok units that *should be easily fixed.

Last time i bought my 002a, the 802a were going for 1600+ and honestly thought that's where these units were gonna go price wise.

I think the reserve, large saturation (there were two more auctions across US for large quantities of 802s going at the same time), and no run condition made people not bid on these.

Also the reserve limit had no rime or reason. Some units had it at $800, others at $1000, some were even higher. Had nothing to do with hours or shape.

I was also pissed about the reserve, but decided to stick it out and see what happens. I was in the area for work last week anyways so decided to pop in and look at them. The pictures described them well, the staff there was extremely helpful and thats what made me bid. I had a list of all the units with short descriptions with me and a rating system i deducted through hours of staring at the screen at all the lots. The list was confirmed during the visit.

I'll update this when i get them home and have some time to look at them.

 

[Gunzy]

In April I bid on and won an MEP804A, and my friend also bid on one and we got both. They were refurbs at Hill AFB with 23 and 26 hours and started and had no problems. we got them for $2300 and $2400 after fees and taxes. The next unit like those to come up was an MEP804B with about 27 hours and it had a $4000 reserve on it and closed at $4500. I think GL is in deep trouble and it may be interesting to see what happens over the next year or so.

 

[zarathustra]

I think that setting a reserve on these items is counter productive. It seems that the bidding on the units is weaker if there is a reserve. I think it could be improved upon by posting the reserve amount on the listing....

However, I called G/L and asked about the reserve issue.

Their response was interesting.... If the item did not meet the reserve, the HIGH BIDDER, and only the high bidder's bid will be considered and perhaps taken, OR G/L will reveal the reserve and give the high bidder the option to buy at the reserve price, OR lastly, G/L may offer the unit to the high bidder at some price between his bid and the reserve.

Now, since I didn't bid on any of the Chambersburg units I didn't have any way to test this, but perhaps someone who was the high bidder but less than the reserve might chime in and tell us if G/L did, in fact, do any of the above three things that they described to me on any of the Chambersburg units.

 

[Suprman]

I was high bidder on an item that did not meet reserve and I never heard anything else from GL on it.

 

[Triple Jim]

I attended one auction at Fort Meade, quite a few years ago. They had a bunch of notebook computers, all of which were several years old, and pretty far behind the current technology of the day. They might have been OK for light use, with programs that weren't too taxing, but they definitely weren't going to be someone's main business computer, for example. They had reserve prices up around what you could get a new, current one for, at a discount store. Maybe the reserves were set based on a percentage of what the government had paid for them.

None of the computers were getting any bids, and after a while the auctioneer asked why. We explained, and he conferred with someone nearby, and they dropped the reserves quite a bit. I don't think many of them sold anyway, but it was interesting to see that there was some flexibility.

 

[Rebel635]

Like Suprman, i bid on more than the gennies i won, in fact some of my high bids that didnt meet reserve were higher than my winning bids on other lots.
The different reserve limits made that happen. In the end i had high bids on three more gennies that didnt meet reserve and i havent heard anything. Youd think theyd be tripping over themselves offering me the $1100 items when i won the $800 ones.

Im picking them next week, ill report back on their condition.

 

[Suprman]

Technically GL owns the stuff and you are buying it at their auction from them not the gov. In the contract the gov sells it all to GL and there are resale requirements per contract of GL re-selling it at public auction to the highest bidder. I think alot of the stuff GL does is fishy. You could complain to your elected representatives and the media, with the buzz about humvees and stuff going to the police depts im sure someone would pick it up and run with it. But its a double edged sword you may not like the end result. The gov could halt the sales for some time or you could end up with a different company reselling it that you dont like. You may be better off with the devil you know that the devil you dont.

 

[Rebel635]

They'll go back up for sale soon with a lower limit. It may even be beneficial as by that time i'll have a detailed report on the units i won, and it wont be such a crapshoot. Most were in the same or very similar conditions. There were IMO only three units where i positively wasnt gonna bid ubless they went for $400 bucks or less.

 

[silverstate55]

I noticed something with a few GP auctions (GovPlanet)....items have a "set" starting price, and while watching them, a few will close with LESS THAN the starting price! The next week I tried to tender an amount less than the starting price, but it rejected it...so during active auction I submitted prices lower than starting amount, and was still rejected. And one of them closed for $1000 less than starting price!

What is that all about...what kind of software do I need to get prices lower than starting amount to stick?

 

[zarathustra]

Well, I suppose that the person at G/L may have been making it up as they went along.....
I usually avoid bidding on reserve bid auctions unless the item has reached the reserve or I've been told the reserve.

Back when I sold things on ebay if I had a reserve I always posted the reserve in the listing. Interestingly, the part almost always got up to slightly less than the reserve very quickly. I guess people like bidding, especially if they know they won't have to buy the item as long as they stay under the reserve.

 

[Suprman]

If an item does not sell sometimes GP will re-run it at a lower starting price just to get rid of it. They want to control the flow and keep prices up but the gov is dumping so much stuff they are overloaded. Stuff is stashed all over the place at civilian sites. I spoke with one of the GP guys in CA he said they underestimated the amount of stuff the gov would give them to sell off. There is a time period they have to get the item off of gov property once turned over to them and authorized to be sold.

 

[rustystud]

I just talked with the manager of GL at Fort Lewis/McCord last week and he told me that management was trying to bring in more money using this "reserve" strategy . He told me they had cut his department by 3 employees just last month. They only have 4 left. He was actually helping me load my truck with the forklift. I asked why was he doing this, I said "aren't you the manager ? Where is your regular forklift operator ? " . He said he was "let go" along with 2 others two weeks ago.

 

[pmramsey]

There is no need to test it. I have already benefited from the so called reserve not met process. I bid $6,150 on an absolutely, all-new Cat C7 Accert engine with all the accessories attached but did not win. I was the high bidder at the Letterkenny auction. The next day I received a call from GL and I was offered the engine for my bid price. DUH! I took it.

The same thing happened two weeks ago in Butner NC. I was bidding on an exceptionally nice container trailer with a purpose built container. My bid did not meet the reserve at $3100 but it was offered to me the next day. Once again, I took it.

Last week I did not met the reserve on four items in a sale but I did meet the reserve on two other items in the same sale. I received a paid invoice for the two wins the next day. However, the following week, I was offered to purchase the four other items in the sale that I bid on but did not meet the reserve. I did not take the offer. In fact, it p...ed me off because two of the four items offered were the same as one of my wins that met reserve only the price was far below the $2800 I paid for the unit I actually won. Since I am not a dealer and only have use for one of the units, I turned it down. Additionally, they would not let me cherry pick the items in the lot of four. I was all or nothing. I am beginning to question the integrity of the auction process there.