GSA’s online auction site celebrates first birthday

The General Services Administration's online auction site, GSAAuctions, turned one year old last week. The site has sold more than $17.6 million in federal assets in nearly 11,000 auctions of items ranging from office furniture and clothing to a 1979 Bentley Rolls-Royce and a Coast Guard cutter, according to GSA officials. The site sells surplus federal property and seized assets, such as those commandeered in drug raids, to more than 37,000 registered public users, GSA said. The proceeds from sales through the auction site, which has been viewed more than 3 million times in the past year, are given back to the agencies that passed the goods along to GSA. To cover overhead and operating costs, GSA retains a portion of each sale. The agency has retained about $2 million in the past year, said Victor Arnold-Bik, GSA's chief of sales. GSA has frequently conducted auctions of federal property, but GSAAuctions marks a significant shift since auctions can now take place electronically instead of in crowded warehouses. Arnold-Bik said officials looked at the popularity of those live auctions, as well as the popularity of using the Internet to conduct transactions, and believed they had a winning combination. GSA officials said interest in the site grew quickly, citing the 19,000 registered users the site collected in the first four months of operation. In that same time, the site sold more than $1.5 million in assets. Arnold-Bik said users have been attracted to GSAAuctions by the thrill of hunting for a great buy. "It's the adventure of the Saturday morning garage sale," he said. Arnold-Bik said he hopes that the auction site serves a valuable public service. "Society demands that government be [available] at their convenience," and GSAAuctions was designed to meet users' needs 24 hours a day and help federal agencies in the process, he said. There are more than 630 items on the online auction block now, Arnold-Bik said. Officials would like to house as many as 1,500 items, but quantities fluctuate on a day-to-day basis.