About BidProwl
One search across every government surplus auction in the United States.
Why this exists
Government agencies sell off a steady stream of surplus property: vehicles, equipment, electronics, real estate, seized assets. The supply is huge and the prices are often well below retail, but you have to know where to look. The federal government uses GSA Auctions. The General Services Administration also runs GSA Fleet. State and city fleets list on GovDeals, PublicSurplus, or Municibid. Sheriffs use HiBid or PropertyRoom. Real estate moves through HUD HomeStore, Fannie Mae HomePath, Bid4Assets county tax sales, and US Marshals forfeiture pages.
That fragmentation is the problem. BidProwl pulls live listings from 26 sources every 12 hours and gives you a single search box across all of them, plus state and category hubs, an email-alert system, and a deal score that flags lots priced well below comparable sold history.
Who built it
BidProwl is built by Sam Ojling. The guides, the search ranking, and the deal score are all written and tuned by hand based on what actually closes well on each platform.
Where the data comes from
Every listing on BidProwl comes from a public government auction source. We scrape and normalize the data so you can compare lots side by side. Sources currently covered:
- Federal: GSA Auctions, GSA Fleet, DLA Disposition, IRS, US Marshals, HUD HomeStore, USPS Surplus
- Platforms: GovDeals, GovPlanet, PublicSurplus, Municibid, Bid4Assets, PropertyRoom, GovLiquidation
- Aggregators: HiBid, Proxibid, AuctionZip, Purple Wave, Ritchie Bros, JJ Kane
- Real estate: Auction.com, Fannie Mae HomePath, Freddie Mac HomeSteps, Hubzu, Williams & Williams
See the full source list with live counts on /sources.
How the deal score works
Every lot gets a 0 to 100 deal score based on how its current bid compares to the median sold price for similar items in the same category and state over the past 90 days. A score of 80 means the lot is priced in the top tier of recent comparable sales. We rebuild the score for each lot every time the bid changes, so it stays accurate through the close.
The score is a hint, not a verdict. Condition, location, and pickup logistics all matter and aren't captured in price comparison alone. Use the score to filter down candidates, then read the lot description before bidding.
What we don't do
- We don't host or run auctions. Every listing links back to the source platform where the actual bidding happens.
- We don't take commissions on sales.
- We don't sell your email or share search history.
- We don't have an affiliation with GSA or any government agency. The footer says so on every page.
Update cadence
Source scrapes run twice a day (roughly every 12 hours). Listing detail pages refresh hourly during their final 24 hours so closing-time data stays current. Sold price archives update daily. Guides get reviewed quarterly or whenever a source changes its fee structure or platform.
Get in touch
Spotted a missing source, wrong fee, or stale guide? Tell us on the contact page or send a note via /feedback.