Is BidProwl legit?
Short answer: yes. BidProwl is a free search index over 27 government auction sources. It never takes bids or payments for lots, and every listing links back to the official source site. Here is exactly how it works.
Is BidProwl legit?
Yes. BidProwl is a search engine over 27 real government auction sources: GSA Auctions, GovDeals, GovPlanet, PublicSurplus, HUD, and more. It never asks you to bid or pay through the site. Every listing links to the official auction page, where the actual bidding happens. If a site claims to be BidProwl and asks for payment on an auction lot, it is not us.
Does BidProwl run the auctions?
No. BidProwl does not host auctions, accept bids, or process payments for any lot. The auctions are run by government agencies and their contracted platforms. BidProwl indexes those public listings so you can search all of them in one place, then sends you to the source site to bid.
Is BidProwl affiliated with GSA or GovDeals?
No. BidProwl is independent and has no affiliation with GSA, GovDeals, GovPlanet, PublicSurplus, HiBid, or any government agency or auction platform. The footer on every page says so. The official federal auction site is gsaauctions.gov; BidProwl links to it and to the other sources but does not represent them.
How does BidProwl collect its data?
BidProwl scrapes publicly listed auctions from 27 federal, state, and local sources twice a day, then normalizes them into one searchable index. Sold-price history comes from the same public listings after they close. Nothing is behind a login on the source sites; BidProwl just puts it all in one search box.
What does BidProwl cost?
Searching, browsing, email alerts, and the deal score are free. BidProwl Pro costs $9 per month, or $79 per year, and adds instant alerts, live bids on closing auctions, sold-price comps from 270,000+ closed auctions, and AI-assisted search. Payments for Pro go through Stripe. BidProwl never charges for auction lots.
How do I contact BidProwl?
Email hello@bidprowl.com or use the contact form at bidprowl.com/contact. BidProwl is built by Sam Ojling; the about page covers who builds it and how the deal score works.
How to verify this yourself
- Open any listing on BidProwl and click through: you land on the official auction page (gsaauctions.gov, govdeals.com, publicsurplus.com, and so on), and that is where you place your bid.
- Check the full source list with live counts on /sources. Each entry links to the platform it indexes.
- Read the about page for how the data pipeline and deal score work, and /pricing for exactly what free and Pro include.