How do you calculate bid price for govdeals?

I'm looking on govdeals.com for Columbia, SC and found 3 lots of different items for escrap. I figure all of the computers don't have drives in them. I just wanted to ask around to see what others use to determine bid price. I was thinking $3-$4 per computer since I can't see them in person due to distance.

Example:
You will be bidding on 1 Lot of Used Miscellaneous Scrap Computers and Monitors (approximately 121 items total on 3 pallets). There are approximately 80 Computers (15 are laptops), approximately 4 Flatscreen Monitors and 37 CRT Monitors in this lot (variety of name brands and models). The CPUs and laptops have no hard drives and are missing parts.

Current bid is $210. The monitors I'm not counting in my bid as they are a pain to get rid of in my area. Need a glass buyer. So I figure $195 - $260 for the desktops and then another $15 - $20 for the laptops. So I'm thinking of a $250 bid max due to the tax + gas involved on top of my bid.

I suspect these are all P4 computers also.

Suggestions or comments?

there's always the opportunity of better than scrap value, it takes more work, time, and space, but the payoff can be greatly multiplied. You'll need to determine what you are able to do with them, usually by experience. Pictures help, but there's really no substitution for a visual inspection. After you've dealt with a particular seller for awhile, you'll have a better idea what to expect from just the photos

Don't forget to add "Buyer's Premium" into your equation if there is any.

Ya JPete I'm always thinking about that. Of course here they call it a admin fee. Figure 7% tax, 7.5% admin fee, and I figure $80 in gas (round trip to Columbia). Looking at multiple lots if I can win them at my max will be a good RoI. I've yet to have any luck however with govdeals. Too many people bid the scrap up way high.

How much time left to bid, wait till just before the ckose of the auction, if you can still beat the final bid go for it. Most of the time that stuff goes for way to much. If you start bidding to early you'll just be running up the bid.

I never bid or offer more on scrap if I'm rolling the dice than I know it is worth in shred. I would bid $2-3 for computers only seen in a picture without much detail like the gov auctions. It's all about your aversion to risk, some have the mentality go big or go home.

On gov auction websites i have almost always found that for computers people always seem to pay more then what they would get out of them in scrap value. I usually go for the ones that have office equipment in with the lots b/c people dont tend to wanna deal with moving stuff they dont want or cant use.

Well I just checked it this morning and it a mute point. Current bid on 121 items (65 Desktops, 15 laptops, 37 CRTs, 5 flat monitors) is sitting at $615 with 5 hours to go. My other lot I was watching had 44 items in it (looks to be 4 printers, around 30 desktops, a paper box of who knows what, and some odds/ends that could be flat monitors or other desktops. It is up to $315 already with 5 hours to go. Heck, the 110 item police radio/transmitter lot is up to almost $300.

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'll just have to stick with buying a computer here and there from people at the storage auctions. Will keep trying. May luck up one day and get a nice lot for cheap.

Good idea on the office furniture Monj. However, in my area that stuff doesn't sell well. Most of it is wood and not metal either so can't even scrap it. Will watch for some army surplus auctions. They still have a bunch of old steel desk and other furniture in inventory.

i'm almost 90% sure that anyone buying these computers @ $30+ are shipping them over seas. That's what the warehouse manager told me when I asked him about who is buying up all the computers. Well atleast in this DC area.

Well that auction I can understand because it says flat screen monitors come with them. I'm pretty sure those are all at least Pentium D's Proc's. I can sell stuff like that all day long for at least $100-$150 and people won't bat an eye at it. If you stick to your guns and dont have to turn a profit on them super fast you can get close to $200 a piece for a Pentium D machine with a flat screen monitor. Especially if you know the size of the monitors. He can pretty much make his money back just on the flat screens they will sell all day long for $50 a piece.

Working flat screen are more valuable than the computers in my opinion. The LCD screens dont seem to last as long as the CRT's do and I'm always having people looking for them cheap. Normally if I run across a flat screen that someone is getting rid of I find a P4 or better machine to stick with it and put it on craigslist for $75 or up depending on the computer i stick with it. They move pretty fast.

I have been thinking about the auctions a lot lately and my biggest problem is they dont seem to have any close to me that i can deal with. The closest one on govdeals was 5+ hours away and it was only vehicles...

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

You might offer a trade deal with a computer shop to trade for nonworking 'puters. Maybe a 3 to 1 trade.

I do that with a few of my customers also. I gave a p4 machine with 1 stick of RAM and no finger cards to a customer for a nonworking P2 slot proc with, 4 sticks of RAM, and three finger boards. I figure I'll end up getting the P4 machine back someday and it earned me some good will and I they gave me some old stuff out of the closet like a couple of routers, 3 pieces of laptop RAM, 2 hard drives and some odds and ends.

Bid price actually depends upon the size of the project...What the level of efficiency can you perform the? Why is your value higher than theirs? What rewards can the company receive when it works together with your company rather than your competitor?

Originally Posted by allgovbids

Bid price actually depends upon the size of the project...What the level of efficiency can you perform the? Why is your value higher than theirs? What rewards can the company receive when it works together with your company rather than your competitor?

Yeah, this post is weird. He is actually talking about making bids to the government for projects.

I get a lot of great deals on there I may have to pass up a lot because of some of the prices are high for people reselling whole units I just do not have the market here to sell older models for $100 but I sell a lot of parts to the people who do though lol