Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#1

Post by player_piano » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:21 PM UTC

I've long been into finding deals on government auction sites (seizures, surplus sales etc.) - right now for example San Diego DHS is selling 26 tons of lead shot, with bidding starting at $1,000 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It has historically been extremely tedious though: scanning dozens of janky sites which have interminable page loading times; back buttons take you all the way back to the homepage etc.

The site I built - GovAuctions - lets you search every government surplus auction at once. You can filter by location, category, and price, save items to a watchlist, and get alerts when new auctions match what you're looking for.

Let me know what you think, if you have any suggestions, and if you find any deals in your area!

Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once
govauctions.app

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#2

Post by KomoD » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

> right now for example San Diego DHS is selling 26 tons of lead shot, with bidding starting at $1,000

If that's not enough for you then there's another auction too! https://www.govauctions.app/auction/gsa-4-1-QSC-I-26-226-002

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#3

Post by player_piano » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

KomoD wrote: post #2

> right now for example San Diego DHS is selling 26 tons of lead shot, with bidding starting at $1,000 If that's not enough for you then there's another auction too! https://www.govauctions.app/auction/gsa-4-1-QSC-I-26-226-002

It is truly a weird and wonderful world of things you can buy out there. Last year I contemplated buying a 100-tonne crane in New Jersey, which was going for about $5,000. The only issue was that you had to go pick it up yourself...

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#4

Post by dlcarrier » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

If you want to see how quickly this can trap you in, watch the William Osman 2 channel on YouTube.

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#5

Post by carefree-bob » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

This is a real public service. More people can find better deals, this increases the pool of bidders, taxpayers will get more money for the auction. Discoverability is hugely important to these auctions.

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#6

Post by toomuchtodo » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC

player_piano wrote: post #3

KomoD wrote: post #2

> right now for example San Diego DHS is selling 26 tons of lead shot, with bidding starting at $1,000 If that's not enough for you then there's another auction too! https://www.govauctions.app/auction/gsa-4-1-QSC-I-26-226-002

It is truly a weird and wonderful world of things you can buy out there. Last year I contemplated buying a 100-tonne crane in New Jersey, which was going for about $5,000. The only issue was that you had to go pick it up yourself...

I am looking for a 60 ft+ steel ship if you come across one.

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#7

Post by player_piano » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

carefree-bob wrote: post #5

This is a real public service. More people can find better deals, this increases the pool of bidders, taxpayers will get more money for the auction. Discoverability is hugely important to these auctions.

Thank you. Yes, you could definitely say that I'm undermining a personal arbitrage advantage on this corner of the Internet, but I couldn't resist trying to "fix" it and better surface all of these woefully inefficient mini-marketplaces.

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#8

Post by BloondAndDoom » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 5:59 PM UTC

Good stuff,

Once an item clicked back button returns you to a reset listing, so you cannot click and item go back and retain the last position you were looking at (tested on iPhone)

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#9

Post by player_piano » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 6:02 PM UTC

BloondAndDoom wrote: post #8

Good stuff, Once an item clicked back button returns you to a reset listing, so you cannot click and item go back and retain the last position you were looking at (tested on iPhone)

Update: this should be working now.

Re: Show HN: GovAuctions lets you browse government auctions at once

#10

Post by SoftTalker » Mon, Apr 06, 2026, 6:04 PM UTC

Seems to be missing stuff.

I searched "volkswagen" on govdeals and found a lot of vehicles listed but nothing on this site.