Section C.3. Bid4Assets

C.3. Bid4Assets

If you're looking for government auctions of seized property, Bid4Assets (www.bid4assets.com) is for you. The site hosts auctions run by the U.S. Marshals Service, various state and federal agencies, and county tax agencies, as well as private sellers. High-end items, including real estate, jewelry , artwork, and a variety of vehicles, change hands on the site. It's a great place to hunt for deals.

Bid4Assets offers three kinds of auctions: regular auctions, fixed-price sales, and sealed bid auctions, in which bidders submit secret bids that the seller can either accept or reject. To prevent sniping, Bid4Assets has an overtime period; if someone bids in the last five minutes, the auction continues for an extra five minutes until there are no more bids.

Bid4Assets charges a $5 listing fee per item as well as a commission (minimum $25). Sellers can avoid paying the commission, however, by making buyers pay it. Here's how: Bid4Assets lets sellers charge a buyer's premium , an amount from one to 10 percent on top of the selling price, to cover expenses associated with the sale. (Not surprisingly, if you browse the listings, every buyer's premium seems to be 10 percent.) A great deal for sellers, but kind of annoying to buyers.