February 5, 2004
University surplus using eBay to maximize its sales
Public sales at Surplus Property have just gotten a lot more public.
Since January, some University property is now being sold on eBay, the online auction service. Teresa Seyfried, program operations manager of Surplus Property, reports that her team is using eBay as both a sounding board to help them set prices on usual items and as a way to find a larger audience for collectible items such as designer furniture that no longer fits in at the University.
Last month Surplus Property sold on eBay a few bright orange couches that date back to the 1970s and some plastic chairs and small stools, all designed by well known furniture makers such as Knoll and Herman Miller. When more items of similar vintage arrived in the store just recently, the Surplus Property team had no problem setting prices above the usual fray, as much as $85 for a plastic chair that may appeal to collectors. “We’ve learned to recognize designer items,” Seyfried says.
Seyfried says one of the interesting, but also challenging, parts of the eBay experience was selling items to buyers who live in California and New York. Afterward they had to figure out how to ship the furniture to the buyers. That part of the experience will guide University officials in deciding what they should sell online in the future.
Surplus Property is also looking into selling some surplus laboratory equipment on another online auction site, LabX. Seyfried says this auction site will help them find a broader audience for used lab equipment and also enable the surplus department to fine tune its prices and find out if selling online will help them make more money on unusual items.
Surplus Property also is using the Internet and e-mail to increase sales by sending out reminder e-mails to its repeat customers before each public store, which occur the first and third Tuesdays of each month at noon. A sampling of the items offered to the public are photographed and posted on the department’s Web site, www.uwsurplus.com, before each sale. The University also opens its Surplus Store to nonprofit agencies on Wednesdays. The store is “always” open to University departments looking for items the store may have on hand. Seyfried says staff often call or e-mail looking for a particular piece of equipment and if Surplus Property has it available, they can take a digital picture and e-mail a photo of the item to the prospective “client.” Items are always offered for internal sale before making it to the public sales and auctions.
At the Tuesday, Feb. 3, sale, the public sale included a large variety of items from old trunks to lab tables, fire extinguishers and a variety of computer equipment. Seyfried says the computer equipment probably brings in the most money from the public sales because it is among the most expensive items for sale. On occasion, however, the University sells some very unusual and much more expensive items. Seyfried remembers vividly the two airplanes they have sold, but through a closed bidding process, not during a regular public sale. Surplus property has also sold automobiles and boats, “but no trains, yet,” she adds.
One of the most unusual items to sell through the store in recent memory was an airplane engine. Seyfried says this item stands out in her mind, in part, because it was unusual looking and quite large, but also because, “the person who bought it was someone who bought it to put it in his garage,” and not to give it another life in research or education.
Mike Anderson, warehouse manager for the past 10 years, says a Convair airplane was one of the difficult items to sell and the airplane engine was one of the most unusual, in part because it was a one-of-a-kind item and most things come to the store more than once.
“There’s a lot of stuff I just shake my head and say why — both why did it come to me and why are they getting rid of it,” Anderson says.
Some unusual items that may create some nostalgia for long-time university staff will be offered at a special sale later this month. Surplus Property will be conducting a sale of empty card catalog cabinets previously used in Suzzallo Library. The sale will be held at Sand Point, Building 5D, and is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 20, from noon to 4 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 21, from 9 a.m. to noon. Some proceeds from the sale will be returned to the libraries.
Pictures of the cabinets and information about the sale can be found on the Surplus Property Web site, http://www.washington.edu/admin/surplus/card.html.
