My SiL was over for Thanksgiving and I asked her "how does the state get rid of its surplus items?" and she said go check out the Bureau of Administration. So I did that later on and found out that the state of South Dakota has at least 4 ways to get of its used equipment, one is an on-line auction service called "Public Surplus". It was showing some gun and law enforcement stuff for SD so I signed up and put in bids on a bunch of Remington 870 parts (mostly plastic pump gripes and some turkey chokes) and a lot of assorted "holsters". Both lots had a couple of low bids on them so I put in the next one higher and placed my max proxy bid at a Andy and a quarter each. I figured someone would outbid me over the next 10 days so I sat back and watched.
I was the high bid for the rest of the time and figured I might win the 870 parts as that one stayed lower whereas the holster ones had maxed out my proxy bid. Both auctions closed this past Monday morning and I sort of forgot the closing time so didn't see that someone outbid for the 870 parts by 75 cents but I ended up winning the holster lot. I was a bit anal in getting my lot paid for and making sure it was going to be shipped as most of these Public Surplus auctions don't do shipping and it looked like the contact person for the surplus property was going to be out of the office for most of the week--if for some reason you don't pay for your winnings within 7 days, Public Surplus will fine you $200. So I made sure I was home from work early enough to call out to the Pierre before the office closed. It ended up being no sweat. The guy handling the stuff, "Tommy" was about as laid back as he could be, knew exactly what lot I had won, and had no problem taking my cc info and getting the stuff in the mail.
I got the package today and the first thing I noticed was it was a lot heavier than expected. I thought I was getting about 4-5 holsters, a double semi-auto mag pouch, and some handcuff cases. There ended up being about 25 items in the lot. I have an average of about $1.40 in each item so I think I'll make a decent little profit on ebay moving most of it, might keep a few things for myself. It was kind of fun winning the lot and seeing what was all in there and it will keep me out of trouble listing them during the next few weeks. I'm kind of bummed about the 870 parts though. Next time...
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