deadrush - 31-5-2025 at 21:25
I have searched high and low with little success. Is there ANY other auction /second hand sites/ liquidators / (anything else that might apply) in the
massachusetts area? Preferably worcester lol.
charley1957 - 1-6-2025 at 05:08
I won some items from the last K-bid auction. Unfortunately, the final cost with fees, taxes and shipping came out to more than I would have paid for
the same items on Amazon. I thought I was getting a good deal, and it was, until they started adding on all the fees and stuff. I think the only
time an auction is really useful is when they offer items you just can’t get anywhere else, such as a used rotovap or other larger items. For
common things you can get on Amazon, just go there. Auctions used to be a good thing, now they are as expensive or more so than other outlets.
Eleutheria - 1-6-2025 at 07:42
I’ve been surprised not more people know about this website, but it’s called Public Surplus. It’s mostly universities selling off old equipment
and depending on where you live, certain schools just constantly offload a bunch of nice laboratory equipment. Looks like right now there’s only a
few non-laboratory things in MA, but I’ve noticed during the summer there’s not much lab stuff listed in my area. As soon as the Fall and Spring
semesters start, different research labs begin getting rid of old stuff or professors that retire will offer their peers first dibs on their lab stuff
and whatever the chemistry department labs don’t want typically goes to auction.
I know this isn’t what you’re really looking for since there’s no lab stuff listed right now, but if you’ve never been on this website, really
keep an eye out on here during the Fall and Spring semesters. There’s also stuff some high school labs sometimes, but MA looks active on Public
Surplus. There’s some states which literally never have anything listed. So this is a good sign for where you live. I’ve ever bought some cool
stuff listed in the industrial equipment category before too.
Maybe you’ve been on here before, but if not, here’s the link for anyone else that hasn’t.
https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/browse/home
Eleutheria - 1-6-2025 at 07:50
I agree with charley1957, I stopped wasting time on auctions cause you never know if you’ll overpay for broken equipment and I personally can’t
stand waiting 5-7 days for them to end, only for the $0.99 starting price to skyrocket and a bunch of people end up in an aggressive bidding war.
I’d rather pay 5-10% more to buy something I need off eBay immediately where the seller actually tested the equipment instead of the usual auction
description showing “item powers on, unable to test”. Can’t stand that nonsense anymore.
Auctions are also just annoying because it’s mostly just people trying to buy a bunch of stuff cheap and they end up relisting all everything
individually on eBay. I feel like most of the people bidding on lab auctions are straight up eBay resellers. I’ve seen auctions end, then less than
a week later find the same items listed on ebay for 10x more, and those people still don’t know how to test the equipment and list it as “unit
powers on, unable to test”.