Bonner County moving to online auctions

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SANDPOINT — Bonner County is launching an online presence for their government auctions beginning in early autumn.

Public Surplus will serve as a platform for the county in the sale of items that are in the county’s possession.

Jessi Webster, business operations manager for the county, brought the idea before commissioners at the end of Tuesday’s meeting.

“Anything valued over $250 needs to be sold at auction,” she said. “Putting together a county auction is a tremendous amount of work.”

Working with the online auction platform will help reduce the amount of work the county does when putting on a public auction.

Public Surplus handles everything involved in the auction besides creating the listing or delivering the item. Those purchasing auction items through the platform will be charged a 10.5% buyer’s fee.

“We get virtually nothing for county property,” said Commissioner Dan McDonald at the meeting. “When you look at the numbers that these kinds of sites get, they’re demonstrably larger.”

A big portion of the county’s surplus is vehicles — vehicles that sometimes wait up to three years before the next upcoming auction. Even though sales at auctions generate income, the main benefit to the county is in the form of open storage space.

Before, county auctions would take place once every 2-3 years. That waiting time is set to be largely reduced because auctions will be continuously posted to Public Surplus.

Webster found out about Public Surplus after being approached by a different organization about arranging online auctions through their platform, but they were not cost effective for the county.

“As a government agency we’re required to look for cheaper options,” Webster said in an interview on Wednesday.

The city of Sandpoint is already utilizing the site, even though there are no items currently listed.

Buyers can expect to see mainly office furnishings and vehicles on the county’s offerings.

Surplus from the Sheriff or Treasurer’s offices are not considered a part of the county’s inventory, at this time they plan to continue their already established auction practices.

“I think it’s much more fiscally responsible, especially with taxpayers. We can capitalize as much as we can on the stuff in surplus,” said McDonald at the end of the meeting.

The auction pages for both the city of Sandpoint and Bonner County can be found on the Public Surplus website at publicsurplus.com