GovDeals vs. eBay prices: is government surplus really cheaper?
Usually yes, but by less than you'd think. We matched 3,102 GovDeals lots that sold in the last 60 days against what the same items sold for on eBay. 58% hammered below their eBay price. The typical lot, though, went for only about 25% under eBay, and fees eat more than that. The money is in the roughly one lot in three that sold for half of its eBay value or less.
The headline numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Sold GovDeals lots with an eBay sold-comp price | 3,102 |
| Hammered below their eBay price | 1,812 (58%) |
| Hammered at or above their eBay price | 1,290 (42%) |
| eBay price ≥ 2× the winning bid | 1,009 (33%) |
| Median eBay price ÷ winning bid | 1.25× |
| Median winning bid | $150 |
| Median eBay sold-comp price | $190 |
The obvious read is "GovDeals is cheaper than eBay." That's true more often than not. The read that matters is that four in ten lots sold for eBay money or more, and the median lot left a spread too thin to flip. GovDeals gets competitive: the bidders include other resellers who've looked up the same eBay comps.
Why a 25% discount isn't a deal
Run the median lot through real costs. You win it at $150; the eBay comps say it sells for $190.
| Median lot (1.25×) | A 2× lot | |
|---|---|---|
| Winning bid | $150.00 | $150.00 |
| Buyer's premium (10%) | $15.00 | $15.00 |
| Sales tax (~8%) | $13.20 | $13.20 |
| Landed cost | $178.20 | $178.20 |
| eBay sale price | $190.00 | $300.00 |
| eBay fees (~14%) | −$26.60 | −$42.00 |
| Outbound shipping & packing | −$20.00 | −$20.00 |
| Profit | −$34.80 | +$59.80 |
The median lot loses money even before gas, your time, or the chance it doesn't work. A lot at 2× its bid clears about $60, roughly a 34% return on landed cost. With fees on both ends, about 1.5× is breakeven on a lot this size and 2× is where flipping starts to pay. Bigger lots carry fixed costs better, so the line moves down a bit as the price goes up. (Plug your own numbers into the GovDeals profit calculator.)
Category by category
The spread varies a lot by what you're buying. Categories with at least 60 matched lots:
| Category | Lots | Sold below eBay | At ≤ half of eBay | Median eBay ÷ bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktops & all-in-ones | 267 | 69% | 37% | 1.62× |
| A/V equipment | 107 | 63% | 35% | 1.48× |
| iPads, tablets & eReaders | 165 | 77% | 38% | 1.47× |
| Networking & wireless | 67 | 67% | 42% | 1.45× |
| Laptops | 507 | 62% | 28% | 1.31× |
| Exercise equipment | 116 | 54% | 28% | 1.16× |
| Computer parts & supplies | 233 | 58% | 28% | 1.15× |
| Cell phones | 108 | 44% | 15% | 0.94× |
| Tools | 163 | 47% | 21% | 0.93× |
| Kitchen equipment | 70 | 47% | 27% | 0.80× |
Three patterns stand out:
- Bulk office IT has the widest spreads. Desktops, tablets, and networking gear come off government desks in pallets, and few bidders want to wipe, test, and list 40 units. That hassle is the discount.
- Phones and tools are priced like retail. These are easy to resell and easy to value, so they draw a crowd. The typical phone or tool lot hammered above its eBay price.
- Every category has deals. Even in the tightest categories, 15–27% of lots went for half of eBay or less. The category tells you the odds. It doesn't tell you whether this lot is one of them.
What the good ones look like
Our public receipts track lots GavelGap rated as buys that then sold below a verified resale value. Of those, 377 closed between August 14 and October 19 with an eBay-sold price. Their median winning bid was $360 against a median eBay value of $1,054, about 2.96×, with half landing between 2× and 4×. A few real examples:
| Lot | Winning bid | eBay sold value | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| 52 × Microsoft Surface Go tablets | $1,585 | $6,239 | 3.9× |
| 15 × Dell laptops | $651 | $2,430 | 3.7× |
| 64 × Dell OptiPlex SFF desktops | $2,525 | $6,336 | 2.5× |
| 17 × Cisco switches | $517 | $1,189 | 2.3× |
| 10 × Apple iPhone 12/13 | $752 | $1,245 | 1.7× |
Note what's missing: the iPhone lot, in a category where most lots sell at retail, had the thinnest spread here. The big multiples are almost all multi-unit lots. Pricing them takes per-unit math (what one sells for times how many you can actually sell), and that's exactly where casual bidders give up or get it wrong.
How to tell which kind of lot you're looking at
- Price off eBay sold listings, not asking prices. Asking prices run high; sold prices are what buyers actually paid.
- Match the exact product. A "Dell laptop" comp could be a $90 2016 model or a $700 2023 one. Model and generation set the price. So does stripping out accessories and for-parts listings (how we vet comps).
- Do the per-unit math on multi-unit lots. Count units, check the photos, and price what you can realistically sell. Don't assume every one works.
- Set your max bid at about half of eBay. Work back from the eBay price: subtract eBay fees and shipping, then the buyer's premium and tax, then your required margin. That gives your ceiling. Stick to it when bidding gets hot.
- Check the friction. Pickup-only, BIOS-locked laptops, iCloud-locked phones, and buyer restrictions turn a 3× lot into a loss. Our Red Flag Checklist covers them.
GavelGap puts the eBay sold-comp price, your landed cost, and the profit gap next to every GovDeals listing as you browse.
Get GavelGap free →Methodology
The population figures cover 3,102 GovDeals lots that closed as sold between August 24 and October 23, 2026, drawn from the lots GavelGap tracks and limited to those with a resale estimate built from eBay sold listings. The comps are matched to the lot and checked for relevance, and multi-unit lots account for the unit count. "GovDeals price" is the final hammer bid, excluding buyer's premium, tax, and shipping. "eBay price" is the estimate for what the lot would sell for on eBay, before eBay's fees. The estimates are good, not perfect: a wrong model match can skew a single lot either way, which is why we report medians. Lots with no eBay-sold match (most vehicles and heavy equipment, which are priced from other sources) aren't included. The receipts section uses the same data restricted to lots GavelGap flagged as buys before they closed, and so is intentionally the favourable end of the distribution.
Frequently asked questions
Is GovDeals cheaper than eBay?
Usually. 58% of the lots we matched sold below their eBay price. But the median lot was only ~25% under eBay, which fees more than erase.
Can you make money buying on GovDeals and selling on eBay?
Yes, on the right lots. About a third sold for half of eBay or less, and those clear fees comfortably. The typical lot doesn't.
Which categories sell furthest below eBay?
Bulk desktops, tablets, networking gear, and A/V equipment. Phones, tools, and kitchen equipment often sell at or above eBay.
What fees eat into a GovDeals-to-eBay flip?
Buyer's premium, sales tax, any payment fee, and pickup or shipping on the way in; eBay's ~13–15% final value fee plus shipping on the way out. Together they typically cost 30–40% of the eBay price.
Related: GovDeals fees explained · How to flip surplus laptops · What government surplus sells for · Receipts →