Saturday, October 24, 2009

Gov Auctions Review – Online Government Auctions Site

Auctions is an auctions site, that lists any government auctions available in the United States. While they have plenty of features for their members, it´s not that different from other sites. Where it´s special is in the dedication of the team to update with the latest auctions available, from all states.

While some states have much more auctions then others, Gov-Auctions tries to list them all. The difference in the number of auctions, depends on the population of the state and the number of cars that are collected.

What Gov-Auctions claims is that it´s one of the sites that offer the most when it comes to the deals on government-seized properties and automobiles. If you visit their site you can see their As Seen on T.V. ad, but they don´t say on what channel it can be watched.

Gov-Auctions is not just a sales page though. Their site states their problem with car auction sites that are just scams in their published public statement. They attack those that give fake reviews for a lot of websites. This might be just an attempt to make the reader believe that they are for real, and not just a scam. Still, they are better when it comes to honesty then other similar sites.

They give you a view on their services and what you can get by using them. If you don´t read this page you might not fully understand what the site offers. Someone that visits Gov-Auctions for the first time might be a bit tricked by their methods. For example, they give you an online search with the latest cars sold through auctions, but they don´t specify that those aren´t cars sold on their site. So the users might think that those cars were sold by them.

If the people behind Gov-Auctions would be clearer about their offer, they would get a bigger score, but they make statements like you´ll have access to thousands of government pre-owned vehicles at very low prices, and thousands more showing up each week. The result is that people feel that they´ve been lied to.

Still, the money is well spent when you consider the members area. You get a list of all the states and each has auctions with the information you need to find the auction and how it can get involved and bid in it. Clicking on Ohio will give you a list of the auctions available there. For each auction you get the city, location, phone number, status and other bits of information that you need if you´re interested.

Additionally, Gov-Auctions lists a number of other auction sites, ordered by category. A member only needs to click on a link and he will visit another auction site, either private or owned by the government. Also, there are a number of Federal Auto Auctions listed, that can be viewed.

And as a bonus, the member gets a Car Auctions course, done for beginners and with plenty of details. It´s a valuable resource and also complete. But, while it might make members to avoid getting speeding tickets, it´s not really focused on property and on the cars.

How easy it is to use: very easy. After the new member pays the $35 price he gets immediately access to the member area. One the right side of the members area you can find an e-course that takes five days to complete and the ebook about how not to get speeding tickets. Other links that can be found there are those pointing to special auctions, like USPS, USDA or HUD. In the middle part of the site you can find the states, and with just a click you can see the auction site for each state.

Quality of content: Gov-Auctions comes with a simple layout and a zone where people can start looking for properties or cars. Where the site is different from others and probably better is in the fact that it´s got accurate listings and gives you the posibility to take part in multiple auctions at the same time. You can only benefit from what this site has to offer if you´re living in the US, as it´s not available for Canada or other countries. While it would be interesting to have a database with worldwide auctions, this is something hard to do by anyone.

The Good: all states are covered and there are links to many other sites that have a contract with the government to sell repossessed, surplus or seized properties and vehicles. Plus, the database contains the latest auctions.

The Bad: while they say that they are better than other similar sites that give the same opportunities and products, they´re not as different as they claim to be. And that´s because you can´t search directly from their database, then put a bid on it, and buy that property or car directly from their site. Instead, you have to do that on external sites.

The Conclusion: People can use Gov-Auctions to find other sites of quality, belonging to the government for the most part. You can think of this site as a console where people access and control their auction. And while it´s OK that they take those positions against review sites and auctions, they would be better placed on the homepage. They can also explain better to people how Gov-Auctions works and how it can help them find what they need. Once again, this site does the same things as the other sites, but they do it a bit better. They manage to keep their database updated and it´s a good resource to use.

Source : http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/56668#

No comments:

Post a Comment