2-15-2008:
City of Moline auctions snowplows, tractors online - QC Online

"MOLINE -- A snowplow once used to clear city streets now is up for auction on eBay, along with a former park department truck and John Deere mower.

For the last two years, the city has been selling its surplus vehicles and equipment on eBay, with the help of a local drop-off store, Auction Solved. Fleet manager JD Schulte said the online auctions have been successful for the city.

"It's worked real well," he said.

In the past, the surplus vehicles and equipment were sold at a local auction once a year.

In additional to vehicles, the city has been able to sell other equipment. Old VHF and UHF radios were taken out of service and sold on eBay for $56 for a pair. At an auction, Mr. Schulte said they would have sold for "pennies."

"These are really popular with some of the private contractors that want to have that UHF or VHF communication amongst their truck drivers," he said. "We wouldn't have gotten anything for them if we had thrown them in a box down at the auction."

The larger audience for the auction has helped. The city sold a snowplow to a buyer in New York and a rear-wheel drive van to someone in Georgia, and another to a buyer in the south. Rear-wheel drive vans are not as popular locally, because they don't handle snow as well as front-wheel drive, Mr. Schulte said.

"We got it exposed to an area that doesn't have to deal with winter," he said, adding that the vans sold for $1,400 and $1,600, when a similar van at the local auction sold for less than $1,000.

One of the city's most successful auctions was for a 1981 John Deere tractor the city had purchased in 1981 for $6,800. It received a trade-in offer from the state of Illinois for $7,500, but eventually sold on eBay for $9,400.

"The John Deere product itself is proven," Mr. Schulte said. "But it was kind of neat that we actually sold that thing for a considerable amount more than we paid for it, 25 years after we bought it."

Steve Cottrell, of Auction Solved, said he has helped the city sell a variety of items on eBay. The company takes pictures of the items, does the listing and handles the sale for a percentage of the profit. He also responds to any questions about the items for sale.

He has recently started adding video of some of the vehicles to the listing. That helps people who aren't local see how the vehicle works.

Auction Solved is an eBay "power seller" with good feedback as a seller, which helps buyers feel confident about the quality of the items.

The city keeps maintenance records on all of its vehicles, which also helps the items sell, Mr. Schulte said.

"Maintenance-wise, we make sure our 10- and 11-year-old vehicles are just as safe to use as our newer vehicles," he said. "We keep them maintained well, so we feel they are reliable..."

2-13-2006:
Moline uses Web to get top dollar for city surplus - QC Times

..."Schulte seems to be the most aggressive peddling city surplus online. But other Quad-City municipalities are doing it to. Davenport is trying to dispense with odds and ends left over from the old city art museum — gift cards, lobby furniture, etc. — through Public Surplus, a Bettendorf company. Moline uses that firm as well as Auction Solved, based in Moline, to market surplus on eBay and other online auction services."

..."The 1988 National Coach Bus had seen better days. One of the air conditioners didn’t work. Benches had been removed to make way for counter-top work space. Schulte fretted the old bus wouldn’t get much at the local vehicle Auction. So he turned it over to Auction Solved, a Moline company that markets through eBay. “They pitched it as a party bus,” Schulte said. Tailgating. NASCAR races. Sure enough, a bus and limo transportation company bit, and Moline cleared $4,494 on the bus.  Schulte expected it might generate no more than $2,000. Moline kept $1,494 to cover maintenance costs the city had incurred on the old bus. The remaining $3,000 went into a fund for Illinois Quad-City police."

1-15-2005:
eBay drop-off stores keeping busy after the holiday season --- QC-TIMES

..."Steve Cottrell of Auction Solved in Moline said ease and convenience is his big selling point.

“A lot of people are busy every day at work,” he said. “Some are not so computer-savvy. Others don’t want to take the pictures, answer questions and do the shipping. We’re trying to take away the hassle.”

The rates the different eBay drop-off stores charge vary, but they range from 25 percent for lower-value items to 10 percent for the high-dollar stuff.

Cottrell said he may try to drum up some business from people who got what they consider lame gifts for Christmas."...