This company gets over on fees paid to them and does not have any concern for their customers.
The sellers on their website misrepresent their cars by withholding information that is important for buyers to know and as a result, buyers are fooled. GovDeals does not discipline their sellers because they (GovDeals) gets paid anyway. Their name is misleading because I thought they were a trustworthy company but they are not because they allow sellers to sell cars and break the law at the same time. Do your research on them before you sign up with them.
NC
N C.
I bid on a small lot on govdeals.com…
I bid on a small lot on govdeals.com from a seller named Sumit Garg from a very shady La-porte financial II company. I asked the seller a question if the lot has clean tittle and what rights are included in title. The shady seller pulled my winning bid off for asking this basic question. Nothing says shady like being offended by the question of clean title. What a scumbag seller.
RB
Rob B.
Buyer Beware of Colorado or Hempstead TX
City of Colorado failed to disclose $1872.97 worth of suspension damage on a 2016 Ford Explorer and they knew it and I could prove it, Hempstead Police Department in Texas failed to disclose a check engine light on in a 2020 Dodge Charger which resulted in the cam was flattened which means motor is shot needs replacement, failed to even take a photo of the odo like most sellers do that shows a check engine light on, they also put a paper floor mat over a basketball size hole in the driver's side carpet which tells me they were trying to hide defects in the car, also this Police department should know better selling an unsafe vehicle to the public as when I was taking it to the repair shop went to turn headlights on and of course they did not work also and were drilled out and have to be replaced, this Chargers estimated repairs are $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 so let me tell you BUYER BEWARE when it comes to these 2 departments, and by the way GOV Deals will do nothing about it,
SS
Scott's G.
Have been a Govdeals buyer since 2010, definitely not what it used to be.
Have been a Govdeals buyer since 2010, when it was just government surplus it was a great site (aside from the random issue here and there setting pickup appointments with completely useless government employees).
However in the past year or so the site has turned to a nightmare. first of all website is now so slow and laggy as to be practically unuseable some days.
Last couple auctions I have bid on in three different states, all got miraculously outbid by the same hyphen-ated user name in the bid history, which may be a coincidence but seems very unlikely.
Customer support has gone to AI chat bots and is totally useless.
Used to check site every Monday and Friday to see what was on bid, but now I only check once a month or so when all the other auctions are slow or have no lots I'm interested in, since I can't stand to deal with govdeals regularly anymore. Used to be a great marketplace now just a last resort to deal with.
SK
Sattar K.
I bought Nissan 17 from gov deal seller…
I bought Nissan 17 from gov deal seller was exotic cars in Virginia. Website said runs n drive no issue but when I got the cars battery dead n put new battery and when start driving had issue took it to mechanic and was surprised that transmission is bad n intake manifold is bad costing me car over9k its only worth 5k. So do ur home work before u buy. I’m done with this govdeal bc it’s 2nd time they burnt me
TW
Trygve W.
Govdeals.com Bad customer service,
I won a generator on Govdeals.com (auction ended monday) but for some reason the email advising me that i won got sent to my junk box and i did not see it until Friday- 4 days later. Upon finding the email i went on to Govdeals, signed in and tried to pay for the item. It would not let me pay. The only option to pay was wire transfer. I live remote in Alaska so doing wire transfer is not an easy task. I went in to town the following Monday during business hours and attempted to send the wire. I went on to Govdeals website to confirm the wire instructions and i was locked out of my account. I called customer service and the representative was not helpful and rude.
I asked if this was normal protocol to require someone to set up and process a wire transfer in 4 business days? I asked how I can avoid these types of auctions in the future. I was told that it says under the payment section of the listing. I went back and looked and i do not see anywhere on the listing that it requires wire transfer. I explained to customer service that it did not have anything in the payment section stating it would require a wire transfer, it actually said “Payment must be made online”. She told me i was wrong and basically hung up on me. Not really sure why you would want to mislead your customers, I assume this was an accident and customer service was trying to avoid it coming to light? I wish this would have had a different outcome. It makes sense that you want your customers on both the buying and selling side happy. It does not make sense to mislead your buyers, causing them to default on an item, resulting in a non sale. The whole point of the website is to sell items.
No one has been able to tell me how to identify a listing that will require wire transfer?
I have purchased many items and never had this issue. I understand large purchases over certain dollar amount may require wire transfer but that was not the case.
DA
Danny
Dear Customer Support,
Dear Customer Support,
It is frustrating that the buyer is penalized for the seller’s mistakes. Your refusal to offer any meaningful solutions and the reliance on policies to justify this lack of assistance is disappointing. This approach is unhelpful and reflects poorly on your service.
BM
Bernie M.
I wish I could give ZERO stars
I wish I could give ZERO stars. Maybe my misfortune can help someone else avoid the same problem. I bid on a car that I really wanted. I had been obsessively watching my bid (high bidder for almost 3 days). While surfing the site, I bid on 3 cheap, fun items. It accepted the 3 new bids then said i was on "probation" and could not make any new bids. It would let me increase my bid on the 3 cheap things that I just tried for fun, but it would not let me increase my bid on the car-- even though it was the first thing I bid on. So 2 items closed and I "won" (yay, me), and I immediately paid for them so I could return to bidding on the car. Relent, the car was the first bid I made. We'll, paying for the items is not enough-- you have to pick up the items. It would be tight bc the car closes in 17 hours, but it is possible. But wait... we had a major snow storm and my car is plowed in so I can't pick the 2 crap items up. The ones I already paid for. So I call to ask why I can increase my bid on items 2, 3, and 4, but not the first item. The rep said, "I don't see that you bid on the car yet." Yes, I did. I bid a very specific, odd number, and it clearly shows on the website that I was an early bidder. She said if I had bid on the car, I would not have been allowed to make the other bids (which makes sense-- except I DID bid on the car already... my first bid was on the car). So #1) be aware of the "probation" issue. 2) Know that winning and paying for the items does not count (which makes no sense, bc they HAVE my $$, you would think paying for the items would count for something). 3) Don't bid during a national snow emergency bc you will probably get screwed. IF the probation thing had been clearly indicated before they "probate" your account (it is not "locked"; it's just that you can't increase an existing bid or start a new bid while it is probated-- which is clearly very different from being locked) I would have never put my first bid, the thing I really wanted, in jeopardy. So in summation: 1) If you bid on 3 items at once, you are on probation. 2) Paying for 2 items that closed does not count as completing the transaction. 3)Don't bid during a snow emergency. 4) Just same yourself the trouble and frustration and don't bother visiting the site unless you are a full-fledged "buy stuff to resell for profit" kind of person, because there are so many rules, there is no way a casual buyer who wants something for actual ownership can keep up with all the rules. On the other hand, if you are someone who buys stuff you don't want or need but you want to resell it for a profit, this is the size for you. Be a professional buyer to make sure an average person can't get an occasional deal on their own. Puts them in the same category as ticket scalpers (legal, but keeps real fans from being able to go to concerts). Have fun. Happy bidding. Read all 30 screens of rules before thinking you can actually bid on anything worthwhile as a private citizen. I was, however, able to pick up cheap highlighters for my students, but those cost me the opportunity to keep bidding on the car that I really wanted. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES. Yes, this is TMI, but I'm frustrated and disappointed; at least let me vent and warn others.