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Monday, February 10th
Property Room calls itself the "leading” police auction website for over two decades. However, this platform doesn't have the same amount of items for sale compared with some of the top performers in this review, including others that specifically offer police auctions. On the other hand, Property Room has over 2.2 million registered bidders and an ever-changing selection of items, including the potential addition of firearms. The site is also completely free to use and browse, so you don't have to worry about paying for a membership.
Most auctions start low
With most auctions starting at just $1 and featuring no reserve prices, participants are guaranteed an enjoyable experience. Law enforcement agencies utilize Property Room to auction off seized, found, and unclaimed personal property, clearing out their own property rooms and sending the items to the platform for nationwide bidding.
You can buy right away
The shopping options at Property Room include the traditional online auction format as well as a "buy now” feature for many listings. So, if you're looking for something you need in a rush or you don't want to get in a bidding war with other customers, you can select the filter for "buy now” and only see listings that allow you to purchase the item right away. This feature makes the site more accessible to casual shoppers as well as die-hard auction fans.
Amount of listings isn't competitive
While some of the listings on Property Room are really exciting, they don't have a lot of them. For example, in the cars, trucks, and vans section, there were only 33 total listings. In electronics, which is also usually a heavy-hitter, there were only 383 total listings. While these are constantly changing and you might see more or less depending on when you visit the site, compared to other auction sites at the time of this review, Property Room just didn't stack up with its total listings.
Options for returns
While they don't list the exact parameters for returns, Property Room does offer returns. For customers who wish to initiate a return, they have 10 business days to contact customer support. However, the terms and conditions on the site say that determining refunds or returns will be case-by-case.
Clear item descriptions
One thing we like about browsing the Property Room is their item descriptions. Using clear headings to separate out the different topics in the descriptions, Property Room makes it very easy for customers to understand the key ideas and important factors in their product descriptions. For example, on one item we checked out, there were headers for shipping information and warranty information that were very clearly marked. And, the listing also showed the condition of the items and the required bid increment. However, the listing did now show any information about taxes or fees that were present on other auction sites, so it's unclear if those fees are waived here or if they just aren't overtly listed.
Customers are concerned about fees
An "A+” rating from the Better Business Bureau also helps Property Room to stand out. But when you check out user reviews, it doesn't stack up as well as some other options in our evaluation. With just over 25 total reviews, the business only has an average rating of 1.5 stars out of 5. Customers complain about shipping not being reliable as well as there being hidden fees after winning your bid. This knocks down the company's reputation a decent amount in our opinion; however, it is important to note that this is a small number of reviews, and may not reflect the experience of most users or customers of Property Room.
Not the best, but not the worst
Overall, Property Room isn't deeply impressive, but neither is it the worst option out there. It has fewer listings than we'd like, but the items are interesting and the prices for bids start low enough to make the site worth browsing. Additionally, you can buy right away if you want to, which opens the site up to more casual shoppers. However, if you're looking for the most transparent site in terms of fees and taxes or a site with a great customer reputation, you might want to pass on this one.
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To simplify the process of finding the best government auction for you, Top Consumer Reviews has checked out and evaluated the best options online today. Hopefully, this helps you enjoy browsing the vast array of items and get some dream deals on your next government auction bid!
Select any 2 Government Auction Sites to compare them head to head