Surplus Auction Raises Over $20,000 for Township

Township Clerk Joanne Monarque is pleased with how well the township's first online surplus auction went, which raised more than $20,000.

Bidding closed between 6-7 p.m. on five surplus vehicles on GovDeals.com on Wednesday, and the auction raised $20,766, and the cars up for sale were:

• 2007 Dodge Charger
• 2004 Ford Crown Victoria
• 2003 Ford Crown Victoria
• 1999 Ford Crown Victoria
• 1996 Jeep Cherokee 4x4

The Charger raised $9,301 as the highest priced item, but Monarque said it was the Jeep's price that had her most pleased. The final bid was $2,525. She said normally the price at a live auction would be $750. The prices of the Crown Victorias were about the same as they would be at a live auction, she said.

Overall she was pleased in the township's first venture into an online auction, which also was a new experience for Monarque having never even done an eBay auction. She found it very easy to post the items and photos, and the site notified her when an item sold and when the purchaser paid for the car so it could be released. All but one vehicle have been paid for, and two already have been collected.

When the township signed the contract with GovDeals.com, Monarque said one of the pluses was it would expand the auction to a larger audience, including people from out of state. One vehicle in the first auction was purchased by someone from Ohio, who plans to pick it up on Friday. One was purchased by someone from Florida, but he was visiting New Jersey at the time of the auction. The remaining vehicles were purchased by people in New Jersey.

Monarque doesn't know when the next auction will take place, but she doesn't see the need to do it one time per year like in the past. The auction took place once per year because of the number of people who were involved and the time it consumed for them, she said. "It was a major production," she said. "This is so much better because the site does everything for us."