Click here for the online version of this newsletter

 
 

Selling Education Surplus on eBay   

                                 We manage your online auctions from start to finish.   

January 2008 

Volume 6

An Invitation to Discuss the Disposal of Surplus Property 

InterSchola is honored to have been asked by CASBO's Northern Section R&D Purchasing Committee to present two Workshops for CASBO members examining the various options available to school districts and educational institutions to manage the sale and disposal of surplus and obsolete property.  In these workshops  InterSchola will lead a fair-and-balanced discussion designed to help districts learn more about surplus "best practices" and to find the best match for their surplus needs.

You are cordially invited to attend these workshops, titled, "Surplus Options":

February 7 - CASBO Northern Section Professional Development Institute, atSanta Clara County Office of Education

April 28 - CASBO Annual Conference, at Anaheim Convention Center.  

Learn more about:   

  • Sealed bid process
  • Onsite auctions led by a local auctioneer
  • District managed online auctions
  • Local auction houses
  • Full-service online selling agents

If you have any question, please call Melissa Rich or Jeff Greenholtz of InterSchola at 888 653-7360 x2.  

Surplus Best Practices

In three plus years of operations, InterSchola has learned a lot about how to maximize value from the sale of public agency surplus through online public auctions.  Below are just some suggestions for ensuring that your online auctions of surplus assets go smoothly to recoup significant value from your no longer needed goods:

  • When possible, centralize surplus requests, collection, storage and sales through one department within your organization - this helps maximize surplus volume while minimizing the administrative effort required to meet the education code requirements process.
  • Pre-schedule surplus requests from school sites and departments (monthly, quarterly, etc.) to remind your constituents when you will be asking for surplus - this helps ensure that all parties know when they can move surplus from their sites and may result in fewer items being disposed of improperly or without realizing maximum value.
  • Keep surplus items in a well protected, secure area. This ensures that items are safe from theft/harm (including weather) resulting in maximum value.
  • In some instances our clients have sought and received board approval to grant authority for declaration of surplus to one individual (CBO, Director of Purchasing, etc.) - this eliminates the need to go to the board to gain board approval for each list of surplus items.
  • In some instances, our clients have sought and received board approval to post a "Continuous Public Notice" document regarding surplus sales. This eliminates the need to post a Public Notice document each time you have a surplus auction.  (We are told that this does meet the public notice requirements of education code.)
  • Keep district staff apprised of resale value of surplus items - this generates enthusiasm from your constituents for the work that you are doing to maximize value from the sale of surplus.
  • Keep the community informed of uses of surplus proceeds - this reminds your staff and your community that you are providing a green alternative to premature/wasteful disposal.
  • Keep in close contact with your local InterSchola Field Auction Manager - this ensures that we will be ready for you when you are ready to sell your surplus assets.  We are here to help!

If you have other suggestions regarding surplus best practices that you would like to share with your colleagues, please contact us at info@interschola.com

InterSchola Launches New  School Surplus Blog

In order to facilitate communications with our clients, we've created a blog at http://schoolsurplus.wordpress.com/ Our staff will post news and information to help District officials maximize the value of their no longer needed surplus items.

Please bookmark this site, and feel free to add your comments to the articles posted. 


 

Creative Marketing Strategy Yields Surprising Sale of Large and Unusual Lot of Surplus Fixtures

InterSchola's staff of surplus experts run across unusual surplus items.  In November, a school district presented InterSchola with a new item challenge - over a dozen lots of large auditorium style light fixtures, with each lot consisting of 10 to 25 fixtures.   

In the last days of the auction, InterSchola noticed that these items had not received the amount of interest we had hoped from eBay's buyer network - no bids and few watchers - so our marketing department went to work.  "Normally, the eBay community is so diverse that we can list just about anything and find a buyer for it," Len Wilcox, InterSchola's Promotions Manager, said, "but once in a while, something comes up that is just too specialized even for eBay. That's when we have to dig deep to find the right buyer ."

InterSchola's research uncovered several companies that could make use of these lights. Although these businesses had not bid on eBay before, InterSchola provided each company detailed instructions regarding how to purchase an item on eBay.  As a direct result, bids appeared almost immediately and InterSchola sold all but one of the lots.

"These items were not interesting to the usual eBay buyer," according to Wilcox, "but the lot was large enough, it was interesting to the right people. We found those people, got them interested, and got the items sold."

Bidding War Nets Big Dollars for Commercial Dicer

InterSchola's marketing department employs a time-tested technique of starting our bid prices low. Generally, this approach nets the best possible final price, as a low initial price generates interest from several potential bidders who think they may be "getting a great deal" on an item. When a bid is placed early in an auction, this often triggers more people to show interest, and the final bidding often jumps. InterSchola has seen this happen many times, but few of these instances was so dramatic as the Urschel brand Commercial Dicer that sold in November . 

InterSchola started bidding for this item at $199.95. The dicer received an early bid from a determined buyer who saw the bargain this price represented. Another bidder noted the value and jumped in with a bid - and the race was on . Incredibly, bidding jumped $9600 dollars in last 12 hours of the auction. In the final two-and-a-half minutes, when bidding is usually at its most frenzied, three different potential buyers - bidding against each other - drove the final price up another $2500, to a whopping $14,866.66!

"InterSchola has a significant database of buyers of food service items," according to Chris Lelugas, Auction Manager for InterSchola.  "We marketed to those individuals, plus generated a number of new potential buyers.  The goal is always to create a bidding war.  This time, we created a 3-way bidding war and the result was a record final number for this item.  The district was thrilled and the buyer was equally happy to have won the auction."

InterSchola's strategy and the determination of the bidders netted a big gain in one school district's budget!    

InterSchola Expanding to Work with  Other Public Agencies 

The last quarter saw InterSchola initiate work in an exciting market adjacent to the education market - local public agencies.  The company completed a successful series of auctions on behalf of a sanitation district in theEast Bay.  In the new year, we anticipate working with additional sanitation districts, water districts, and other local public agencies throughout California and New York . 

Consistent with what we have found working with education institutions, staff at sanitation districts and other local public agencies have limited  time available to devote to surplus sales, and InterSchola's full-service solution can be of real benefit .

If you have any suggestions regarding other public agencies in your area that might benefit from our services, we would encourage you to contact InterSchola or pass along our contact information to your colleagues.  We would be happy to follow up with a phone call or to drop off some materials.   As always, our goal is to minimize the work associated with surplus disposal, while maximizing the financial return to our clients.

Tell InterSchola About the Equipment and Items You Need 

A new feature from InterSchola assists Districts with finding unique items for which there may be a limited supply.  Our "Items Wanted" list helps our client managers and field auction managers keep track of unique needs of districts and buyers.

 While InterSchola maintains mailing lists of buyers in specific categories -  such as food service or vehicles - this new program goes beyond that effort by serving districts or individuals who are shopping for specific items and who are willing to wait until a school client is ready to release these tems for auction.  Currently, we have received special requests for the following items:
   

  • Used HAKO Minuteman Backpack Vacuum Cleaners - Models 380 and 390 with aluminum canisters as manufactured in the 1980's and 1990's; any condition, working or not, as long as the canisters and lids are in fair shape.
  • Used Collator for print shop, with at least 10 bins in a vertical, ergonomically friendly tower (with the capability of expanding to an additional tower at a later date if needed). In addition, the district would like the following features: Air/vacuum feed (not friction feed), bookletmaker, inline trimmer, hard marry unit for merging pre-collated sets, manufacturer's support, dealer support to obtain a service contract. (Note from district: a stacker unit is not mandatory.)

Please contact us if you have any either of the above surplus items - we would be happy to facilitate a sale to the district or individual buyer.


 

Letter From the President

Happy New Year!  Thank you to all for making 2007 a great year for InterSchola.  At the start of 2006, we were working with 60 school district clients in California and 5 in New York.  Today we are working with over 165 school district, county office of education, community college and local public agency clients in California and New York.  In our first 3 full years of operations we've learned a lot about what types of assets our clients have as surplus, what types of buyers are interested in these items and what challenges our clients face in making sure that they are able to maximize surplus value while maintaining full compliance with state regulations governing the sale of surplus assets .  

We are honored to have been asked by the CASBO's Northern Section R&D Purchasing Committee to present two upcoming workshops on surplus sales and look forward to working with the Committee to develop a meaningful and informative workshop for you and your colleagues.  Please let us know if there is any information that you would like to see us present in great detail.  As a precursor to our workshop presentation, please see the article in this newsletter regarding "Surplus Best Practices." 

We know that it's not easy for our clients to find the time to manage their surplus sales.  That's why we exist - to make it easier for you.  We handle many of the challenges on your behalf and we maximize returns from your no longer needed goods.  To date we have returned well over $1.25M dollars to our existing clients from the sale of surplus assets!  We know that you have put this money to good use!  Towards that end, we'd love to hear your stories regarding what the money has been used for.  In fact, we'd like to share your stories with your colleagues from around the state during our presentation in April.  If you'd like to share these stories, please contact us at info@interschola.com.  We look forward to seeing many of you in San Jose, CA (February 2008) or in Anaheim, CA (April 2008)!

Melissa Rich
Founder and President, InterSchola

 

Visit our website:

www.interschola.com

For information about partnering with InterSchola or to learn more about our services, contact:
Jeff Greenholtz, Sales and Client Management
jgreenholtz@interschola.com
888-653-7360 ext 2
           
?>