Surely, there's someone out there who needs six factory-sealed, 45kg cans of freon. Officials at Penn State University in the US just hope that someone is on eBay.
Last year, the university's salvage and surplus department raised more than US$90,000 selling used or unneeded equipment on eBay. As colleges and universities absorb budget cuts, some are turning to the online auction site to get rid of their more unusual, hard-to-price pieces.
"More and more, we're seeing that we're getting more money through eBay than we are through our traditional methods," said Jim Dunlop, director of procurement services for Penn State.
Salvage and surplus operations have long been a part of college life, especially at big public universities. Dorm furniture, lab equipment, even office artwork needs to be replaced eventually, and university surplus warehouses end up looking like the set of Sanford and Son where there's one of everything and always a deal to be made.
But traditional means of dump-ing unwanted items -- campus surplus stores and live auctions -- only go so far. After all, once Penn State Public Broadcasting is done with it, who in Pennsylvania needs a 15-section radio tower?
"We were having live auctions here once a month, and we were flooding the market in our area for what we had available," said Patsy Hendricks, surplus property supervisor at Oregon State University. "We sold palates of glassware, scientific glassware, for US$10 or US$15. We knew there was a better way to do this."
Oregon State was a pioneer in using Internet auction sites to sell some of the university's -- and the state's -- more unusual items. Hendricks said she first started using Amazon.com's auction site in the late 1990s, switching to eBay about four years ago.
The idea is catching on. It was after a visit to Oregon State that Penn State first began using eBay, said Will Gallaher, manager of Penn State Salvage and Surplus.
Michigan State and Washington State universities sell on eBay; the University of Washington, in addition to using eBay, has Webcast its live auctions, allowing people to participate from around the world.
A Hammond organ here, an ice cream machine there and various and sundry nuts, bolts and gauges generated a decent revenue stream for Penn State. But it was a globe with a wooden stand sold in September 2001 that convinced Gallaher and Pam Coffman, who handles the university's eBay sales, that eBay was for real.
"Years ago, we'd sell one for US$300, US$400, US$500, and people usually throw the globe away and put in a piece of glass or something and make a nice table out of it," Gallaher said.
Not this time. A museum in the Netherlands paid US$11,600 for the globe, then paid movers to pack it up and ship it overseas.
Since then, Penn State has sold three pianos, a Moog synthesizer, a doughnut machine, an ion synthesizer and other assorted oddities on eBay.
Sometimes, they barely know what they're selling -- they only know someone could use it. A tilting chair recovered from Penn State's Milton S. Hershey College of Medicine is described on eBay as "great for a tattoo artist or doctor."
But for all its successes, eBay isn't for every college.
Mark Ludwig, manager if Iowa State University Surplus, said he doesn't have the personnel to photograph and describe every item for an eBay sale, and that he doesn't have the space to store things while the auction takes place.
A bigger problem for many state universities are laws regulating the disbursement of state property or limiting contracts the state can enter into.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
RSS