Hempfield Township hauls in $180K from auction after 66,000 people browsed

Hempfield raked in $180,500 in proceeds from an online auction of 116 pieces of surplus equipment.

More than 66,000 people looked at what Hempfield had for sale through Anderson Auctioneers, including trucks, firefighting equipment, traffic signals, kitchen appliances, chairs and reflector lamps.

“That’s impressive,” said township Supervisor Jay Anderson. “There’s no way you can have an onsite auction and have 66,000 people here come look at all the stuff.”

“Power of the internet,” replied Austin Erhard, director of public works.

The township supervisors approved the auction proposal in August. The inventory list included items mostly from the parks and public works departments.

The total sale price was $200,558. Anderson Auctioneers kept 10%, or $20,055.

There were 3,151 registered bidders, 56 of whom won auctions. The township designated 118 items for the auction, which ended last week.

“There were successful bids on everything but two computer screens,” Erhard said.

Everything that sold has been picked up except for one piece of equipment that a local municipality won.

“There’s a lot of empty space back there,” he said.

There were six pieces of equipment and trucks that went for more than $15,000 each, according to an invoice provided by township officials. A piece of equipment used for road maintenance fetched the largest sum at $34,750. Next was a 2004 dump truck that pulled in $29,400.

The majority of the items sold brought in less than $100 each. There were several items with the lowest bid — $5, including a set of four stacking chairs and a set of four reflector lamps.

The township typically uses Municibid, an online auction site that works with governments and communities across the country. Municibid is handy to unload a couple pieces of surplus equipment, but a large auction would be cumbersome for township staff to manage, officials have said.