Police Booty for Sale Online

By Simone Kaplan

Sat, December 01, 2001CIO If you’re looking for wild and wacky on the Web, forget eBay. Instead try Bid4Assets, a Silver Spring, Md.-based company that auctions off government assets seized in drug raids or foreclosures, surplus and seized assets, as well as property from companies that went belly-up. Since the site was founded in 1999 some fascinating and bizarre things have gone on the block.

"We’ve sold a lawsuit against the District of Columbia government," says David Marchick, executive vice president of Bid4Assets. "We’ve sold a drug dealer’s Lamborghini and 1,000 properties that were defaulted to a county government."

The most unusual lot ever to go up for auction on the site? That would have to be some horse semen from a Colorado farm that went bankrupt, Marchick says. "We had a lot of jokes around here, but that’s valuable stuff," he says. "We sold it to a horse breeder for several thousand dollars. We also sold several horses and some equipment from the farm."

Bid4Assets.com typically runs 1,000 to 2,000 auctions a month and retains up to 20 percent of proceeds. To read more about the company, see "The Right Fit," Page 72.


Loading...
Network MarketSpace
Thinking About Deploying Mobile Broadband?
Explore lessons and best practices experienced by companies that have deployed mobile broadband to their workforce. Learn more »
Increase Application Performance and User Experience
This research shifts the attention from basic load-balancing features to application delivery features. Learn more »
Gartner Magic Quadrant, Application Delivery Controllers 2009
The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic. Learn more »
McAfee's Network Security Platform IPS
McAfee's Network Security Platform IPS; the costs, benefits, flexibility, and risk elements. Learn more »
The Cost of SQL Sprawl
Learn how a new approach to SQL server consolidation can reduce server counts by 50%, lower maintenance costs by 70% and reduce administration time by 75%. Learn more »
A Bottleneck-free Infrastructure
Storage bottlenecks have a significant impact on performance and productivity. Learn more »
Application Delivery Despite Emerging Challenges
IT organizations need to choose appropriate application delivery solutions that can scale to support the emerging challenges. Learn more »
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

ROI of Application Delivery Controllers

Upgrading to VMware vSphere with vWire

Maximizing website Return on Information with high-quality search

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Webcast: Unleashing the Power of Customer Data

White Paper: Improve Agility with Operational Responsiveness

White Paper: Legacy Tools: Not Built for the Helpdesk

Taking a Seat at the Executive Table: The Reality of Virtualization

White Paper: Next Generation Remote Infrastructure Management

Keeping Your Members Safe from Online Scams and Predators

The Total Economic Impact of Network Security Intrusion Prevention

Generation Remote Infrastructure Management - Changing the Paradigm

Cloud-Based Email Management: Opinion Shifts In Favor

eBook: How Can You Make Your People Productive Anywhere?

Achieving Business Agility with Application Grid

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Tips for successful virtualization management.

AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service. Expand on demand

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

Webinar: Jump-start your in-house e-discovery with Ringtail QuickCull from FTI Technology

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Gartner Magic Quadrant, Application Delivery Controllers 2009

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths

White Paper: Managed Security for a Not-So-Secure World

White Paper: 5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support

Global Research: CIOs Weigh In On Virtualization

5 Key Virtualization Management Challenges

Secure Email and Web-Based Communication from Evolving Attacks

WagerWorks Takes Fraudsters Out of the Game using iovation

Seven Design Requirements for Web 2.0 Threat Protection

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

Learn how advanced forecasting tools can deliver significant business results for global corporations.

Lower IT Costs with Oracle Database 11g Release 2

White Paper: Visibility and the New Normal of Mobile Work

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Learn about The Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back. Get the facts.

VMware. The source for Business Infrastructure Virtualization.

ShoreTel tells businesses to untangle from competitors' complexity and turn to its brilliantly simple UC solution

Top Five CIO Challenges

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

 
 
RESOURCE CENTER