GovDeals Government Surplus Auction Scraper

Scrape live GovDeals government surplus online auctions — the marketplace where U.S. federal, state, and local agencies sell surplus vehicles, heavy equipment, electronics, real estate, and more. Powered by GovDeals' own search API (operated by Liquidity Services), so results are fast, structured, and complete.

Perfect for resellers, fleet buyers, equipment dealers, arbitrage hunters, and market researchers tracking government auction prices and inventory.

What it does

• Search GovDeals by keyword (e.g. truck, tractor, laptop, police vehicle) — multiple queries per run
• Or browse every active auction lot nationwide (leave the query list empty)
• Returns clean, structured records for each lot with bids, location, seller agency, dates, and images
• Sort by best match, time left, current bid, or bid count

Input

Field	Type	Description
searchQueries	array	Keywords to search. Empty = browse all active lots.
maxResults	integer	Max records across all queries (default 100).
sortField	string	bestfit, timeLeft, currentBid, or bidCount.
sortOrder	string	asc or desc.
proxyConfiguration	object	Proxy settings (Apify datacenter proxy is enough).

Example input

{
  "searchQueries": ["dump truck", "excavator"],
  "maxResults": 200,
  "sortField": "timeLeft",
  "sortOrder": "asc",
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}

Output

Each item is one auction lot:

{
  "assetId": 1015,
  "auctionId": 1,
  "title": "2022 Caterpillar 745 Articulated Haul Truck w/ Tailgate",
  "description": "2022 Caterpillar 745 articulated haul truck equipped with a tailgate...",
  "url": "https://www.govdeals.com/en/asset/1015/1",
  "currentBid": 342000,
  "startingBid": 7500,
  "bidCount": 75,
  "currencyCode": "USD",
  "isReserveNotMet": false,
  "category": "Articulated Dump Trucks",
  "categoryCode": "36H",
  "makeBrand": "CAT",
  "model": "745",
  "modelYear": "2022",
  "seller": "Pennsylvania State Surplus, PA",
  "sellerType": "General Public",
  "accountId": 29652,
  "inventoryId": "WAVE #5 Asset 41",
  "city": "Lemoyne",
  "state": "PA",
  "stateName": "Pennsylvania",
  "zip": "17043",
  "country": "USA",
  "address": "330 S 3rd St",
  "latitude": 40.2431,
  "longitude": -76.89,
  "startDate": "2026-06-10T08:00:00",
  "endDate": "2026-06-24T16:00:00",
  "endDateUtc": "2026-06-24T20:00:00Z",
  "endDateDisplay": "June 24, 2026 01:00 PM PDT",
  "timeRemaining": "0:0:41:6",
  "image": "https://webassets.lqdt1.com/assets/photos/29652/29652_1015_....jpg?cb=...&w=800&webp=true",
  "searchQuery": "truck",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-24T20:00:00.000Z"
}

How it works

GovDeals is an Angular single-page app whose storefront sits behind Akamai Bot Manager, but its public search API (maestro.lqdt1.com/search/list) is reachable directly with the anonymous API keys the site ships. This actor calls that JSON API and normalizes each lot — no headless browser, no CAPTCHA solving, fast and reliable.

Pricing

Pay-per-result: a small charge for starting the run plus a per-item charge for each auction record returned. You only pay for the lots you actually get.

Notes & disclaimer

• Only active/listed auctions are returned; closed lots eventually drop off the search index.
• Bid amounts and time-remaining are snapshots at scrape time — re-run for fresh values.
• This is an independent tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GovDeals or Liquidity Services. Use responsibly and in line with the site's terms.