# Government Surplus Auction Scraper (`moving_beacon-owner1/government-surplus-auction-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes live government surplus auctions from GovDeals.com, capturing listing details such as title, current bid, location, seller, category, closing time, URL, and image. Supports keyword, category, state, pagination, and result-limit filters.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/moving\_beacon-owner1/government-surplus-auction-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Jamshaid Arif](https://apify.com/moving_beacon-owner1) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $9.99 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Government Surplus Auction Scraper

Scrapes live government surplus auction listings from [GovDeals.com](https://www.govdeals.com). The current GovDeals site is an Angular SPA backed by the Liquidity Services "Maestro" JSON API; this actor calls that API directly (`POST https://maestro.lqdt1.com/search/list`) with the public web-client keys, paginates the search results, and outputs one record per auction listing with title, current bid, location, seller, close time, listing URL, and photo.

### Input

| Field | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `keyword` | `""` | Search keyword (e.g. `forklift`). Empty = all current auctions. |
| `category` | `""` | GovDeals category name, filtered server-side (e.g. `Transportation`, `Forklifts`). |
| `state` | `""` | US state filter (`TX` or `Texas`), applied client-side on the listing location. |
| `max_pages` | `5` | Max API result pages to fetch (100 listings/page, max 100). |
| `limit` | `100` | Max records to output (max 5000). |

### Output example

```json
{
    "title": "(1) Toyota Forklift (Operational)",
    "current_bid": 2500.0,
    "bid_count": null,
    "currency": "USD",
    "location": "Linthicum, MD 21090",
    "location_city": "Linthicum",
    "location_state": "MD",
    "location_zip": "21090",
    "country": "USA",
    "seller": "USPS - Asset Accountability Service Centers - East",
    "category": "Material Handling Equipment",
    "make_brand": "Toyota",
    "model": "8FBE15",
    "auction_start": "2026-08-11T11:49:07",
    "close_time": "2026-08-17T21:00:00Z",
    "close_time_display": "August 17, 2026 05:00 PM EDT",
    "time_remaining": "5:2:36:35",
    "url": "https://www.govdeals.com/asset/2256/25803",
    "image": "https://webassets.lqdt1.com/assets/photos/25803/25803_2256_ea16790f.jpeg",
    "asset_id": 2256,
    "account_id": 25803,
    "raw": { "...full original API payload..." }
}
```

# Actor input Schema

## `keyword` (type: `string`):

Keyword to search auction listings for (e.g. 'forklift', 'ambulance'). Leave empty to list all current auctions.

## `category` (type: `string`):

GovDeals category name, applied server-side (e.g. 'Transportation', 'Industrial, Commercial Equipment', 'Consumer Electronics', 'Forklifts'). Leave empty for all categories.

## `state` (type: `string`):

Keep only listings located in this US state. Accepts a USPS code ('TX') or full name ('Texas'). Applied client-side after fetching. Leave empty for all states.

## `max_pages` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of API result pages to fetch (100 listings per page).

## `limit` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many auction records have been collected.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "keyword": "forklift",
  "category": "",
  "state": "",
  "max_pages": 5,
  "limit": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "keyword": "forklift",
    "category": "",
    "state": "",
    "max_pages": 5,
    "limit": 100
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("moving_beacon-owner1/government-surplus-auction-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "keyword": "forklift",
    "category": "",
    "state": "",
    "max_pages": 5,
    "limit": 100,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("moving_beacon-owner1/government-surplus-auction-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "keyword": "forklift",
  "category": "",
  "state": "",
  "max_pages": 5,
  "limit": 100
}' |
apify call moving_beacon-owner1/government-surplus-auction-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,moving_beacon-owner1/government-surplus-auction-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/lmkShOqdokXY6br8S/builds/yWAJmFyPuCSgilVkz/openapi.json