# US Federal Surplus Auctions & Equipment API (`primeselectai/us-federal-surplus-industrial-auctions`) Actor

Find live U.S. federal surplus and industrial-equipment auctions in structured data. Search lots by keyword, state, status, reserve and bid signals with official source links.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/primeselectai/us-federal-surplus-industrial-auctions.md
- **Developed by:** [Simon Jessen](https://apify.com/primeselectai) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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

## U.S. Federal Surplus & Industrial Auction Listings

### Find actionable surplus opportunities in seconds

Monitor normalized U.S. federal surplus and industrial-equipment auction lots from the documented GSA Auctions API. Quickly identify equipment type, sale and lot IDs, auction timing, geography, agencies, reserve amounts, current high bids, and official detail links—without manually searching auction pages.

Unofficial product; not affiliated with or endorsed by GSA.

### What you can do

- Find excavators, forklifts, generators, CNC equipment, vehicles, and other federal surplus assets.
- Filter results locally by keyword, state, auction status, and maximum result count.
- Compare reserve and current high-bid signals for acquisition research.
- Build repeat-use feeds for equipment dealers, resellers, liquidation buyers, contractors, and market-intelligence teams.

#### Sample output

```json
{
  "saleNo": "SYN-1001",
  "lotNo": "12",
  "itemName": "Tracked Excavator",
  "auctionStatus": "A",
  "auctionEndDate": "2026-10-08",
  "propertyLocation": {"city": "Denver", "state": "CO", "zipCode": "80202"},
  "reserve": 25000,
  "highBidAmount": 18750,
  "itemDescriptionUrl": "https://www.gsa.gov/"
}
```

### Quick start

1. Provide a valid api.data.gov developer key through the Actor's protected runtime configuration.
2. Optionally enter `query`, `state`, or `status`.
3. Set `maxResults` and run the Actor.
4. Read the normalized rows from the default dataset.

### API and MCP examples

API input:

```json
{"query":"excavator","state":"CO","status":"A","maxResults":10}
```

MCP-style call:

```json
{"tool":"us-federal-surplus-industrial-auctions","arguments":{"query":"generator","maxResults":25}}
```

### Pricing and value

The value is in reducing repeated manual monitoring of a live public auction feed. Dealers and research teams can use normalized identifiers, dates, locations, bid signals, and official links in downstream workflows instead of copying data from individual listings. Usage costs depend on your Apify plan and run volume.

### Inputs

- **Keyword:** optional local match for item names and descriptions.
- **State:** optional two-letter property or sale-location state.
- **Auction status:** optional documented status code such as `A` or `P`.
- **Maximum results:** 1 to 1,000,000; default 100.

### Outputs

Each dataset row contains sale and lot identifiers, item name, auction dates and status, property and sale locations, reserve, high bid, bid increment, agency, bureau, and the official item-description URL. Contracting-officer contacts, images, and long copied descriptions are intentionally excluded.

### Source, license, and limitations

Source: GSA Auctions API, `https://api.gsa.gov/assets/gsaauctions/v2/auctions`. GSA and Data.gov describe it as a public JSON API covering GSA Auctions and participating federal-agency assets. Data.gov lists the dataset under CC0 1.0; third-party media and descriptive material may have separate rights. This Actor returns normalized factual data and official links, not third-party media. Coverage is federal surplus participating in GSA Auctions, not the entire commercial auction market. Do not use GSA seals or branding to imply endorsement.

The documented service limits are 5 calls per 5 seconds and 5,000 calls per day. The Actor downloads the documented dataset once per run and filters locally.

### Troubleshooting

- **Authentication:** confirm the protected runtime key is valid and enabled for the Auctions API.
- **Rate limit:** wait and retry later if the service reports a limit response.
- **Empty data:** broaden the keyword, remove the state/status filter, and verify that the upstream dataset currently contains matching rows.
- **Schema drift:** report changes if expected auction identifiers or arrays are no longer present.
- **Upstream outage:** retry after the official API becomes available.

> Store publication requires manual approval.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Optional keyword matched locally against item names and descriptions.

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

Optional two-letter property or sale-location state filter.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Optional status code such as A for active or P for preview.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of normalized lots to return.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "excavator",
  "status": "",
  "maxResults": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

## `runMeta` (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 = {
    "query": "excavator",
    "maxResults": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("primeselectai/us-federal-surplus-industrial-auctions").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 = {
    "query": "excavator",
    "maxResults": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("primeselectai/us-federal-surplus-industrial-auctions").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 '{
  "query": "excavator",
  "maxResults": 10
}' |
apify call primeselectai/us-federal-surplus-industrial-auctions --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,primeselectai/us-federal-surplus-industrial-auctions"
        }
    }
}

```

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/wuT9c2KnmPXEOO20m/builds/C63oycaacJQivvh50/openapi.json