Have you ever considered attending a police auction? Did you even know such things existed?
If you want all the insider information on them, such as the kind of police-seized goods you might find, you’re in the right place.
Our definitive guide to police auctions in the UK provides you with all the information you’ll need to buy successfully from one. You can find real steals in police auctions, so they’re definitely worth looking into.
Discover what police auctions are, what you can buy and where you can find them with this comprehensive guide. You’ll learn everything you need to know for buying stolen or lost property recovered by police forces.
What are police auctions?
Ever wondered what police forces do with all the items they seize through raids and solving crimes?
Just take a minute to think about how many stolen items are recovered by police forces across the country each year.
If you consider offences such as theft, burglary and fraud, the amount of items they handle is staggering. Add in seized items bought illegally through the proceeds of crime and that number increases.
So, what happens with all of this police property? Well, their first priority is to try and reunite it with the legal owner.
However, they don’t have the capacity to hang on to items lost or stolen forever and if they can’t reunite goods with their original owners, they sell them via police auctions.
Police auction sales can be a gold mine for bargains and deals as you might be able to pick items up at a great price, but there’s no knowing what items of property you’ll find your local police force selling.
What do police auctions sell?
From a police bike auction to sales offering items such as mobile phones, fashion and jewellery, police and government auctions can be a great way to get your hands on a wide range of items at a great price.
As you can imagine, the list of items recovered by the police during investigations is almost endless, so you’ll find a vast array of auction lots.
You’ll find cars (more on those later), bikes and other vehicles, plus designer clothing, a wide range of electrical items, tools, art pieces and a whole lot more.
Are police auctions worth it? Well, they certainly can be.
However, while you could very well find something being sold at a police auction much cheaper than you could elsewhere, it’s always worth doing a bit of a comparison first to make sure. Just something to bear in mind.
Where are police auctions held?
If you’re looking for a police auction, you’ll find sales you can attend in person and others which are conducted online.
How to find a police auction near you
Anyone looking for police auctions in London or in Liverpool, for example, should search online to find auction houses in their local area that hold them. You could well discover your local police force selling various items through auction lots nearby.
Some police forces use independent auction houses, such as John Pye Auctions and Wilsons Auctions. With live auctions, you can go along in person to check out the items for sale before bidding on them.
How to find police auctions online
Many auction houses will also allow you to register to bid online, meaning you don’t necessarily have to attend in person if you’re intimidated by auction sales.
There are also various options when it comes to buying stolen or seized goods through online police auctions.
First of all, you’ll find police auctions online at eBay. Yes, some forces have set up a police eBay shop for selling items they’ve seized. So, for example, you can search for the Sussex Police or Cheshire Police eBay account and bid on items you find.
Bumblebeeauctions.co.uk
If you're hoping to shop with Bumblebee Auctions, unfortunately, it looks like this online police auction site has ceased trading.
Up until 2023, users were able to buy lost and stolen items police forces hadn't been able to reunite with their rightful owners. It worked like something of a police auctions database where users could browse goods by product type and find photographs and descriptions of the items available. They had everything from studio condenser microphones and art prints to garden hedge trimmers.
This is how Bumblebee Auctions used to work. You might be able to find similar sites to this online in future, so it's worth knowing the basics.
Registration
While you can browse police auctions on Bumblebeeauctions.co.uk, you needed to register in order to bid on items. This required a Nochex e-money account via www.Nochex.com.
After setting up your Nochex account, you needed to choose a username and provide some bits of personal information (like your address and phone number), in order to register with Bumblebee Auctions.
The system autogenerated a password for you, which was sent to your email account (so you'd need to reset your password as soon as possible to make sure it's secure).
Bidding
When it came to buying from Bumblebee Auctions, lost and recovered items could be found by using category listings or the search bar. You could then type in how much you want to bid in the Maximum Bid box, to make sure you never went over budget.
Bumblebee Auctions helped bidders stay in with a decent chance of winning items they were interested in by extending auctions whenever there were last-minute bids. So, if someone placed a counter-bid on an item you’d already bid on during the final 10 minutes of the auction, it was extended by 10 minutes.
They also allowed proxy bids, so the system could bid on your behalf (while sticking within the budget you set).
After winning an auction, you had 14 days to make the payment. Otherwise, the item may have been re-auctioned without notice.
Delivery
To claim items, successful bidders were able to collect from the property office they bought them from or have them delivered directly via courier (at an extra cost).
Police auctions on eBay
Some police forces have set up their own eBay shops in order to sell goods they have recovered which they’ve been unable to return to their rightful owners.
If you want to browse numerous police auctions online, eBay is a great place to do just that.
The best thing about an eBay police online auction is that smaller items regularly have a delivery option, meaning you can still buy items from a force which is miles away from your home.
It’s easy enough to find police auctions on eBay, just visit the site and search.
When we checked, we found Sussex Police and Leicestershire Police had items listed on their eBay stores, while the likes of Cheshire Police and Thames Valley Police had stores live on the online marketplace.
Some of the items available included laptops, golf clubs, power tool sets, clothing and cameras. As well as auction items, we also spotted buy-it-now options for some of the goods available.
Another great thing about shopping via police force eBay shops is you can go through TopCashback and get a little of your spend back thanks to our cashback offers.
Get £15 cashback for joining TopCashback
We secured this exclusive offer, but our content stays unbiased.
Spend £15+ at eBay, Amazon, ASOS or any of 5,000+ brands to get £15 back
It's really simple: our site takes just 30 seconds when you buy online.
You do the shopping, we'll track your purchase, and then you'll get cashback in your account to withdraw to your bank or as a gift card.
Here's how to get your £15 offer;
- Click: Click the green button
- Join: Create an account
- Shop: Browse brands on our site
- Buy: Click Get Cashback then make a purchase
- Enjoy: We'll add £15 to your account once we track your purchase
How does TopCashback benefit? We make money when you buy from supported brands, which allows us to offer cashback with no hidden fees.
Auction houses
Some police forces use independent auction houses to sell seized goods. This means you can go along to an actual live auction and bid on items.
If you’re wondering how can I find police auctions near me?, you can search for details on a police force’s website or by doing an online search for police auctions in your area.
These in-person auctions are often good if you’re looking to buy larger items like cars. However, you might also be able to bid online through the auction website or via telephone, depending on the auction house.
John Pye Auctions are the leading commercial auction house network in the UK, hosting police-seized items auctions nationwide. On their website, you can filter by location to find police and government auctions in cities like Edinburgh, Leeds and Plymouth and across South Wales and Northern Ireland.
Also, Wilsons Auctions work with various law enforcement agencies and government bodies across the UK and Ireland, including West Midlands Police and Avon & Somerset Police.
When buying at auctions in the UK, bear in mind you'll need to pay auction house commission and VAT, on top of the item sale price.
The amount charged for commission will depend on the auction house, while VAT is levied at 20%.
If you’re new to live auctions, they can be a bit daunting. However, we have some handy tips which will make you look and feel like an auction pro.
Sit in on an auction before you take part in one
It can be difficult to get your head around what’s going on at an auction, even if you’re not bidding yourself.
So, if you’ve considered attending but haven’t yet taken the plunge, it’s a good idea to go along to an auction house first to get a feel for how it works. It doesn’t have to be a huge auction, so why not find one near you, go along and see what it’s all about?
You’ll learn plenty from the auctioneer and if you pay close attention to those who are bidding on lots, this will prepare you for what to expect when you take part in one.
Do your research
If you’re thinking of buying from an auction, it’s good to do your research on what’s available in the sale, and especially the items you’re interested in.
It’s a good idea to browse the auction house catalogue in advance so you’re not working out what you’re going to bid on during the auction. Gather as much information as you can on the items you’re interested in, then hopefully there’ll be no nasty surprises if you’re successful.
Arrive early
Get to the auction house early and give yourself time to get prepared for the sale. You’ll most likely need to register with the auction house and get a buyer or bid number before you can start bidding.
Stick to a maximum bid
It’s very easy to get carried away with the fast pace and excitement of public auctions. However, if you get too carried away, you could end up blowing your budget or spending more than the item’s worth.
Once you’ve done your item research, decide on the maximum price you’re prepared to pay for it and stick to it.
When you bid at an auction, you enter into a binding contract, so make sure you have the necessary funds in place.
If you know you’re unlikely to stick to a budget, take someone with you who will and get them to do the bidding for you.
Police car auctions UK
If you’re on the lookout for a car, police vehicle auctions could be an interesting option for you.
Police seized car auctions offer seized vehicles which cannot be returned to their original owners for legal or practical reasons.
While the vehicles — and we’re talking vans, bikes, motorhomes and more, as well as auction cars — will have been seized by the police, banks, bailiffs and insurance companies, they’re no different to ones being sold by other car auctions.
Police car auctions are also used to sell off surplus or unwanted police vehicles. These ex-police car auctions are where bargain hunters might be able to pick up police favourites like the Vauxhall Astra, Ford Focus or Skoda Octavia.
So, are police auctions for cars worth going to?
While you might be suspicious about what these vehicles may have been used for, very few available in a seized vehicle auction will have been directly used in a crime. It’s more likely the vehicle will be the subject of an outstanding finance agreement.
This could be good as agreements tend to require a vehicle to be regularly serviced and kept in good condition, while people tend to default on such agreements in the first few months. Therefore, you could be getting your hands on a car which is in excellent condition.
Seized vehicle auction cars may have been towed and impounded, with owners refusing to pick them up or being unable to pay the fines. Others may have simply been abandoned.
Police car auctions in London and throughout the UK give you the chance to snap up a bargain, with savings of hundreds, even thousands, of pounds available. This might give you the chance to buy a better model of car than you might otherwise be able to afford.
Vehicles seized by authorities are subject to inspections by independent experts, with all key elements assessed and damage noted for valuation.
If you’re wondering about the drawbacks of police car auctions, you should check if a vehicle has outstanding finance on it and has been repossessed as the finance may pass on to the new owner.
Also, not all vehicles being sold at police-seized auctions in the UK will have a log book, particularly given the circumstances in which they could have ended up in police hands. If the car is missing the logbook, you can get a new one from the DVLA for £25.
Get £15 cashback
Save money at 5,000+ top-named brands
Why not give them a try?
We hope, after reading this comprehensive guide, you feel confident to buy unclaimed stolen and recovered items from a police auction and hopefully bag yourself a bargain.
There are plenty of different ways to experience police auctions, and the method you choose depends on your own preference.
If you want the full experience, we recommend going in person so you can really absorb the atmosphere of police auctions. However, if that seems a bit daunting, you could check out online auctions and eBay sales instead.
Always remember to do your research on the products before you buy them. You should also make sure you stick to your budget so you don’t get carried away and spend a small fortune on things you didn’t intend to buy.
Have you ever bagged yourself a great deal at a police auction? Or maybe you're just thinking of giving it a go after reading this article. Either way, let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Hey very interesting blog!