Surplus Property Sales Procedures

Purpose

Surplus Property Sales is to be used by all university departments for the disposal of unused university property. Utah State law requires that all State owned property shall not be destroyed, sold, transferred, traded-in, traded, discarded, donated or otherwise disposed of without first receiving authorization from Surplus Sales. Surplus Sales assures that all Utah State guidelines are followed during the disposal process.

Definition of Surplus Property

Any property owned by Utah State University that the Department deems no longer useable is considered surplus. This applies to all USU property whether or not it has an inventory number. Said surplus property can either be sellable or obsolete. Items must be useable or able to be made useable with a reasonable amount of effort and/or expense and/or have value and be marketable to be considered sellable. Property is deemed to be obsolete when it has no remaining functional or historical value and is not marketable. All items must be submitted to surplus as determination of sellable/obsolete status is at the sole discretion of USU Surplus Sales management. Sellable items will be processed into sales inventory, obsolete items will be scrapped or recycled. 

Options for the Proper Handling of Surplus Property

There are two options for the handling of surplus property:

  1. If the surplus item is to be upgraded and can be traded toward a replacement item (i.e. Vehicles, Copiers etc.). Purchasing Services will carry out an official bid process and list the item for trade and allow for completive bids to be received.
  2. If the surplus item is to be sold it will be handled through Surplus Sales. As per Utah State Law these items will be first offered for sale to other University Departments and Government Agencies. If the item is not purchased by one of these entities it will then be offered for sale to the general public. Items that are determined by Surplus Sales to have no substantive value will be processed through Recycling.

Submitting Items to Surplus Sales

A department wishing to surplus an item or items must fill out and submit an official “Disposal Record” to Surplus Sales. The Disposal Request form is available to download as an editable PDF.

Please download this form to a local drive on your computer. Then fill in all the information and save it. You can then attach and e-mail it to surplus@lists.usu.edu.

PLEASE NOTE - DO NOT FILL OUT THE FORM ON THE WEBPAGE - ALL THE INFO WILL DISAPPEAR WHEN YOU SAVE IT. 

Upon receiving the disposal record Surplus Sales will then contact the Department to arrange for pick-up of the items. If preferred, Items can be dropped off. If choosing this option, please call ahead to let us know you are coming. In either case the department should keep a copy for their records.

Some important notes regarding item submissions

  1. Be sure to check all items being disposed for USU inventory numbers and list them on the form. If any of these numbers are missed the item may remain in your Departments inventory.
  2. Make sure to list the Department’s banner index number. This number is how the proceeds from sales are returned to the Department.
  3. Disposal tags are available on our website. These can be printed out and attached to the items being disposed.
  4. Instructions for items with pressurized coolant - This includes refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners. If these items are not working they must have their coolant evacuated before they are sent to Surplus. This also applies to working devices that have been used to store anything other than food (Lab fridges etc.). They must be evacuated as Surplus cannot sell them. This is the departments responsibility. USU facilities can evacuate most items of this type - Contact them at 797-1947 
  5. VERY IMPORTANT - If you are surplusing an Apple device. You will need to remove your Apple ID from that device prior to sending it. Instructions on how to do this can be found at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201351 If this is not done the device will be permanetly locked, it will have no resale value and will have to be scrapped.  

Valuation of Surplus Items

Surplus Sales reserves the right to assign a final asking price for all items. This price will be determined after the item has been received, inspected and evaluated. In considering past sales and market conditions, items will be priced at a maximum level that we feel will allow for a quick sale. Common items will be priced with consistency in mind - i.e. all working 19” Dell computer monitors will all be priced similarly. 

Unique items may require more research and communication with the department in order to determine correct pricing. Departments should estimate the value of unique items and list any recommendations they have on the Disposal Record. Also departments are encouraged to communicate the names of any potential buyers that they are aware of. Departments and department personel are not allowed to advertise or offer for sale any items without prior approval from Surplus Sales.

Vehicles will be priced in accordance with NADA and KBB used car guides. Generally vehicles will be priced toward the low book value to encourage quick sales. Older vehicles that do not appear in the guides will be researched via various classified ads and priced accordingly.

While we do our best to price items at a level to sell, there are times that items remain in inventory for an extended time. In these cases Surplus Sales reserves the right to reduce the price of the item in order to encourage it to sell. If items do not sell after a year in inventory then they may be scrapped or processed through Recycling. 

Repairs/Improvements Made to Items for Sale

In most cases items submitted to Surplus Sales will be sold on an “AS-IS” basis. However in some cases, particularly with vehicles, minor repairs may add value and can substantially enhance the selling potential of the item. In these cases repairs costing less than $1,000.00 can be authorized by Surplus. Repairs costing over $1,000.00 will require the department’s authorization in order to proceed. Any additional expenses incurred will be subtracted from the departments’ reimbursement amount.

How Items are Sold

University Departments

May purchase items at any time for Department use by using their OCC # on their P-Card.

Government Agencies

May purchase items at any time with a offical agency credit card.

Public

May purchase avaiable items with Cash, Check or Credit Card (There is a 4% fee for Credit Card purchases $1000.00 and over).

Bidding - Once the availability date on an items' tag has been met the item will then be avaiable on that date to the public at 8:00am. The doors will open at approximately 7:50 am, this is to allow bidders to inform surplus employees of their interest in an item. If more than one person wants to purchase the item, a live bid will then be conducted at 8:00am sharp with the high bidder taking the item. Unless prior arrangements have been made, the winning bidder must have the funds on hand at this time to complete the purchase. In the case of the high bidder not completing the purchase the item then reverts to the next higest bidder. 


PLEASE NOTE - ALL SALES ARE FINAL - THERE ARE NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES. Customers are encouraged to test items before purchasing them. 

Reimbursement to Campus Departments

Campus departments will be reimbursed for surplus items during the month end process after the item has sold. The amount reimbursed is based on the Reimbursement Schedule .  This is a declining scale schedule (The larger amount the smaller the percentage) and may be updated over time