Clark Howard: Unclaimed Property Equals Real Deals For You

If you’ve been a victim of theft, there’s a chance you can find your things online for sale. That’s because the Atlanta Police Department, and many other departments across the country, have a new way of auctioning off unclaimed property. Consumer advisor Clark Howard said some of the deals are real steals.

Stolen items often end up in the Atlanta Police Department property room. That is where items that are lost, found, stolen or seized go to be auctioned off to the public.

In the old days, the auctions happened a couple times a year. It took a lot of man hours to put the items together, to set up for the auction, to advertise the auction, to have the auction on site, and then after the auction was over, what did you do with the stuff that was left over?

The Atlanta Police Department doesn’t worry about that anymore, because instead of holding auctions the department has a contract with PropertyRoom.com -- an online website started by a former police officer that works a lot like eBay.

“One unusual item we have that will probably be going next month is this Pittsburgh Players of the Century jersey and it still has the price tag -- which is showing the list price of $1,700,” said Lt. Van Hobbs with the Atlanta Police Department.

Atlanta is just one police department that participates, but there are more all over the country. For the police, it’s one less headache.

“If you’re somebody who really keeps good records and you have the serial numbers of stuff of yours that’s been stolen, you can go to the website and post those numbers and then you get your stuff back -- at my kind of price -- free,” said Clark.