Unclaimed treasures from abandoned safe deposit boxes and police-owned rooms are auctioned off online to the highest bidder! Find out how to bid on this unclaimed property and how to make sure none of your properties end up at auction.

Contents of the safe

After a safe deposit box has been abandoned for 3 years (in most states), the contents are turned over to the state’s unclaimed property department. Safe deposit boxes are considered abandoned when the deposit box fees are not paid and the owner cannot be reached through the contact information provided by the deposit box.

Unclaimed property recovered from safe deposit boxes is auctioned off by the state, since the owner of the safe cannot be located. The funds received from the auction are available to the owner, if the owner ever tries to repossess the property.

In the past, states held local auctions to sell the contents of the safe deposit box, but now states are using the power of the Internet to auction off this unclaimed property.

Items found include diamond necklaces, wedding and engagement rings, ruby ​​necklaces, rare coins and stamps, and much more.

State Unclaimed Property Auctions and Ebay

States have started using eBay to auction off unclaimed property. Often the contents are valuable, including family heirlooms and jewelry. Auctions are held at different intervals for different states, and there may be times when there are no items for sale.

These auctions have received higher bids than states could achieve with local auctions. In Massachusetts, the most recent auction of 200 lots received $140,000 in sales!

The following states are offering online unclaimed property auctions through eBay:

On www.ebay.com, you can go to advanced search and enter the seller’s name in the section titled “From Specific Sellers (Enter User IDs of Sellers)”:

State of California
eBay Seller Name: ucpauction

colorado state
eBay Seller Name: co.unclaimed.property

indiana state
eBay Seller Name: indiana_unclaimed

state of maryland
eBay Seller Name: mdcompschaefer

Texas state
eBay Seller Name: tx.unclaimed.property

Washington DC.
eBay Seller Name: DistrictofColumbia

Police Department Property Rooms Use Online Auction Room

Law enforcement agencies across the country have property rooms filled with stolen or forfeited property. It is not easy to identify the rightful owners, and once the property is no longer needed as evidence, it must be disposed of properly. Propertyroom.com was founded and run by ex-cops. The about us page states as much: “… harnesses the power of the internet to quickly get items out of police-owned rooms, reduce staff costs, and generate revenue far beyond traditional police auction methods. And there is no cost to the participating police or sheriff’s department.”

You can view items currently up for auction at www.propertyroom.com. You can filter your search to include “only police items” by checking the box that says “Show me only police items”.

How to make sure your property doesn’t end up on the auction floor

There is over $25 billion in unclaimed money and a large amount of unclaimed property in the US This property and missing money go unclaimed year after year.

o Keep track of your safety deposit box(es)

o List an heir to your safe deposit box(es)

o Keep updated the contact information of all the accounts and safe deposit boxes that you have

o Search for unclaimed money and property owed to you

You can search databases to see if you are owed any money or unclaimed property.