The state?s lost and found just went global.
Maryland is now using eBay instead of public auctions to sell property from safety deposit boxes where the owners have either stopped paying the rent or the lease has expired, according to Lynn Hall, manager of the state?s unclaimed property division. Banks by law must give property from safety deposit boxes to the state after three years.
Hall said the state?s main goal is to make the most money for the owners or their families.
“We are mandated by state law to place for auction items we have received and kept in storage,” says a message from Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, featured on an introductory screen on the eBay site. “All money collected from auctioned items is kept for the original owner [or rightful heirs] and can be claimed at any time.”
“I think this is going to be great as far as the exposure you get,” Hall said. “We have literally millions of customers versus hundreds at a public auction.”
EBay has more than 100 million registered members, while yearly auctions attracted 100 to 150 people, said Kevin Kane, spokesman for the comptroller.
Kane said every attempt is made to contact owners from advertisements to mailing notices, and no one has ever come looking for their property after it has been sold.
Coins represent about 50 percent of the abandoned items; jewelry is another 30 percent, Hall said. Miscellaneous items make up the rest.
On Wednesday, they ranged from a diamond ring that 31 people had bid on (including someone using the Web name “comptrollerdude”), which was up to a price of $350, to four unused stamps from Bermuda, which had only four bids and a going price of $6.48.
The system was tested for a week before its official launch yesterday, Hall said, and it looks like it?s going to work because two items that didn?t sell at public auctions did on the Internet.
Ten to 15 other states use electronic auctions, Hall added.
A link from the Maryland comptroller?s Web site, www.marylandtaxes.com, leads to the abandoned property for sale.
