E-Salvage

When one mentions the word salvage, several things may come to mind: wrecked cars, rusted machinery, algae-covered boats, quick cash, risky bids at sandlot auctions. Rarely does one use the terms high-tech or "e-commerce" with an industry known for extracting treasure from trash. Not anymore. As it has done with almost all businesses, the growth of the World Wide Web is changing the rules of the salvage business. With the Internet, an old, totaled Buick on the auction block in Cleveland is no longer limited to a few hundred bidders on a rented lot. The relatively new phenomenon of online bidding for salvage can now open up that same Buick to thousands of potential buyers from the South, the West Coast, Canada — potentially from all over the world.