Car boot sales, charity shops and eBay are just some of places you would expect beady-eyed bargain hunters to hang out.

The more astute among them also check a little-known website called Bumblebee Auctions, where Sussex Police sell stolen and lost property.

The online marketplace is an extension of Virtual Bumblebee, which lists recently recovered antiques, jewellery and other valuables for burglary victims to reclaim. After an allotted time, property drops off this site and automatically goes up for sale on the sister auction site.

Police officer Tom Wills, who oversees the running of the Bumblebee sites for Sussex, said: "The scheme means items which would otherwise be scrapped end up being a bargain for someone. You can find anything and everything you can get in a shop and more for just a fraction of the price you would pay in the High Street."

Users have to register but anyone can join and, but for a few exceptions, all bids are listed in a seven-day auction with a starting price of £1.

Bikes, cameras, watches and clothes are among the items which regularly go for a pittance. In one case a fog machine was snapped up after it literally fell off the back of a lorry travelling north through West Sussex. Police sent out press releases but could find no trace of the owner and it was eventually bought off the auction site by someone in Scotland.

Other strange but true auction successes include an antique brass diver's helmet and a gas boiler.

Recently, the country's first Bumblebee motor was sold from Sussex - a former police Citroen van. It went for nearly £1,500 with no MOT or tax, more than double the expected £600.

A police caravan is to be put on the website in the next few weeks.

Most items up for auction are bargains but as is the case with most auction sites, some bidders can go a little far.

PC Wills said ten computer screens were put on the site last year and, while nine of them went for £1.50, the tenth became the subject of a bidding war and ended up going for £25.50.

He said: "Some items end up going for far more than the High Street value when bidders get carried away with out-bidding each other."

The officer was responsible for introducing the successful scheme to Sussex after it originated in the neighbouring Surrey force in 2002. It was the second place in the country to set up the Bumblebee websites, which are now nationwide.

The concept caught on and there are currently 20,000 bidders and 15 million hits per month - mainly from people who have come to the site through word of mouth or voyeuristic interest in the property that the police hold and dispose of.

In Sussex alone, more than £50,000 is raised each year from the sales. At least £30,000 of this is earned from the sale of stolen goods or lost property and it is all given to charity or community projects. The other £20,000 is raised from the sale of police assets such as the old computer screens, which gets ploughed straight back into the force for new equipment.

Two years ago, the police even managed to sell eight tons of crash barrier and fencing metal, used for keeping crowds out at the Labour conference.

PC Wills said: "The more money we can raise the more can go into charities or goes against the money the force needs through council tax contributions."

The officer said as Bumblebee was a police-run site he had to be careful about monitoring what went on it. Horticultural equipment which could be used to grow drugs is a no-go, as is any type of food because of the difficulty of checking "best before" dates. Brand names have to be thoroughly checked in case they are counterfeit.

Terry Stapleton, 57, of Coxham Lane, Steyning, is a Bumblebee devotee.

The handy-man builder said he had been checking the site every week for more than four years and bought everything from new professional tools to bikes to do up. He said one his best buys was a cordless drill, which was new in its packaging but went for £125 rather than £825, the price tag which was still on the box.

The Bumblebee fan said he had snapped up more than 300 bargains, such as five containers of coffee sweeteners and seven packs of razor blades, which he said were a fraction of the shop price and would probably last him for the rest of his life.

He said: "The site is great fun as well as a good way to find things. Four years down the line and I have never had any problems."

Mr Stapleton warned new Bumblebee users to be careful with their bids. He said: "Too many people get carried away and end up over-bidding. You have got to look at an item at the beginning, decide what you want to pay and stick to it. Bidding can be addictive but you have to make sure what you are bidding for is worth the price at the end of the day."

Do you use the Bumblebee auction site? What bargains have you snapped up? Tell us below.