- August 11, 2026
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Want an air fryer on the cheap? How about a Nintendo Switch for a low price? Or maybe a pet water fountain.
Then MingoBid might be the place for you.
The quirkily-named company, launched by a pair of new Lakewood Ranch residents, is an online auction platform that sells everything from vacuums to toys — in addition to air fryers, game consoles novelties and more — starting at $1. Auctions last three days and afterward, winners pick up their goods from a local warehouse.
MingoBid CEO Sean Futchko and his sister-in-law, COO Nicole Colvard, moved to Lakewood Ranch this spring from Ohio, where Colvard says a similar time-based auction site called OLA (Online Liquidation Auction) inspired them.
“We want the experience to be something that is a little bit gamified,” Colvard says, repeatedly using the word ”fun” to describe the user experience. “We hope that people have fun stories about the best deals they experienced on the website.”
Futchko is the tech guru who designed MingoBid — based on the word flamingo. He has 15 years of experience as an IT professional working in logistics and supply chains. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has worked as an analyst for GameStop and as a system administrator for an Ohio healthcare company, among several other positions.
The MingoBid auction site and app had a soft launch Aug. 1 and had “350ish” people signed up as interested as of July 31, Colvard tells the Business Observer. To get the word out about the site, MingoBid has done some targeted ads on Meta's Facebook and Instagram as well as in-person outreach. Its creators hope to balance users with inventory items, of which they had 1,000 before launching.
“We have a small inventory listed on the website on which people can bid,” Colvard says. “While they're bidding, we can learn and quickly adapt and make the changes we need to make.”
Colvard says she is a teacher by training who in the past five years has also owned a few businesses, including a horse farm in Ohio. Those experiences, she says, have given her the know-how to navigate processes and procedures required to start MingoBid.
To obtain the inventory available on MingoBid, Colvard and Futchko purchased items by the pallet from liquidators.
“Basically, when huge stores run out of space, they need to put their stuff somewhere,” Colvard says. “There is almost a middleman that will say, ‘We'll take your stuff in bulk, in huge pallets, and then we will find the next home for that.’ And that's where we come in.”
Colvard and Futchko started MingoBid with less than $5,000, she says, adding they did not take out any loans and have been working for free, renting trucks and stacking pallets in their cars.
“The scrappy startup idea is feeling authentic because [Futchko] and I are making trips to buy pallets and look at what's available,” Colvard says, and “geeking out about, oh, someone's going to be so excited if they can get this Melissa & Doug playset for their grandchild for $5. Wouldn’t that be so thrilling?”
Getting a good deal is one component of what Colvard hopes will bring people to MingoBid.
“We all have been in these moments where we want to do these nice, thoughtful things” like buying a birthday gift for someone, Colvard says. “But sometimes the prices and just the whole process ends up being too much of a financial burden, and I think that's where these liquidated items in this platform can really be useful.”
Products available on MingoBid could have been returned to Amazon because of a dented box or not enough shelf space at a store, Colvard says.
“It's an interesting moment for consumerism where there are a lot of options, but there are also easy ways to get rid of those things,” she says. “All of these things are kind of like on the island of misfit toys. There's nothing wrong with them…and I think MingoBid is giving those items a place to live, and it gives people a way to purchase them in a way that's very engaging.”
When auction winners pick up items, MingoBid’s founders want the process to continue to be seamless.
“You pull up, you get the thing you need. You have a nice interaction with someone. You get something that you're happy with, and you feel there was value,” Colvard says, “and move on with your day. And hopefully we see you again sometime soon.”
Within weeks of launching, Colvard says, MingoBid is planning to expand.
“We're hoping to get a second warehouse because what we anticipate is that this is going to be a fun experience that people share and get excited about,” she says. Currently, the company has a storage space of 300 to 500 square feet on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.
”We're hoping that our biggest problem is that we need to go get more stuff as soon as possible and have a larger inventory on which people can bid," Colvard says.
Over the next year, the plan is to have “multiple warehouses in different parts of Sarasota to increase the convenience of coming to pick up anything you've won,” Colvard says. In addition, the business plans to add staff to help take inventory off trucks. “Our goal would be to have the platform and the pickup process logistically so smooth and seamless that our primary jobs are sourcing the best inventory for the users.”
She says the “scrappy startup” process with her and her brother-in-law using their vehicles to transport pallets is “not sustainable long-term” and is just to get them going.
“More money is going to be coming into play here,” Colvard says. “We are trying to show temperance and be smart about growth. We’re trying to be very careful about what inventory we purchase, how we go through it, how we make sure it's going to be exciting for someone…and grow along that path.”
