Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Aberdeen
Downsizing is a familiar word in Aberdeen. Service companies that grew into a second yard at Altens or a bigger workshop at Dyce during a busy period find the order book has changed and the space is a cost. The yard goes back to the landlord. The workshop machinery, the inspection kit, the containers, the racking and the office floors that filled it have to be sold before the date in the lease.
We sell them by online timed auction from the yard. At the first visit we look at vehicle access, turning space, loading facilities, door sizes and floor levels, and what we find goes in the catalogue so buyers know what a lot takes to remove before they bid. The auction is online and open to buyers from any part of the country, and the trade in Westhill, Inverurie, Kintore and Stonehaven is within a comfortable drive of the viewing day by the Western Peripheral Route.
A move between estates has the same shape with a happier reason, and the sale runs the same way.
Service yards shrinking on the south side
A yard at Altens or Tullos holds more than machinery. Twenty foot containers fitted as workshops and stores, test cabins, lifting gear, spreader beams, slings and pad eyes, racking, and a forklift or two are the volume of the sale. Then the workshop, with lathes, mills, welding plant, hydraulic test rigs and pressure test bays. Then the office, with desks, screens, servers and meeting room furniture.
Lifting gear is listed with its certification status, so we check the register before anything goes in the catalogue. Containers sell in place with a removal window. Test rigs built for one client's product are worth their parts, and we say so before the catalogue is written.
Equipment of this kind is used by service companies, fabricators and renewables firms doing similar work, and there are firms of that kind on the same estates. Bids are placed online and the sale is open to bidders anywhere in the UK, so the catalogue reaches fabricators and engineers well beyond the north east.
Inspection and subsea kit with a national market
Inspection, subsea and drilling equipment suits specialist firms rather than general engineers. Ultrasonic and radiographic test sets, ROV spares, umbilical reels, pumps, winches and downhole tools are specified tightly, so interest follows the make, the condition, the calibration status and whether the type is still in service. The online auction is how a specialist finds the lot. The catalogue does the selling, so it carries the make, the model, the serial, the calibration status and a clear photograph of every item.
Fish processing and food firms near the harbour come with a different list, of stainless tables, chillers, packing lines and ice machines, and that list suits the food trade.
Whichever it is, we propose a timetable that works back from the lease date, with the auction closing before the final week and collection following it. How long each stage needs depends on the number of lots, the access and how quickly buyers pay.
What these sales can include
- CNC machine tools
- Presses and press brakes
- Racking and mezzanine floors
- Forklift trucks
- Air compressors
- Workshop tooling and hand tools
- Office furniture and desks
- IT equipment and servers
- Packing and labelling machines
- Welding equipment
- Extraction and dust collection systems
- Vans and light commercial vehicles
How the sale runs
We visit the site, list the lots and photograph them in place. You tell us which items are moving and which are for sale, and we tag the sale lots so there is no confusion on the shop floor.
The catalogue goes online as a timed auction. Bidding stays open for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and each lot closes at a fixed time with an extension if a bid arrives in the last minutes. We hold a viewing day at your premises, and lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect first.
After the sale we invoice the buyers and take payment. You are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds, less the agreed commission and any agreed costs. Buyers arrange and pay for removal, and our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices.
The business relocation and downsizing sales page covers when a relocation sale makes sense, timing the sale around the move, what to prepare, valuation and reserves, unsold lots and leftovers.
Questions about selling in Aberdeen
- Half of our yard equipment belongs to a client. How do we keep it out of the sale?
Tell us when we first visit and tag it. Client owned tools, rental equipment and anything on a hire agreement are common in service yards and we expect to find them. We list only what you own, and where ownership is unclear we leave the lot out until the paperwork is settled. It is easier to add a lot to the catalogue later than to withdraw one after a bidder has viewed it. A clear list from your own asset register settles most of it.
- Our lifting gear is out of date on certification. Can it still be sold?
It can be listed as uncertified for the buyer to have tested, and the description says so plainly. Whether testing it again first is worth doing depends on what the test costs against the value of the item, which is why we go through the register with you. Slings and shackles that are out of date are usually catalogued in bulk lots. Spreader beams and larger equipment are worth a decision item by item, and we tell you what interest to expect before you commit.
More questions about relocation sales
Related services
Guides
- Closing a business: a timeline for selling the assets
Work backwards from the day you hand the site over. This guide covers lease end and dilapidations, when to instruct, when staff should leave, when to keep the power on, and how to leave enough room for collection and making good.
- Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales turn on paperwork as much as on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before listing, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.