Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Doncaster
Heavy fabrication shops at Kirk Sandall and on Wheatley Hall Road have the most to gain from a relocation sale. A press brake, a plate roll, a plasma table or a column and boom welder is cheap to run and expensive to move, and a firm going to a newer unit near the M18 may find the new floor was never poured for the old plant. Rail engineering firms downsizing a depot have the same choice with wheel lathes, bogie stands, lifting jacks and test rigs.
We sell the plant that stays, by online timed auction from the works, with the catalogue built while the shop is still cutting. The auction closes before the keys go back and buyers collect in a window we set with you. Logistics firms at iPort and West Moor Park use the same service for racking and forklift fleets, and plant hire yards use it to thin the fleet before a move.
Fabrication plant sold in place and rigged out by the buyer
The lots that matter in a fabrication sale are the ones with foundations or crane rails. Press brakes, guillotines, plate rolls, overhead cranes, large saws and welding manipulators are offered in place, and the buyer arranges and pays for the removal within the collection window. We check the access at the site visit, because the vehicle that can reach the door, the turning space and the room for a crane to set up differ from one works to the next. Welding sets, fume extraction, hand tools and consumable stock are lighter lots that fill out the catalogue and give the local trade a reason to come to the viewing day.
Glass makers and agricultural machinery dealers bring their own lists, of handling frames, workshop cranes, diagnostic kit and the yard forklift.
Fabrication is still a large trade in Rotherham, Sheffield, Barnsley and Scunthorpe, all close enough to walk the lots on the viewing day, and bids are placed online and the sale is open to the rest of the UK.
Plant hire yards thinning the fleet before a move
A plant hire yard moving to a smaller site sells the machines that earned least last season. Mini excavators, dumpers, telehandlers, compaction plant, generators and towers are used across construction and hire, and an online auction reaches that trade, as long as the hours, the service record and honest photographs are in the listing. We photograph each machine from four sides with the hour meter showing, and list the attachments separately so they are not given away with the base machine.
The M18 and the A1(M) put a Doncaster yard within reach from any direction. What the yard itself will take is a separate question, so we stand in it and check the gate, the surface and the turning space before the catalogue tells a buyer what vehicle to send.
Timing follows the hire calendar. Selling in the quiet months means the machines are off hire and available to view, and the yard starts clean at the new site.
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 Doncaster
- Our overhead crane is part of the building as far as the landlord is concerned. Can we sell it?
Only if the lease says it is yours. Crane rails and gantry cranes are often treated as landlord's fixtures, especially where the building was built around them, and a tenant who removes one can be liable for making good. We ask to see the lease schedule at the first visit and we list the crane only where it is clearly a tenant's asset. Where it is not, the hoist and controls are sometimes separable and worth selling on their own.
- The rail depot has kit that only suits one type of vehicle. Will anyone buy it?
Some of it. Wheel lathes, bogie drops, lifting jacks and pit equipment are used by other rail maintenance firms and by the heritage sector, and an online catalogue is the way to reach them. Tooling that fits one vehicle class is harder, and our estimate will say if we think it is worth its weight. The usual course is to list it with a low reserve and let the market decide, rather than scrap it before anyone has seen it.
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.