Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Swansea
Swansea Enterprise Park mixes factories, warehouses, workshops and trade counters on one estate, and firms move within it as often as they move away from it. A fabricator takes a bigger unit two roads over. A trade supplier shuts a counter and serves the area from Fforestfach instead. A distributor moves to a newer shed on the Fabian Way corridor near the docks. A plant hire firm folds two yards into one. Each move leaves equipment in the old unit that the new one does not need.
We sell it by online timed auction, catalogued in the old unit while you fit out the new one. Junctions 44 and 45 of the M4 keep the estate within easy reach, and we check the roads, the yard and the loading at each unit before collection is planned.
Metal processing firms in the Neath and Port Talbot direction come to us with heavier lots and a longer rigging plan.
Trade counter stock and workshop kit from Llansamlet
A trade counter that closes leaves shelving, counters, a stock of goods and the van that delivered them. Stock sells in lots by type, and the shelving goes to other counters and to retailers. The workshop behind the counter, where there is one, holds the better lots, with saws, presses, welding sets and compressors that suit the trade in Neath, Llanelli, Gorseinon and Ammanford.
Fabricators and engineering firms moving within the park leave the machine that would not fit the new bay. A press brake, a guillotine, a plate roll or a large lathe is usually better offered in place than put into storage, and the buyer arranges and pays for the removal inside the collection window.
We photograph the machines under power and list the tooling with them. Lots are viewed on one day and collected in a window sized to them, with the heavy items given slots so the yard is not blocked.
Metal processing plant with a longer rigging plan
Steel and metal firms toward Neath and Port Talbot leave heavier lots than the enterprise park does. Rolling and slitting equipment, furnaces, large presses, cranes and the extraction that goes with them need specialist handling to get out and a suitable trailer to move, assessed lot by lot. These are not lots that a buyer takes away on a Friday afternoon.
We plan the collection before the catalogue goes online. Each heavy lot gets a removal window, and the description tells the bidder what the lot weighs, what it sits on and how it comes out. That is the difference between a bid and a question.
Plant of this kind is used across the UK and abroad, and bidding online reaches it. The same trade locally can view on the day, and the M4 keeps transport from Bridgend or further east straightforward. Where a single machine is worth more than the rest, we discuss private treaty first.
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 Swansea
- We are moving from one unit on the Enterprise Park to another. Is it worth an auction for a handful of machines?
Usually, yes. A handful of machines from a fabricator is a proper sale, and the alternative, moving them two roads over and then finding they do not fit, costs more than the sale would. If the list is very short we can add the lots to our next collective auction instead, sold from your unit or collected to ours. Either way the machines are gone before the old unit is handed back, and you are not paying rent on a shed full of things you have stopped using.
- Our furnace is built into the floor. Can it be sold?
It can be listed, with the removal made clear in the catalogue and a long collection window. A furnace built into the floor is sold as it stands, for the buyer to dismantle, and its value is often in the controls, the burners, the fans and the refractory rather than the shell. Some are taken on by another works and some end as scrap, and we tell you which we think yours is before it is catalogued. The floor is made good by the buyer or by you, as agreed.
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.