Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Birmingham
Birmingham's small engineering and metal finishing shops sit close together, and many of them have something at the back that has not run for a year. A fly press, a spare compressor, a welding set bought for one contract, a pillar drill that was replaced but never sold. Individually these are small lots. Together with items from other vendors they make a sale.
We run collective auctions for exactly this. Your item is catalogued by lot number alongside lots from pressings shops, food manufacturers, print firms and logistics operators across the West Midlands, and bidding runs online and is open to the whole of the UK. You do not need a full clearance to use us. One van, one machine, one pallet of stock or a dozen hand tools is enough, as long as it clears the minimum value we need to catalogue it.
Use the form to tell us what it is, where it is and how it would come out of the building.
The surplus press at the back of the shop
The automotive supply chain in the city turns over equipment constantly. A component maker wins a contract, buys a press or a finishing line for it, then loses the contract three years later and has a machine it does not need. A machine like that rarely warrants a sale of its own.
In a collective sale it sits next to lots from other shops. Power presses, guillotines, polishing lathes, vibratory finishers and plating tanks are still in daily use in the West Midlands trade, and what any one of them makes turns on its condition, its capacity, the age of the controls, the reserve and how hard it is to remove. Online bidding opens the sale to the rest of the country, and the trade in Walsall, Dudley, West Bromwich and Solihull is close enough to walk the lots on the viewing day.
We will ask about the item's condition and whether it is on finance, because a press on hire purchase remains the funder's property until it is settled. We describe known faults plainly. A fault in the catalogue is better than a surprise on collection day.
Checking the way out of an older unit
Units in Aston, Witton and Tyseley are often older, with a shared yard, a single roller door and a road outside that was laid out before articulated lorries. The newer estates at Minworth and near junction 6 of the M42 were laid out differently. Neither fact tells us what one machine needs, so we look at the site and check:
- how a vehicle gets in and turns, on the road and in the yard
- door dimensions, floor levels and any steps or ramps on the route out
- the loading facilities on site, including a forklift if you have one
- what the machine needs before it can move, and who is qualified to do it
The findings go in the catalogue so buyers know what removal involves before they bid. Vans, trailers, pickups and small plant can be driven out. Anything heavier is assessed on its own terms, and the collection cost is quoted before you commit. The lot then sells where it stands, or from our premises where that is agreed.
What these sales can include
- Single machine tools
- Individual vans and pickups
- Compressors and generators
- Welding equipment
- Woodworking machines
- Hand tools and power tools
- Office furniture and IT equipment
- Catering equipment from a single kitchen
- Small plant and attachments
- Garden and grounds machinery
- Trailers
- Workshop consumables and stock
How a collective sale works
A collective auction is a regular online timed sale made up of lots from many vendors. Each vendor's lots are identified in the catalogue by lot number only. Buyers see one catalogue and bid across it, so a small consignment sits in the same sale as the larger ones.
Your lots are photographed and listed alongside the others. Bidding runs online, with lots closing in sequence on the sale date. Each lot is offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect before bidding. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately.
After the sale, buyers pay and collect within the collection window. We account to you from cleared funds once it has closed and the sale is reconciled, less the agreed commission and any agreed costs.
The collective auctions and single item consignments page covers minimum viable value, at our premises or at yours, what to bring and what to tell us, timescales and unsold lots.
Questions about selling in Birmingham
- I have one press and it is bolted to the floor. Who unbolts it?
Releasing a bolted machine is work for someone competent, and how it is done depends on the press, the floor and the door it leaves through. Send the type, the approximate weight and photographs of the base and the doorway, and we will tell you what the job involves and what it is likely to cost. Where a contractor is needed, that can be arranged and added to the quote. If you have your own fitters, you can release it yourselves.
- Do buyers actually bid on a single lot from one vendor?
They do not know it is from one vendor. The catalogue shows lot numbers, not owners, so your press appears between a forklift and a run of office chairs, with the same photographs and description as any other lot. The sale is online and open to buyers from any part of the country, and the trade in Coventry and the Black Country is close enough to view in person. What it makes depends on its condition, its capacity, the reserve and what removal costs the buyer.
More questions about single items and small lots
Related services
Guides
- How a commercial asset auction works
A stage by stage account of an online timed auction for business assets. It covers the asset schedule, cataloguing, viewing days, how bidding closes, buyer's premium and VAT, collection and how you get paid.
- What happens to unsold lots
Not every lot sells, but the site still has to be cleared. This guide covers why lots go unsold, private treaty after the sale, lowering or removing the reserve, a later sale, scrap and WEEE recycling, and what disposal costs.