Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Glasgow
Garages replace equipment one lift at a time. A vehicle workshop at Hillington puts in a new four post lift and the old two post is unbolted and pushed to the back wall. A tyre fitter changes a balancer. A bodyshop replaces a spray booth compressor. Across the city at Queenslie, a packaging plant has a strapping machine it stopped using in the spring, and a distribution depot at Clydesmill has one van too many.
None of these is a sale on its own. All of them are lots. Our collective auctions bring single items from many vendors into one online sale, with each lot identified by number only, and put them in the same catalogue as a full clearance.
The auction is online and open to the whole of the UK, and the trade in Paisley, East Kilbride, Motherwell and Coatbridge is close enough to walk the lots on the viewing day.
Garage equipment and the motor trade market
Vehicle lifts, tyre changers, wheel balancers, diagnostic equipment, compressors and hand tools from the workshops around Hillington and along the M8 are the single lots we see most from this city. What one makes depends on its age, its condition, its capacity, the certificate history and what it costs the buyer to take it away.
A lift needs its last inspection certificate and, if it is being sold in place, a plan for taking it off the floor. Compressors and diagnostic tools go in the van. Tell us the make, model, age and condition, and any faults.
Engineering and fabrication shops add lathes, mills, saws and welding sets in ones and twos. Food producers and packaging plants add mixers, ovens, conveyors and strapping machines. A van or pickup off a fleet in Cambuslang is the simplest lot of all. Each has its own trade behind it, and each is catalogued under its own lot number with its own description.
Motorway estates and working back from a sale date
Hillington, Queenslie and Clydesmill sit beside motorway junctions, and the older units in Rutherglen and along the Clyde are tighter. Neither fact decides what one lot needs, so we ask for photographs and check the approach and turning space, the yard surface, the door dimensions, the floor and what handling equipment is on site. What we find goes in the catalogue so buyers know before they bid.
A single lot can be collected and sold from our premises where that is agreed, with a set viewing day. A lift or a heavy machine that would cost more to move twice is catalogued where it stands, isolated by a competent person, and collected once by the buyer after the sale on a day you agree.
Collective sales run on a cycle. If the new lift arrives in three weeks, or the lease on the Queenslie unit ends at the quarter, tell us and we will propose a timetable that works back from your date.
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 Glasgow
- We run a garage at Hillington and are replacing two post lifts. Will they sell one at a time?
Yes. Each lift is a lot of its own, and a buyer who wants one can bid on one. Send the make, the capacity, the age and the last inspection certificate, with photographs. If the lifts are still bolted down, tell us whether your fitters will release them when the new ones go in or whether that has to be arranged. Either way it is work for someone competent, and collection can be arranged once the lift is down and on a pallet.
- Is one lot from a Glasgow workshop worth a viewing day for buyers outside the city?
A viewing day is open to anyone, and the trade across Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire is within an easy drive of one. Bidding is online as well, so a buyer who cannot attend can inspect by arrangement or bid on the description and the photographs. For a single lot that means the audience is not limited to whoever happens to hear about it. What the lot makes then depends on its condition, its specification and the reserve you set.
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.