Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Milton Keynes
The motorsport calendar ends in autumn and the workshops clear out over winter. That is when a race team or a supplier on Knowlhill sells a tyre machine, a set of corner weight scales, a welding set, a bench of hand tools or a dyno it has outgrown. On the other side of the city the technology firms at Kingston and Wolverton Mill move offices and leave forty desks and a rack of IT. Bletchley's older estates add vans and vehicle lifts from the repair trades.
Each of these is a single lot or a small group, not a sale. A collective auction puts them into one online sale with lots from many vendors, each listed by number only, so a set of scales from a race shop is catalogued beside forklifts and vans with bidding open nationally. A viewing day is held before the sale closes.
Tell us what it is and where it stands on the grid.
Engineering kit from the race shops and electronics firms
Motorsport tooling tends to be well made and well maintained, which is part of what a buyer judges. Corner weight scales, wheel balancers, engine stands, tig sets, dynos, fabrication benches and inspection equipment are used by garages, engineering firms, restorers and club racers, and bidding is online, so a courier or a van can collect a compact lot. A larger item such as a rolling road can come to our premises and sell with a set viewing day.
Electronics and technology firms produce a different stream. Test instruments, soldering stations, ESD benches, comms racks and laptops sell as lots in a shared sale, provided the IT has been wiped and any leased kit has gone back to the lessor. We will ask you to confirm both.
Newport Pagnell, Bedford, Leighton Buzzard and Luton are all close enough to attend a viewing day, and a specialist item is open to bidders wherever that work is done.
One lorry and one visit from the grid
The grid roads make collection in Milton Keynes straightforward more often than not. An articulated lorry reaches most estates from junctions 13 and 14 of the M1, and the yards at Tongwell and Magna Park handle constant HGV movements. We still check the individual site, because the door, the floor and the turning space decide what one lot needs. Where several vendors in one area enter the same sale, collection can sometimes be combined, which keeps the cost down.
A single lot can be collected and sold from our premises where that is agreed. A heavy machine that is still bolted down can be catalogued in place and lifted once by the buyer after the sale.
Vans and pickups from the repair trades at Bletchley are common lots here. They need the V5, the keys, the MOT history and any service record, and anything on finance needs the funder's agreement before it is listed.
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 Milton Keynes
- Our race team on Knowlhill is selling one set of corner weight scales and a tyre machine. Are those worth listing?
Both are likely to clear the value floor, and we will confirm that once we have seen them. Scales and a tyre machine are used by garages, restorers and club racers, and both travel by courier or van, so bidding is not limited to buyers who can attend. Send the make, model, photographs and any service history. Hand tools from the same clear out can go in beside them as separate lots.
- We are giving up an office at Kingston. Do desks and monitors go in the same sale as machinery?
They can. A collective sale is a mixed catalogue, and office lots sit in it under their own numbers alongside the machinery. Desks and chairs are lotted in matching runs, monitors and laptops in batches. Any single higher value item, such as a comms rack or a boardroom table, goes on its own. Confirm the IT has been wiped and tell us the date the floor must be empty, and we will work a collection and a sale back from it.
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.