Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Nottingham
Wholesalers and distributors around Nottingham hold stock, and stock goes out of date. End of line quantities, returned goods and the last pallets of a discontinued product sit in a unit at Colwick or Lenton Lane until somebody decides what to do with them. The same units have office furniture and IT that are surplus for the same reason. None of it justifies a sale on its own.
A collective auction is the right place for it. We enter your lots alongside items from other vendors across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, so a pallet of stock from a wholesaler sits in the same catalogue as a lathe from Beeston, a van from Bulwell and a compressor from a print firm. Online bidding opens the sale to the rest of the country, and the trade in Derby, Mansfield, Newark and Loughborough is well placed to attend the viewing.
Tell us what you hold through the contact form. Stock lots need a bit more description than machinery, and we explain why below.
Stock, returns and end of line quantities
Stock is a different kind of lot from a machine. A buyer bidding on a pallet of goods wants to know the quantity and the condition, and whether the goods are new or returned. We photograph a sample and count the rest, and the description says exactly what is there. Anything with a use by date is stated. Anything that cannot be sold on for legal reasons, such as recalled goods, does not go in.
The pharmaceutical and food firms around the city produce a different sort of surplus. Laboratory benches, stainless tables, fridges and packing equipment come out of a room that has been refitted. These are grouped into sensible lots and enter the same sale.
The floor on value applies to stock as much as to machinery. One box of a discontinued line is not worth cataloguing. Twenty pallets of it can be, and we will tell you which lines clear the floor before you commit.
Moving small consignments round the ring road
For a single item or a few pallets, the simplest route is often to bring them to our premises. The A52 ring road makes that easy. A unit at Colwick, Blenheim at Bulwell or Bestwood is a short run to the M1, and a curtainsider or a van with a tail lift takes a small consignment in one trip.
Storage at our premises until the sale opens can be arranged where agreed, and the buyer then collects from us. You are not opening your unit on a viewing day, and you are not tied to the sale date if your lease at Lenton Lane ends first.
Where a lot is heavy or awkward, such as a single machine tool in an engineering shop in Beeston, we look at whether it should sell in place instead. That decision turns on the machine, the building and the dates, and we check the access, the door and the floor before advising either way.
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 Nottingham
- We are a wholesaler with returned goods. Will a collective sale take them?
Usually, provided they are legal to resell and in enough quantity to make a lot. Returns need an honest description, so we open a sample and say what we find. Boxed unused goods and mixed condition returns are lotted separately where we can, because each is described differently and a buyer bids on the description. Send us a stock list with quantities and a few photographs, and we will tell you which lines are worth entering.
- Does a small consignment from Nottingham sell from your premises or from ours?
Usually from ours, but it depends on the lot. A few pallets or one machine rarely justify a viewing day at your site, and buyers can see lots from many vendors in one place. You deliver, or transport can be arranged at an agreed cost, and the lot sells with a set viewing day and staff on hand to release it on collection. We catalogue in place where the item is too heavy or too awkward to move twice.
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.