Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Peterborough
Two calendars set the pace for single lots here. The farm calendar brings implements and workshop tools in after harvest, when the machinery dealers on the edge of the city take stock and find they have a used cultivator, a sprayer, a post driver or a set of tractor weights that will not sell from the yard. The commercial calendar brings print and packaging kit in at quarter days, when a firm at Orton Southgate or Fengate gives up a unit and has one guillotine or a folder left after the main plant has gone.
A collective auction takes either. It is an online sale made up of lots from many vendors, each identified by number only, so a single implement from a Fen dealer sits in the same catalogue as a whole dispersal. We catalogue it, run the bidding, take payment from the buyer and account to you after collection.
Tell us what you have and where it stands.
Implements and leftovers from a dealer's yard
Agricultural machinery dealers and engine rebuilders are thick on the ground around Peterborough, and they generate single lots all year. A trade in tractor with no buyer, a sprayer past its test date, a rotavator taken in against a new one, a pallet of filters when a franchise changes, a spare engine on a stand. Each is worth money, and none is worth a sale of its own.
Farm kit is bought by farmers, smallholders and contractors, and it travels. Spalding, Wisbech, March and Whittlesey are close enough to attend a viewing day, and bidding is online for buyers further off. Timing is worth discussing, because machines come free at the end of a season and buyers equip for the next one, and we will give you a view before you commit.
Larger implements can be sold from where they stand. A dealer's yard on the A47 or the A15 suits a buyer with a trailer, and it saves moving something that was never designed to go on a lorry.
Print and packaging machines from the industrial estates
Peterborough's print and packaging firms replace machines one at a time. A guillotine, a folding machine, a laminator or a case erector comes out of a unit at Fengate or Woodston and there is nothing to go with it.
Such a lot can be collected and sold from our premises where that is agreed. Most fit on a pallet, so the questions are the door, the floor and whether there is a forklift on site, and we check those before booking a vehicle. The A1139 parkway keeps the estates close to one another. A heavier press that is still bolted down can be catalogued where it stands and lifted once, by the buyer, after the sale.
Print kit is bought by other printers and by the dealers who supply them. Corby, Huntingdon, Oundle and Stamford are a manageable drive from the viewing day, and bidding is open across the country. Tell us the model, the year, the electrical supply and whether it has been under a service contract.
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 Peterborough
- We are a machinery dealer near Whittlesey with a trade in tractor that will not sell from the yard. Can it go in a shared sale?
Yes. A shared catalogue puts it in front of people who would not call in at your yard, which is often the point for a machine that has been standing. Send us the make, model, hours, tyre condition and photographs, and tell us about any faults. It can be catalogued at your yard so it does not move until the buyer collects. A reserve can be set if you have a figure you will not go below.
- Our print unit at Fengate has one guillotine left after the main sale. How quickly can it go?
Collective sales run on a cycle, so the wait is normally short. We catalogue the machine, it goes into the next sale, bidding runs online and the buyer collects in an agreed window after paying us. How long that takes depends on the number of lots, the cataloguing and the bidding period. If the unit has a hand back date, tell us and we will propose a sale that closes before it with time to spare.
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.