Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Portsmouth
Precision work leaves precision leftovers. A defence electronics firm at Hilsea refreshes its bench and has oscilloscopes, signal generators, soldering stations and an environmental chamber it no longer needs. A subcontract machinist on Voyager Park sells one lathe to make room for a machining centre. At Trafalgar Wharf a sailmaker upgrades a walking foot machine and the old one has years left in it.
None of these justifies a sale of its own. All of them belong in a collective auction, which is a regular online sale made up of lots from many vendors. Your lot is listed by number, sits beside plant, vans and workshop kit from other sellers, and is catalogued and described like every other lot in the sale. Bidding runs a week or two with a viewing day before it closes.
Send us what you have and we will say which sale it fits.
Bench instruments and machines from the defence supply chain
Electronics test gear suits a collective sale and Portsmouth produces a good deal of it. Calibrated instruments, power supplies, spectrum analysers, reflow ovens, pick and place machines and ESD benches are used by small electronics firms everywhere, and the items travel by courier, so bidding is not limited to buyers who can attend. Serial numbers and the last calibration certificate go in the catalogue, and a missing certificate is disclosed rather than hidden.
Machine tools from the precision shops are heavier work. A toolroom lathe or a surface grinder from a unit on the Airport Industrial Estate is a pallet and a forklift job, and it can be collected and sold from our premises with a set viewing day. Havant, Fareham, Gosport and Waterlooville are within easy reach of that viewing day, and bidding is open across the country.
Anything that has been on a defence contract may have disposal conditions attached. Check before you call us, because we cannot list what you are not free to sell.
Coming off the island in one trip
Portsea Island has one set of roads in and out, and the older estates at Fratton and Farlington were built for vans rather than artics. Hilsea and Dunsbury Park were laid out differently. Either way we check the site before choosing a vehicle: the approach and turning space, the door dimensions, the floor and any steps, and what loading help is on hand. A four post lift, a tyre changer, a set of ramps or a compressor from a Fratton repairer can then be moved in one trip up the M275.
Marine trades at Trafalgar Wharf are a case of their own. Sailmaking benches and rigging tools suit the yards along the Solent, and a lot can run on site or be collected and sold from our premises. Which we propose depends on the lots, the premises and the timetable, and we look at photographs and decide with you.
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 Portsmouth
- We are moving out of a unit at Voyager Park and have one milling machine and a cabinet of tooling left. Is that enough for a sale?
Not on its own, but it is a good entry for a collective sale. The mill is one lot and the tooling is split into sensible lots, collets in one, vices and clamps in another, so that each is described and bid on separately. Send us photographs, the model and the electrical supply, and the date you hand the keys back. Collection on a pallet in one visit can be arranged, and the lots sell in the next sale.
- Does defence kit sell, or do people worry about where it came from?
It sells, provided you are free to sell it. Test instruments and machine tools are the same whoever the last customer was, and buyers judge them on model, condition, age and calibration. What matters is that any government property or equipment held under contract has been cleared for disposal by whoever owns the conditions. Tell us the position when you call and we will catalogue the lot accordingly.
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.