Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Preston
Aerospace work is done on contract, and contracts change. A machining firm in the Samlesbury supply chain finishes a package and has one vertical machining centre, a surface grinder, a tool presetter or a coordinate measuring machine more than the next job needs. A composites shop replaces an oven or a vacuum pump. A tooling firm tidies its stores and finds a pallet of holders and inserts it will never use. Elsewhere in the city a food producer on Roman Way sells a mixer and a haulier at Walton Summit sells a forklift.
None of that is a sale on its own. A collective auction is a regular online sale made up of lots from many vendors, each listed by number only, so one machine from Preston sits in the same catalogue as a whole factory. We catalogue it, run the bidding, take the buyer's payment and account to you after collection.
Tell us what it is and what floor it stands on.
Machine tools and metrology from the Samlesbury supply chain
Aerospace suppliers often run good machines and keep the records, and where that is so the records go with the lot. A machining centre, a lathe, a surface grinder or a coordinate measuring machine is judged on its specification, its condition, the age of the control, the hours and the calibration history, and bidding is online, so a precision shop anywhere in the country can take part. Tooling, holders, inserts, gauges and fixtures go in as separate lots.
A machining centre has to be assessed before anything else. The weight, the route to the door, the floor it stands on and the specialist handling it needs all bear on what removal costs, so we look at photographs of the machine and the doorway before saying how it should sell. It can be collected and sold from our premises, or catalogued where it stands and lifted once by the buyer after the sale.
Chorley, Leyland, Blackburn and Lancaster are close enough to come and look.
Where a lot stands changes what we send
Red Scar and Walton Summit have wide roads and hard standing, and junctions 29 and 31 of the M6 are close, which keeps the transport cost of one lot down and puts a buyer with a trailer from Blackpool or Southport within an easy run.
Riversway at the old docks is different. The units are smaller and the yards were not laid out for artics. So we check each site rather than the estate: the approach and turning space, the door dimensions, the floor and what handling equipment is available. A compressor, a van, a pallet of stock or a pallet truck from there may suit a rigid lorry with a tail lift or a van. Food production kit from Roman Way is usually stainless and light.
From there the pattern is the same. The lot sells with a set viewing day, from our premises where that is agreed, and the buyer collects in an agreed window. Vans need the V5 and keys, and finance has to be settled with the funder's agreement.
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 Preston
- Our machining firm near Samlesbury has one vertical machining centre that is surplus. Is that a single item sale or a collective lot?
Either can work, and the answer depends on the value and on the market for that model. A machining centre worth a large sum may do better by private treaty, which we also offer. Many go into a collective sale, where they sit beside other engineering lots in a catalogue precision buyers already work through. Send us the make, model, year, control, hours and photographs, and we will give you a view and recommend the route.
- We have a pallet of tool holders and inserts that we will never use. Is that worth listing?
Usually, yes, provided it is sorted into sensible lots. Holders split by taper and type are easier to describe and to bid on than a mixed pallet, and boxed inserts are easier than loose ones, so how it is lotted bears on what it makes. Tell us what is there, with photographs of the shelves rather than the pallet, and we will suggest how to lot it. It comes to us on the pallet and sells alongside larger machines.
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.