Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Swansea
Swansea Enterprise Park is one of the largest commercial districts in the city and it mixes factories, warehouses and trade counters on one estate. That mix produces small consignments all year. A trade counter changes a range and has shelf stock the supplier will not take back. A factory replaces one machine and keeps the old one by the door. A plant hire yard at Fforestfach has a breaker, a compactor plate, a set of props and a generator it no longer hires out.
We take lots like these into a collective auction. Your items are entered into a shared online sale with lots from other vendors, catalogued by number only, and bidding runs with a viewing day before it closes. Buyers pay us, collect in an agreed window, and you are paid after the sale is reconciled.
Small consignments from Neath, Llanelli, Ammanford and Port Talbot go into the same sale.
Shelf stock, one machine and the hire yard leftovers
Trade counter stock is a lot we see a good deal of here, which follows from how the Enterprise Park is laid out. Boxed tools, fixings, hoses, fittings, consumables and end of line goods are lotted by the pallet or the shelf, and smaller traders are close enough to view them on the day. Group them by type, keep the packaging on, and we can catalogue quickly.
Metals and fabrication firms in the Neath and Port Talbot direction send the heavier single lots. A press brake, a welding positioner, a bandsaw or a set of rolls is usually worth entering on its own, and the trade across South Wales is close enough to come and look while bidding runs online.
Plant hire yards send attachments, small plant, generators and the odd trailer. Certificates and service history are part of what a buyer judges, so send them with the lot. Anything on finance or hire purchase needs the funder's agreement before we list it.
From the Enterprise Park to the sale
Many Swansea estates have wide roads and take articulated traffic, and junctions 44, 45 and 47 of the M4 put the Enterprise Park and Fforestfach within a few minutes of the motorway. What one lot needs is still a question for the site, so we check the yard, the turning space, the door dimensions and the loading help available before a vehicle is booked.
The usual proposal is to bring your lot to our premises and sell it from there, where that is agreed. It gives the lot storage and a set viewing day, and buyers do not walk through a working trade counter or factory. You deliver, or collection can be arranged at an agreed cost.
The exception is a heavy machine that would cost more to move twice. It is catalogued where it stands, sold in the same online sale, and collected once afterwards by the buyer on a day you agree.
Sales run on a cycle, and we will propose a timetable that suits your date.
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 Swansea
- Our trade counter at Llansamlet has shelf stock left after a range change. Is that worth entering?
Usually yes, if there is enough of it. A single box is below the value floor for a lot, but a pallet of boxed fittings or a shelf run of power tools makes a proper lot, and smaller builders and traders are the likeliest audience. Send us a stock list with quantities and photographs. We will tell you how we would lot it and whether the total covers the cost of cataloguing before you commit to anything.
- Does a single generator from a plant yard near Neath come to you or sell from the yard?
Usually it comes to us. A generator fits on a lorry with a tail lift or a crane, and at our premises it has a set viewing day and staff on hand when the buyer collects. Selling from your yard makes more sense for a machine that would cost more to move twice. Send the hours, the service record and a note of any faults, and collection can be arranged at an agreed cost.
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.