Britannia AuctionsCollective auctions and single item consignments in Swindon
Swindon has two kinds of estate and each produces its own single lots. The big sheds at Blagrove, Symmetry Park and South Marston turn out forklifts, pallet trucks, racking and a roll cage or two when a contract ends and the tenant hands back. The older estates at Cheney Manor, Groundwell, Kembrey Park and Dorcan hold vehicle repairers, printers and small engineering shops, and they replace kit one machine at a time. A four post lift. A guillotine. A compressor. A van that no longer suits the round.
A collective auction is the right home for all of it. Your lot goes into a regular online sale with items from many vendors, listed by lot number only, and buyers bid across the whole catalogue. The sale runs a week or two with a viewing day before it closes. The buyer pays us and collects. We account to you after cleared funds.
Tell us what you have and which estate it is on.
Garage lifts and print kit from the repair trades
Vehicle repair is the trade that produces most single lots on the older estates. Four post lifts, two post lifts, tyre changers, wheel balancers, brake testers, compressors, diagnostic kit and the odd van or pickup all come out of units at Cheney Manor and Groundwell when a garage upgrades or closes. Printers add guillotines and folders. Engineering shops add lathes and welding sets.
A lift is bolted to the floor, so releasing it is work for someone competent, and how it is palletised and loaded depends on the lift, the door and the building. Tyre machines and compressors are lighter work. Vans drive on, and they need the V5, keys, MOT history and service record with them.
Chippenham, Cirencester, Royal Wootton Bassett and Marlborough are near enough to view in person, and bidding is online for garages elsewhere. Anything on finance stays with the funder until the agreement is settled, and we can take that up with them where you ask us to.
Lab benches and test gear from the north side
The north and east of the town hold pharmaceutical and electronics firms, and they produce a stream of single lots that most auctions never see. Fume cupboards, lab benches, balances, centrifuges, laboratory fridges and freezers, incubators, clean room furniture, oscilloscopes, power supplies and soldering stations all come out when a lab is refitted or a project ends.
These suit a collective sale because they travel by courier, so bidding is not limited to buyers who can attend, and universities, contract labs and small electronics firms all use them. Calibration records and service history go in the catalogue, and a missing certificate is disclosed rather than hidden. Anything that has held chemicals or samples must be decontaminated and certified before it comes to us.
Most lab kit fits on a pallet and goes on a tail lift. Cold storage that is still running needs a plan for what happens to the contents before a collection date is booked, so tell us early.
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 Swindon
- Our garage at Cheney Manor is closing and we have two lifts and a tyre machine left. Is that a collective sale?
It is. Two lifts and a tyre machine make three good lots, and in a shared sale they sit beside items from many other vendors, so a small consignment gets the same audience as a larger one. Send us the makes, models, capacities and photographs, and tell us when the unit must be clear. Releasing and palletising the lifts can be arranged with a contractor, or your own fitters can do it, and collection in one visit follows.
- Does a van with a high mileage sell in an auction, or should we trade it in?
It can. Vans in a collective sale are judged by trade buyers and small businesses on condition, history and price as well as mileage, and bidding is open across the country. Send the V5, MOT history, mileage and photographs inside and out, and tell us about any faults so they can be described. Our view on value is an opinion, and a reserve can be set if you have a figure in mind.
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.