Britannia AuctionsMachinery and engineering auctions in Leeds
South of the river is where the machines are. Hunslet, Stourton, Cross Green and the estates around Leeds Valley Park have the metal processing and fabrication firms that make up most of the Leeds machinery sales we run, with Kirkstall off the A65 adding a few more from the north west.
The kit is mixed. Machining centres and CNC lathes in the engineering shops, press brakes, guillotines, welding sets and positioners in the fabricators. Saws and drills are everywhere. Most units are within a few minutes of the M621, which matters to a rigger with a low loader.
We catalogue each machine on site with the make, model, serial number and specification, run the sale online for a week or two and manage collection on fixed days. Bids are placed online and the sale is open to buyers anywhere in the UK, and the trade in Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax is within easy reach of a viewing day. Tell us what you have through the contact form.
Fabrication shops sell differently from machine shops
A fabricator's plant is about sheet and section. Press brakes, guillotines, plasma tables, rolls, bandsaws and welding bays, plus a lot of steel stock and consumables. The buyer is another fabricator, and what they want to know is the length and tonnage of the brake, whether the backgauge is CNC, the cutting capacity of the saw and the age of the plasma source.
We catalogue to those questions. Welding sets are listed by type and amperage, and positioners and manipulators by capacity. Steel stock is lotted by section and sold by the bundle, because a bundle of box section suits a working fabricator in a way that a single length does not.
If the shop also has a machining side, those lots go in the same catalogue. One viewing day at the unit brings both trades in, and they bid on what they need. We give estimates on the main machines before the sale so you know what to expect.
Moving plant on the southern estates
The M621 shapes collection from a Leeds sale. Stourton and Hunslet units are usually minutes from a junction, which shortens the road leg, but what decides a removal is the unit itself, so we measure the doors, the yard and the loading point before the catalogue is written.
No two are the same. Older buildings in Hunslet have low door heights and sometimes a mezzanine or a step at the threshold, and a press brake on a first floor is a removal job before it is anything else. We check all of that during our first visit and put it in the catalogue.
Buyers organise and pay for the removal of their lots, including specialist movers where they are needed. We agree the collection window and the order with you, attend, and release each lot against a paid invoice.
What these sales can include
- CNC turning centres
- CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres
- Manual and toolroom lathes
- Milling machines
- Surface and cylindrical grinders
- Press brakes and guillotines
- Laser, plasma and waterjet cutters
- Bandsaws and cold saws
- Radial arm and pillar drills
- Welding sets and positioners
- Coordinate measuring machines
- Tooling, chucks and workholding
- Compressors and dust extraction
- Cranes, hoists and forklifts
Viewing, bidding and the buyer's premium
Machinery sales run as online timed auctions. The catalogue is published with photographs and specifications. Buyers register, view the machines on the viewing day, and bid online until the lots close. The sale is advertised to the engineering trade, and bidding is online and open to buyers across the UK and beyond.
The buyer pays the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. VAT is charged where it applies and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Ask and we will go through the specifics for your sale. Where a buyer is overseas, they arrange their own export.
Machines are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding, which is why the viewing day matters. Machines that can be run safely stay connected for the viewing day so your staff can demonstrate them where that is agreed, and everything else is isolated and left safe.
The machinery and engineering auctions page covers what the buyers want to know, what affects demand, reserves and estimates, removal and access, when a private sale beats an auction.
Questions about selling in Leeds
- We have a lot of tooling and steel stock as well as the machines. Is that worth selling or should we scrap it?
Sell it. Tooling and stock lotted badly end at scrap value. Lotted properly they are worth putting in the catalogue. We lot tooling by type in trays so buyers can pick what they need. Chucks and holders stay with the machines they fit, and steel stock is bundled by section. Stock in usable sections has a market with working fabricators, because it saves them a delivery. Scrap is the fallback for what does not sell, and there is usually little of it.
- The unit is being sold with the business closing at the end of the financial year. Can we sell the machines before the building completes?
Yes, and it is usually the better order. The machines are sold and collected before completion, so the unit is handed over empty. You are not paying rent or rates on a building full of plant while a buyer's solicitor drags their feet. We work the timetable back from the completion date and leave time to make good the floor after the movers have been. If completion moves, the sale date can move with it as long as we know early.
More questions about machinery auctions
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.
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.
- How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.