Britannia AuctionsMachinery and engineering auctions in Milton Keynes
Most of the machine tools we sell around Milton Keynes are in small rooms behind larger businesses. The technology and electronics firms on Knowlhill and Kingston keep development workshops for prototypes and jigs, with a machining centre, a toolroom lathe, a grinder and shelves of inspection equipment. The automotive and motorsport shops at Wolverton Mill run bigger machines on longer hours.
Each of those sells to a different buyer, and the catalogue has to say which is which. A development shop's machines are often low hours and well kept, and hours and service records are part of what a buyer prices, so both go in the catalogue.
The grid roads help with removals, but we check each unit before the catalogue is written, because the route out of the building matters as much as the route to it. Tell us what you have through the contact form.
Development workshops sell on their inspection kit
A prototype shop is judged by what it can measure as much as by what it can cut. A sale from a Knowlhill or Kingston unit carries lots that never appear in a production shop clearance. Coordinate measuring machines, height gauges, surface plates, optical comparators, hardness testers, gauge blocks and micrometers by the drawer.
We catalogue those individually. A measuring machine is listed with its make, model, measuring volume, probe head and software version, and the calibration certificate goes in the photographs if there is one. Hand tools and gauges are grouped into sensible lots that a small shop can bid on without buying a whole bench.
The machines themselves are often late model and lightly used. A machining centre that has cut prototypes for eight years may have fewer hours on it than a production machine has in two. Hours are among the things a buyer checks, and the trade in Northampton, Bedford, Luton and Aylesbury is near enough to view in person.
Making good a modern unit after the movers leave
The units on the newer parks were built with clean floors and yards laid out for lorries. How a machine actually comes out still depends on its weight, its dimensions and the route, so we check the door, the floor and the loading point before the catalogue is written.
What the landlord cares about is the floor afterwards. Modern leases in Milton Keynes usually require the unit to be handed back as it was let, so bolt holes, cable trenches, pits and cut foundations have to be filled and made good. We tell every buyer's mover that before they arrive, and we agree the collection days with you so the making good can follow the last machine out.
Bletchley is the exception. The older estates have smaller yards, some shared, and a few units where the only way out is across a neighbour's frontage. We check those before we write the catalogue.
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 Milton Keynes
- We are a small electronics firm with two machines and a room full of measuring equipment. Is that enough for a sale?
Yes. A sale does not need a factory floor to fill it. Two machines with a full inspection room behind them is a good lot list, because the measuring equipment has a market of its own and the machines give the viewing day something to see. If the machines are late model we may suggest private treaty for one of them and auction for the rest, and we tell you which before anything is advertised. Small sales get the same catalogue and the same person from first call to settlement.
- Our machines are in a unit on Kingston with a shared yard. Does that stop a low loader getting in?
That is one of the things we measure on the first visit. The shared yards on the parks were laid out for lorry movements, but the turning space, the loading point and the neighbours' access decide what a mover can bring. We agree the collection days with you, give each mover a time slot, and put what we find in the catalogue so buyers can price the removal before they bid.
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.