Britannia AuctionsMachinery and engineering auctions in Preston
The aerospace supply chain around Samlesbury has filled Preston's machine shops with a particular kind of plant. Five axis machining centres cut the aluminium and titanium, and waterjet and router tables trim the composites. Every shop has a measuring room to prove the parts. When a package finishes, or a shop decides to sell surplus capacity while it keeps trading, that plant comes to us.
Part sales are common here. A shop on Red Scar or off the A59 that has lost one contract but kept the others wants to sell four machines, not twenty, and it wants the sale run without stopping the rest of the floor.
The trade in Blackburn, Leyland, Chorley and Lancaster is near enough to come and see the lots, and the online catalogue reaches aerospace buyers elsewhere. Tell us what you have through the contact form.
Selling surplus machines from a shop that keeps working
A partial sale needs more planning than a full clearance, because the shop is still making parts around it. The first thing we agree is which machines are in and which are out, and we mark the lots on the floor so that nobody bids on a machine that is running the next job.
The viewing day is the awkward part. Buyers want to see machines under power, and you want your own operators left alone. We run viewings in a fixed window with a member of our staff walking each buyer round, so that the visit is over in an hour and the shop is not full of strangers all day.
Collection is then booked by slot. Buyers book and pay for the removal of their lots, we agree the days and the order with you, and the machines that are staying are protected. A shop can sell part of its floor this way and keep its deliveries running.
Waterjets, pits and coolant before the riggers arrive
Composites and aerospace plant brings a few removal jobs that a general machine shop does not. A waterjet cutter has a tank of water and spent abrasive under the table that has to be drained and the garnet disposed of before the machine can be lifted. A five axis machine with a pallet changer is often set into a pit or on a raised foundation, and the foundation bolts have to be cut.
We list all of that in the catalogue against each lot, so the buyer's mover prices the job properly and turns up with the right equipment. Draining down and disposal are agreed with you and done by competent people before a machine is lifted.
Red Scar and Walton Summit were built for lorries and the M6 junctions are minutes away, and we still measure the door, the yard and the loading point, because removal cost follows the route out rather than the address.
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 Preston
- Can we run a viewing day while the rest of the shop is still on shift?
Yes, and a partial sale is planned around it. We agree a window, usually a morning, and a member of our staff takes each buyer round the lots and nowhere else. Machines that can be run without risk stay connected for the viewing day and your operators demonstrate them where you agree to it, and everything else is isolated and left safe. Your operators keep working on the machines that are staying. If the shop has a customer with security or quality conditions on visitors, tell us at the first visit and we plan the viewing to suit.
- Our machines sit on a foundation the landlord wants removed. Who pays for that?
The buyer arranges and pays for the removal, which includes cutting the machine free. Filling the pit and making good the floor normally falls to you, because it is a condition of your lease rather than of the sale. We build the making good into the timetable so it follows straight after the last collection day, and we can put you in touch with contractors who do it. Ask before you agree a sale date, because a deep pit takes longer to fill than a machine takes to move.
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.