Britannia AuctionsPrivate treaty sales in Norwich
Norfolk's most valuable single machines are as likely to be in a village as in the city. A bakery line in a converted barn, a vegetable grading and packing line beside a farm, a late model combine or self propelled sprayer in a dealer's yard, a test rig at an automotive engineering firm at Hethel. A general catalogue is a blunt way to reach the few buyers who use them. Each is worth weighing as a private treaty sale.
We inspect the asset, prepare a description with photographs, specification and history, and approach the buyers directly: food processors, farm machinery dealers, engineering firms and the specialist traders who serve them across the UK, with export interest where the type is still in use. Every offer comes to you in writing with our view. Our fee is agreed in writing before marketing begins.
Sites beyond the ring road need a different plan for collection, and we build that into the sale from the start.
Food lines and farm plant with buyers beyond Norfolk
The food and drink processors around Norwich run ovens, provers, fryers, freezers and packing lines that suit other processors as complete lines. A working line with its hygiene records, service history, last audit and spares is easier to place whole than as separate machines, and the likely buyers are co packers and processors from across the UK. Late model agricultural machinery from dealer stock suits farmers, contractors and other dealers, with the trade in Dereham, Attleborough, Diss and North Walsham within easy reach for an inspection.
The engineering firms at Hethel add test and measurement equipment, and the offshore supply chain at Great Yarmouth adds generators, switchgear, compressors and lifting gear that sells to contractors and hire fleets nationally.
Where the asset is specialist, part of the fee may be a fixed element for marketing, and that is set out in writing before anything starts.
Collection from a farm track, not a trading estate
Broadland Business Park and the airport estate sit close to the A47 and the Broadland Northway. A bakery in a converted barn or a packing line on a farm is another matter. The lane may not take an articulated lorry, the yard may be gravel and the door may have been built for a tractor rather than a forklift.
So we walk the site first. We check the approach, the turning space, the ground and the door, and settle whether the route out calls for a rigid lorry with a hiab, a crane on the farm road or something else. The answer goes in the description, so the buyer prices the removal as it is rather than as they hope it might be.
Timing often follows the farming year. A grading line may only be free once the season's crop is packed, and dealer demonstration machines tend to come to market after harvest.
What these sales can include
- CNC machining centres and lathes
- Printing presses
- Injection moulding machines
- Packaging lines
- Large generators and switchgear
- Cranes and heavy lifting equipment
- Specialist process plant
- Laboratory and test equipment
- Complete production cells
- Late model plant and vehicles
- Marine and rail equipment
- High value catering and bakery lines
How we market the asset
We inspect the asset, or have it inspected, and prepare a description with photographs, specification, condition and any service history. We then approach buyers directly: dealers who trade in that type of machine, and end users the asset suits. The asset can be advertised openly or offered only to selected parties. How open we are depends on how much confidentiality you need.
Interested buyers inspect by appointment. We attend or arrange access, answer questions and take offers. You are kept informed at each stage but do not have to deal with the buyers yourself.
There is no fixed end date. A private treaty sale takes as long as it takes to find the right buyer at the right price, which is one of its advantages and one of its costs.
The private treaty sales page covers when private treaty beats auction, how offers are handled, fees and what you receive, what to prepare.
Questions about selling in Norwich
- Can a bakery line be sold while the bakery is still producing?
Yes, and it is usually the better way. A line that can be seen running is easier to describe, and an inspection during a shift shows more than a cold machine in a cleared room. We arrange viewings by appointment at times that suit production, describe the line as it works, and agree a removal window after the last bake. The buyer's engineer usually attends the strip down, and the hygiene and service records go with the line.
- Is there a private treaty market for used farm machinery, or is that always auction?
Both exist. Auction suits a dispersal of many items on one day. A single late model combine, sprayer, forage harvester or telehandler from dealer stock or a farm suits dealers and contractors, and a negotiated sale to that market is worth weighing against a public sale on a fixed date. We put the machine in front of the trade with its hours, service history, specification and photographs, and you decide which offer to take.
More questions about private treaty
Related services
Guides
- Auction or private treaty: which route to choose
Auction gives you a fixed date and an open market. Private treaty gives you a negotiated price and privacy. This guide sets out when each route suits, what you give up with each, and why many sales use both.
- 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.