Britannia AuctionsPrivate treaty sales in Peterborough
When a packaging or print firm in Peterborough replaces a line, the machine that comes out often carries more value than the rest of the factory put together. A flexo press, a case erector and packer line, a laminator, a die cutter with its stripping unit. The market for these is a limited number of firms and dealers across the UK, and a general catalogue of forklifts and racking is not where they look. They negotiate.
Private treaty is that negotiation, run by us. We describe the machine, approach the buyers who use it, handle every offer in writing and agree the price with you. Our fee is agreed in writing before marketing starts.
The city's engineering base adds a second stream: engine test cells, large CNC machines, fabrication plant and agricultural machinery dealer stock from Fengate and Orton Southgate, each of which sells the same way.
Presses and packaging lines from the print trade
Peterborough's print and packaging firms serve the food processors around them, and their machines are sized for it. A packaging line built for a food contract is a complete cell: the former, filler, checkweigher, case packer and palletiser, with the conveyors and controls between them. Sold as one cell to a co packer or contract packer who wants a working line, it is described and priced as a system rather than as parts scattered across a catalogue.
Print presses are different. A sheetfed or web press has a specialist market of dealers who will strip, ship, reinstall and commission it, often abroad. They price on impression count and the condition of the units, and a press that can be shown running is easier to price. We keep it running while it is marketed where we can.
The trade in Stamford, Spalding, Huntingdon and Corby is within easy reach, and dealers work from the description wherever they are. We invite offers to a closing date where more than one party is serious.
Rigging out the line on the buyer's account
A press or a packaging line is not a forklift job. Rigging one out is specialist work, and the buyer arranges and pays for it, usually with their own crew, because they will be reinstalling it. The sale contract sets out who does what: the buyer dismantles and loads, the seller gives access, and a competent person isolates the services, with any electrical or gas disconnection by qualified people. Payment is held until the machine is out.
Fengate and Orton Southgate sit close to the A1(M) at junction 17 and to the A47 by the parkway. Door heights, floor loading, turning space and the loading arrangements are checked on site, at Woodston as much as anywhere else, before the removal is described.
We fix the removal window with you at the start. A line that must be out before a new machine lands, or before a lease quarter day, is marketed with that date in the description so every buyer prices the job on the real timescale.
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 Peterborough
- Can our packaging line be sold as a whole rather than broken into lots?
Yes, and we would advise it for a line that still works. A complete cell suits co packers and contract packers who want to run it as it stands, and a working line is easier to describe than a list of machines. If no one wants the whole line at a price you will accept, the fallback is to sell the main machines separately and the conveyors and controls as a job lot. We put both views to you before we approach anyone.
- Who takes the press apart, and who pays for it?
The buyer, at their cost, with their own rigging crew. A dealer who will reinstall the machine usually wants it dismantled to their own method. The sale agreement covers the dates, the access hours, the isolation of power and air by competent people, and the condition the floor is left in. Payment is held until the press has been lifted, and someone from our side can attend during the strip down where you want that.
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.