Britannia AuctionsPrivate treaty sales in Portsmouth
Coordinate measuring machines, environmental test chambers, precision grinders, wave soldering lines. The equipment inside a Portsmouth defence electronics or precision engineering firm tends to be late model and well documented, and it is expensive. When a contract ends it comes to market one item at a time. That is a private treaty sale rather than an auction lot.
The same is true across the water at Trafalgar Wharf, where a boatbuilder's CNC router or a sailmaker's plotter has a buyer list you could write on one page. For any of these we inspect, describe, approach the buyers who deal in that kit and negotiate on your instruction, with our fee agreed in writing before marketing begins. No sale date, and no listing unless you ask for one.
Tell us what the asset is and why you want it sold quietly, and we will say honestly whether treaty or auction will do better.
Test chambers and precision machines when the contract ends
Defence and electronics work in the city runs to contract, and a contract that finishes leaves a test bay or a machining cell that the firm no longer needs. The likely buyers are specific: other subcontractors on the same programmes, calibration and test houses, universities, and the dealers who trade in metrology and test equipment across the UK. Expect requests for the calibration certificates, the last service report, the software licence position and the firmware version, because a description that answers those leaves less to allow for than a photograph and a model number.
Two matters are particular to this kind of sale. Some equipment supplied for defence work carries export restrictions, and we check the position before we approach anyone abroad. And some premises are access controlled, so viewings are by appointment with the seller's security in charge.
Where more than one buyer is serious, we run sealed bids to a fixed closing date and put the result to you with a recommendation.
Getting a machine off Portsea Island
Portsmouth is an island city and the roads on to it are few. That does not stop a removal, but it shapes the plan. The Airport Industrial Estate at Hilsea and Voyager Park sit close to the M275 and the M27. The older estates at Fratton and Cosham can be tighter, with narrower approaches and yards laid out for vans, so the vehicle and the handling equipment are settled from what we find on the site rather than from the address.
Dunsbury Park at Havant is off the A3(M). Trafalgar Wharf at Portchester has water on one side and a working boatyard on the other, so a lift there is scheduled around the yard's own movements.
We put the removal route in the description so the buyer can price the job as it stands. For firms in Havant, Fareham, Gosport and Chichester an inspection is a short run, and buyers elsewhere work from the write up.
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 Portsmouth
- Can a machine on a secure defence site be viewed by buyers?
Yes, with the site's rules applied. We agree the viewing arrangements with you and your security team first: who may attend, whether photographs are permitted, what identification they bring, and whether the buyer's engineer needs to be escorted. These conditions are common on defence work and they go to buyers with the description. Where a site cannot admit visitors at all, we inspect on your behalf, film the machine under power and prepare a report the buyer can rely on, and the offer is made on that basis.
- Is a boatbuilder's CNC router better sold locally or nationally?
Both, at the same time. Local buyers at Trafalgar Wharf, Gosport and along the Solent have the shortest collection, which counts for something in an offer. The same machine also suits furniture makers, sign makers, composites firms and the dealers who serve them anywhere in the country. We approach both lists and put every offer to you. A large format router is easier to place complete, with the vacuum table, the tooling, the dust extraction and the software licence included.
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.