Britannia AuctionsStock clearance auctions in Aberdeen
Every supply base has a store nobody wants to open. Spares ordered for a rig that has gone, consumables held against a contract that ended, protective equipment in sizes nobody is left to wear, rope and chain bought for a campaign that was cancelled. The oil and gas service firms at Altens, Tullos, Dyce and Bridge of Don hold this kind of stock in quantity, and as work shifts towards renewables and decommissioning, more of it comes up for clearance.
Who the lots suit depends on what the store holds. Other service companies bid for spares and consumables. Fabricators and fishing businesses bid for rope, chain, shackles and fittings. General resellers and exporters bid for PPE and workwear by the pallet. Fish processors near the harbour bid for packaging and consumables.
We lot it, sell it online over a week to ten days and clear it in a fixed window. Tell us what the store holds.
Supply base stores and the spares that never went offshore
Offshore spares are specialist, so we catalogue them for the specialist. Each lot gives the manufacturer's part number where it is on the box, the quantity and the condition of the packaging. Sealed items in original wrapping sell to other operators and service firms who have the same equipment. Opened or part used items are lotted separately and described plainly.
Consumables and workwear are a volume sale. Gloves, coveralls, boots and hard hats are lotted by the pallet for resellers and for the construction trade, where offshore grade kit still has a use. Cleaning chemicals, lubricants, paints and sealants are worth listing if they are in date and sealed.
Rigging is sold with its paperwork or for what it is. Shackles, slings, chain and hooks with a current certificate sell to users. Without one they are sold for scrap or for non lifting use, and we say so.
Anything with a client's marking or an item on hire goes back, not in the sale.
Loading out from the Altens yards
Altens and Tullos were built for heavy engineering, and what your own yard can take is checked when we walk the site: vehicle access and room to turn, hard standing, whether there is a forklift or a crane, and the door and route dimensions for the heavier lots. The findings go in the catalogue. The Western Peripheral Route gives a lorry a way in from the south without crossing the city. Collection runs in slots over two or three days. Buyers with an artic load at the dock. Buyers with a van take the smaller lots from a marshalling area.
Dyce, Westhill and Bridge of Don are checked the same way, and where stock sits on more than one site the catalogue gives the collection point for each lot.
The trade in Inverurie, Portlethen and Stonehaven is a manageable drive from the viewing day. Beyond that the distances are longer than they would be in the central belt, so the online side of the sale matters more here. Bidding is open nationally, and lots are built with collection by haulier in mind.
What these sales can include
- Discontinued product lines
- Overordered components and parts
- Customer returns and graded stock
- Seasonal goods
- Ex display and showroom items
- Packaging and consumables
- Raw materials and fabrics
- Bulk trade stock on pallets
- Tools and hardware
- Homeware and furniture stock
- Clothing and footwear
- Building products and fixings
Running the sale
A stock clearance runs as an online timed auction, open for a week to ten days in most cases. There is a viewing day at your premises, or at the location where the stock has been gathered. Bidders inspect the lots, then bid online until each lot closes.
After the sale, buyers collect within a window agreed with you, usually a few days. Collection is the point where a stock sale needs organising. Buyers arrive with vans and lorries, lots have to be handed to the right person and the paperwork has to match. Our staff manage the door and sign each lot out.
If you cannot host viewing and collection, the stock can be moved to our premises or a third party warehouse where that is agreed. That adds transport cost but keeps the process away from your trading site.
The stock clearance auctions page covers when an auction is the right route, lotting the stock, offered as seen and the buyer's position, alternatives to auction.
Questions about selling in Aberdeen
- Some of the stock carries an operator's asset tag or marking. Can it be sold?
Only with that operator's agreement, and often not at all. An asset tag usually means the item was bought on the operator's account and is held by you as a contractor, so it is theirs to dispose of. Client free issue material is the same. We separate tagged items at the site visit and ask you to confirm the position with the client in writing. What they release goes in the sale. What they do not goes back to them.
- There are fewer buyers this far north. Will the sale get enough bidders?
The sale is online, so the catalogue is open to bidders anywhere, and specialist buyers for offshore stock are used to buying at a distance. A service company on the south coast bids on the same lot as one in Dyce, and pallets of general consumables and workwear go out by haulier. What the lots make depends on condition, specification, whether the type is still in use, the lotting and the reserves. We give you a view on likely interest before you commit.
More questions about stock clearance
Related services
Guides
- What insolvency practitioners need from an auctioneer
For office holders realising physical assets. Covers the instruction letter, the asset schedule and valuation basis, retention of title, finance checks, site security, health and safety during the sale, and the reconciliation you need for the file.
- 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.