Britannia AuctionsStock clearance auctions in Liverpool
Goods come through the port and not all of them go where they were meant to. Importers overorder, buyers fail and a container's worth of stock ends up in a warehouse in Bootle or Kirkby with a storage bill and no customer. Freight forwarders and third party warehouses across the city hold stock like this for months before anyone accepts it is not going anywhere.
A stock clearance auction is the way to turn it back into money and space. We catalogue the stock by line or by pallet, sell it online over a week to ten days to wholesalers, discount retailers, market traders and online resellers, and buyers collect in a fixed window. The catalogue is open to bidders across the UK, so a container of one product is offered to buyers who can take the whole quantity.
Food and drink producers and the manufacturers at Speke and Halewood bring a different surplus, from short dated stock to packaging, and it goes into the same kind of sale.
Imported goods that never left the warehouse
Imported stock comes with paperwork questions, and we deal with those before the lotting. Who owns the goods, whether duty and VAT have been paid, whether the warehouse has a lien for unpaid storage, and whether the goods meet UK standards for sale. Consumer products need the right markings and, for some categories, test certificates. We will not list stock that cannot legally be sold here.
Once that is clear, the stock is lotted by what a buyer can use. A container of one product is offered as a whole and as pallets, so a wholesaler can take the lot or a dozen smaller buyers can share it. Mixed containers are sorted by line where the quantity justifies it.
There is usually a case for selling this stock early. Storage charges do not stop, and a product that was seasonal or fashionable when it was shipped is worth less the longer it sits.
Collection from the outer estates and the dock roads
Where the stock is decides how collection is run, and the first visit settles it. At Knowsley Industrial Park, Speke and the sheds around the M57 we check the dock, the yard, the turning space and the loading equipment, and where those suit, buyers collect full pallets in booked slots over two or three days.
The older dockside roads at Seaforth and Bootle need more planning. Vehicle access, turning space and how many visitors a working freight yard can take are checked first, and the findings go in the catalogue. For stock in those locations it can make sense to move it to our own premises before the sale, run the viewing there and keep the port traffic moving.
St Helens, Warrington, Widnes and Birkenhead are within reach for a viewing, and full loads go further by road. Online bidding opens the sale to the rest of the UK, which for an imported product can include the buyer who wanted it in the first place.
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 Liverpool
- The importer has stopped paying storage and stopped replying. Can we sell the goods?
Possibly, but not without a process. Your storage terms may give a warehouse keeper's lien and a right of sale after notice, and the notice has to be served properly and the time allowed to run, which is worth confirming with your own adviser. We need the storage contract, the correspondence and any shipping documents before we list anything. Where the position is sound, the sale runs in the normal way, the storage debt is settled from the proceeds and the balance is held for the owner.
- Can short dated food and drink stock go into a general stock sale?
Yes, as separate lots with the dates and storage conditions stated. Surplus food traders and discount retailers are the buyers for it, and a short sale can close within a week or two of instruction, depending on how quickly the stock can be counted and described. Chilled and frozen stock needs a collection window short enough to keep the chain unbroken, and buyers bring the right vehicle. Ambient stock with a few months of date left sells without any special arrangement.
More questions about stock clearance
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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.