Britannia AuctionsStock clearance auctions in Peterborough
Farm machinery dealers work to the harvest. Parts and consumables are stocked up in spring for the combines and balers, and what is still on the shelf in October has missed its year. Add the ranges that change when a dealer loses a franchise, and the stores at the engineering works around Fengate that hold filters, gaskets, belts and seals for engines no longer built, and there is a steady supply of stock in this city that needs to leave.
The print and packaging side adds more. Overruns, cancelled jobs, misprints and board bought for a customer who went elsewhere all take up space at Orton Southgate and Woodston.
A stock clearance auction moves it in one sale. We lot it for the dealers, the repairers, the farmers and the resellers who buy on price, run the bidding online for a week to ten days, and clear the stock in a fixed collection window. Use the form to tell us what you have.
Filters, belts and wearing parts for machines still in the field
Agricultural parts have a long life at auction because the machines have a long life in the field. A filter or a belt for a tractor that went out of production ten years ago still has a use for the farmer running that tractor and for the independent repairer who keeps it going. So we lot by application where the part number tells us, and by type where it does not. Boxed parts with the maker's label sell to dealers and repairers. Loose wearing parts, tines, blades, points and knife sections sell by the bin to farmers who will use them.
Engine spares from the works follow the same rule. Gasket sets, injectors, filters and seals sell to the rebuild trade if the part number is on the box.
Seasonal timing is worth a thought, because demand for harvest, cultivation and drilling parts follows the work in the field. If the stock can wait a few weeks for a sale that suits the season, it is worth discussing before the catalogue is set.
Working from the Eastern Industry units
Fengate has every size of unit from a lock up to a national depot, so the first visit checks the one you are in: the approach, turning space, the dock or door, and what is on site to load with. Buyers with a wagon back onto the dock where there is one. Buyers with a pickup take their bins from a marshalling area. Slots are booked so the yard does not jam.
The trade counters and print units at Woodston and Orton Southgate are smaller, and some share a yard. A tail lift and a pallet truck do the work there, and we lot lighter so a man and a van can clear his purchase in one trip.
Stamford, Huntingdon, Wisbech, Spalding and Corby are close enough to inspect the lots before the sale closes, and that is farm country in every direction. Everyone else bids online and collects by haulier.
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 Peterborough
- We have lost the franchise and the new dealer does not want our parts stock. What happens to it?
Losing a franchise is a common reason for a parts clearance. The maker's dealer agreement may give them a right to buy the stock back at a set price, so check that first. What they leave, or what falls outside the agreement, is yours to sell. We lot the boxed genuine parts by part number, because the other dealers and the independents bid on those, and the rest goes by type. Branded packaging stays as it is. We do not sell parts as genuine unless the box says so.
- Can print overruns and blank board be sold in the same sale as the machinery parts?
They can, and they often are, because the buyers overlap less than you would think and the sale is bigger for it. Blank board, paper and consumables sell to other printers and to packaging firms in the city and out towards Corby. Printed overruns are the awkward part. If the print carries a customer's name or brand it needs that customer's agreement, and we ask for it in writing. Unbranded printed stock sells to resellers on price.
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.