Britannia AuctionsStock clearance auctions in Plymouth
A stock sale in Plymouth is shaped by distance, because most of the country's trade buyers are hours away. The boatyards along the Tamar and the waterfront hold resin, gelcoat, cloth, rope, deck fittings and antifouling for a season that finished early or a model that was dropped. The seafood processors at Sutton Harbour hold trays, film, labels and ice packaging for a product line that changed. The manufacturers at Estover and Langage hold components and consumables bought for a build that moved elsewhere.
Some of it suits buyers nearby: other yards on the Tamar, the fishing fleet, the chandlers and the trade counters at Marsh Mills. Much of it does not, so the sale is built for the bidder who cannot visit. We describe every lot fully, photograph it properly, and pack for a haulier rather than for a man with a van.
Tell us what you hold and where the yard is. A site check comes first.
Resin, cloth and fittings from a yard that changed its plans
Boatbuilding stock splits into what has a date and what does not. Resin, gelcoat, hardeners and antifouling carry a shelf date, and we list it, along with how the tins were stored. In date material sells to other yards and to the repair trade. Out of date material sells for less to the hobby builder and the yard doing non structural work, and the catalogue says which is which. Glass and carbon cloth, core foam, rope and cordage have no date to worry about and are lotted by type, width and length.
Deck hardware, through hulls, hatches, windows and rigging fittings are catalogued for other builders, chandlers, riggers and owners refitting, and a lot of thirty matching hatches is offered to bidders across the country.
Engines, drives, electronics and instruments are a separate matter and we would advise selling them as marine equipment rather than as stock.
Tight waterfront yards and the road east
A yard on the Tamar or at Sutton Harbour may have one gate, a slipway in the middle and no room for an artic to turn. So the site check comes first. Where a lorry cannot get in, we lot for the van and the pickup, and pallets are built at the gate for the carrier to collect. Where the yard cannot cope with any buyers at all, the stock comes to our own premises before the sale and is collected there.
Estover and Langage are checked in the same way, and where the roads, the yard and the loading equipment allow it, collection runs on booked slots with the A38 close by.
Saltash, Tavistock, Ivybridge, Torpoint and Liskeard are close enough to come and look. The rest is a long drive, so buyers further away bid online and collect by haulier, and the collection window allows for that.
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 Plymouth
- The marine stock is spread over two yards, one at Sutton Harbour and one at Torpoint. Can it be one sale?
It can, and one catalogue is better than two. Each yard's stock is lotted under its own heading with its own collection day, so a buyer knows where to go. If one yard is the harder of the two for access, we may move its stock to the other before the viewing, or to our own premises, so that all the collection happens from one place. The bidding runs as one sale and you get one account for both.
- Our seafood packaging is printed with our own brand and we are closing. Does that stop the sale?
Not if the brand is yours. You can decide whether to sell it printed, and some do, because a smaller producer or a wholesaler may be able to use the trays and film with a label over the print or under an agreement with you. Anything printed for a retailer's own brand is that retailer's call. Plain trays, film, boxes and ice packs sell without any of this to the other processors on the harbour.
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.