Stock clearance auctions in Reading

Stock clearance for businesses in Reading and the surrounding Berkshire area, including Wokingham, Bracknell, Newbury, Basingstoke. We catalogue and sell on your premises, so nothing has to be moved before the sale.

Stock that will not sell through the normal channel ties up money and space. Discontinued lines, overordered components, customer returns and whole ranges left after a contract ends all sit in the same category. It costs money to store and it does not get more valuable.

A stock clearance auction sells it in bulk to trade buyers, wholesalers and resellers who buy on price and volume. The stock leaves in a fixed window and the space is freed. Use the contact form to tell us what you have and roughly how much of it.

What these sales usually 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

When an auction is the right route

Stock clearance by auction works best when there is enough of it to attract volume buyers, and when speed matters more than the last few pounds per unit. A pallet of one product will sell. A warehouse of mixed lines will sell better, because the sale becomes an event that resellers travel to.

It is the wrong route for goods you could still sell at full margin through your own channel with a little patience. It is also wrong for stock with a legal restriction on resale, such as products recalled by the manufacturer.

Branded goods can be sold at auction. If the brand owner has told you that surplus must be destroyed or returned to them, check that agreement before you instruct us, because the buyer will be reselling.

Lotting the stock

How stock is lotted decides who bids. A lot of five hundred units suits a wholesaler. Lots of twenty suit a market trader or an online reseller. We usually mix both, so the sale reaches the largest number of buyers and the bulk lines still clear.

We list the stock from your inventory data where you have it, then check it on site and photograph representative items. Each lot states the product, the quantity and the condition, and whether the goods are new, ex display, returns or damaged. Accuracy matters more here than in a machinery sale, because buyers are pricing on quantity and a shortfall causes claims.

Where the stock is palletised, lots are sold by the pallet and buyers collect by forklift.

Sold as seen and the buyer's position

Stock is sold as seen, with the description we give it. Buyers accept that returns and clearance lines may have faults, and they price that in. What they will not accept is a quantity that does not match the catalogue, so we count before we list.

The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, and VAT on top where the goods are standard rated. Buyers are usually VAT registered traders who reclaim it. Payment is taken before collection, and the buyer arranges their own transport.

Stock that requires the buyer to hold a licence, such as alcohol, is only sold to buyers who can show one. We will tell you at the outset if any part of the stock falls into a category we cannot sell.

Running the sale

A stock clearance runs as an online timed auction, usually open for a week to ten days. 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 an agreed window, typically 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 a saleroom or a third party warehouse. That adds transport cost but keeps the process away from your trading site.

Alternatives to auction

Some suppliers will take surplus back for a reduced credit, and that is worth asking about first. A single clearance buyer will take a whole line in one transaction, usually at a lower price than an open sale but with less effort on your side. Discounting through your own channel works if you have the time and the stock is still current.

Auction wins where the stock is mixed, where you want the price achieved to be visible and open to the market, and where the space has to be clear by a date. We can advise on which route suits the stock. Where a private treaty sale to one buyer is the better answer, we will say so.

Businesses in Reading

Reading is best known for office parks such as Green Park, Thames Valley Park and Arlington Business Park at Theale, but it has a solid industrial base beneath them. Battle Farm Trading Estate on Loverock Road and Portman Road holds engineering workshops, vehicle repairers and trade suppliers. The Robert Cort Industrial Estate and units along Cardiff Road and Basingstoke Road add warehousing and light manufacturing. Theale has larger distribution and industrial units near the M4. Construction contractors and plant hire yards are common across the area.

The M4 has three junctions for the town: junction 10 for the A329(M) and Wokingham, junction 11 for the A33 and Green Park, and junction 12 for Theale. Reading station is on the Great Western Main Line with services to London, Bristol and the south coast. Heathrow Airport is about 25 miles east.

We regularly handle stock clearance in Reading and across Berkshire. Sales are run on site, with viewing and collection at your premises, and the online catalogue reaches buyers well beyond the area.

Questions people ask

Is there a minimum quantity?: There is no fixed minimum, but the sale has to be worth running. A few pallets of a single product can be added to one of our collective auctions rather than sold on their own. A full warehouse or a complete discontinued range justifies a sale of its own. Tell us roughly what you have and we will advise.
Can we set a reserve on stock lots?: Yes, but most stock sells without reserve. Trade buyers come to a clearance sale expecting to buy on price, and lots with high reserves tend to go unsold and then need storing again. A reserve makes sense on a small number of high value lines. For the bulk of the stock, an open sale clears it.
Do buyers pay VAT?: Yes, where the goods are standard rated. VAT is charged on the hammer price and on the buyer's premium, and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Most buyers are VAT registered traders and reclaim it. Zero rated goods such as most children's clothing are invoiced accordingly.
What if the stock is branded?: Branded stock can normally be sold. The exception is where you have a written agreement with the brand owner that restricts resale of surplus, for example a distribution agreement that requires unsold stock to be returned or destroyed. Check that before you instruct us, because the buyer will resell what they buy.
Can the stock be sold from somewhere other than our premises?: Yes. If you do not want buyers at your trading site, the stock can be moved to a saleroom or a third party warehouse for viewing and collection. There is a transport cost, and it usually suits smaller quantities. For large volumes on pallets, selling from where the stock stands is cheaper and quicker.

All questions people ask

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 and HPI 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.