Britannia AuctionsStock clearance auctions in Southampton
A container comes off the ship at the Western Docks, the forwarder devans it into a shed at Nursling or Millbrook, and then the consignee stops answering. Down on the Itchen, a boatbuilder drops a model and is left with the fittings, resin, cloth and hardware bought for it. Different businesses, same problem. Stock that cost money is sitting on racking that costs money.
We sell that stock by online timed auction, lotted for trade buyers and resellers. The forwarder gets its bay back before the next box lands. The boatyard turns the fittings into cash before the season starts. Buyers pay us, collect in a fixed window, and we account to you once the stock has gone.
Tell us what you hold, roughly how much of it, and where it sits. We will come and count it.
Import loads the consignee never collected
Abandoned import stock is a familiar problem on the port side. The forwarder's or the warehouse's terms may give a lien over the goods for unpaid storage and a right of sale once the notice period has run. We ask to see the terms and the correspondence before we list anything, because a buyer wants clean title and so do you.
What is in the box decides how it is lotted. A load of one product sells as bulk pallets to wholesalers. A mixed load of homeware, tools, toys or garden goods is broken into pallet lots so resellers and market traders can bid. Clothing and footwear are lotted by line and size run. Anything with a brand owner's mark is checked first, and we leave out what cannot lawfully be sold.
Counts matter more than descriptions with this kind of stock. We count cartons on the racking, not off the manifest, because the two rarely agree.
Loading bays at Nursling and van slots on the Itchen
The distribution sheds at Nursling and Adanac Park were built for artics, and the first visit confirms what your own unit offers: dock height, yard level, turning space and the loading equipment available on the collection days. Collection then runs in booked slots over two or three days, with full pallets loaded at the dock and smaller lots taken from a marshalling area by the door. Junction 1 of the M271 is at the end of the road.
The marine units on the Itchen and along Southampton Water are checked the same way, for gate width, shared yards and slipways and what there is to lift with. Where the route out is narrow we lot smaller so buyers can load by hand or by tail lift, and we spread the slots so two vans are not at the same gate.
Eastleigh, Totton, Fareham and Portsmouth are close enough to walk the lots on the viewing day. The rest bid online from across the UK and collect by carrier.
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 Southampton
- A shipping line wants its containers back. Can the stock be sold while it is still in the boxes?
It can, and sometimes that is the sensible way to run it, but the timing is tight. Buyers need to see what they are bidding on, so we open the boxes, count and photograph at the viewing, then close them again. The sale runs for a week to ten days and collection follows straight after. If the line's deadline is closer than that, we devan the stock into your shed or bring it to our own premises and give the boxes back. Demurrage can quickly outrun the cost of the move.
- We are a boatbuilder with resin, gelcoat and cloth that is out of date. Is it worth putting in the sale?
Resin and gelcoat past the shelf date are worth listing at a lower price, for the repair trade and for hobby builders who can test a batch. We describe the date on the tin and the storage conditions. Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding. Glass cloth and core material without a date are lotted by type and quantity, and hardware, fittings and deck gear from a dropped model are catalogued for other yards and chandlers.
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.