Britannia AuctionsStock clearance auctions in Swindon
A lease on a shed off junction 16 does not wait for the stock to sell. When a distributor at Blagrove or Symmetry Park loses a contract or moves the account to another site, the racking is often still full on the day the dilapidations survey is booked. Automotive parts suppliers around Cheney Manor and Dorcan hold aftermarket components for models that have gone, and the electronics and pharmaceutical firms on the north side hold packaging and consumables for products that have changed.
We turn that stock into an auction with a closing date, lotted so that wholesalers, resellers, exporters and market traders can each bid on what suits them, and we clear it in a fixed window after the sale. If the shed has to be handed back before that window can run, we move the stock to our own premises and sell it from there.
Use the form to tell us what is on the racking and when the keys go back.
Aftermarket parts and the lines a model change strands
Aftermarket automotive stock has a long tail. Parts for a model that went out of production still have a use for independent garages, motor factors, breakers and the owners who keep the cars going, so boxed stock in quantity is worth cataloguing rather than scrapping. We list by part number and application where the box tells us, and by type where it does not. Filters, brake parts, service items and lighting go by the case. Body panels and glass go individually or in small groups because of how they are moved.
Electronics stock is listed the same way, by part number, quantity, date code and packaging, and sells to distributors and repairers who buy on the number.
Pharmaceutical packaging and consumables need care. Anything with a product name, batch number, licence number or marking on it is not sold without the licence holder's written agreement, and it usually goes for secure destruction instead. Plain components, bottles, closures, cartons and film, sell to other packers.
Working back from the day the keys go in
Most stock sales on the M4 corridor have a date attached, and that date is usually a lease end or a rent quarter day. We work back from it. A sale needs a day or two on site to count and photograph, a few days for the catalogue to be seen, a week to ten days of bidding, and two or three days for collection, and each of those depends on how many lots there are and the access. If the date allows four weeks, the sale runs from your premises and the buyers collect from your dock. If it allows less, the stock comes out to our own premises straight away and the sale runs from there while you deal with the dilapidations.
Collection from the sheds at Blagrove and Symmetry Park runs on booked slots, with the dock and the forklift checked at the site visit and junction 16 close by.
Cirencester, Chippenham, Marlborough, Royal Wootton Bassett and Wantage are well placed for the viewing day. The rest bid online and collect 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 Swindon
- The landlord's surveyor wants the unit empty before the dilapidations inspection. Can the stock go before the sale?
Yes. Where the date is fixed and close, we collect the stock before the sale and hold it at our own premises, then catalogue, sell and release it to buyers from there. You get the unit back empty within days rather than weeks. The cost of the move is agreed in writing and comes off the proceeds, and we will tell you the figure before anything is moved.
- We are an automotive supplier with stock the maker still has on its system. Do we need their permission?
If the parts were made to the maker's drawing and carry their part number, yes. The supply agreement usually says what happens to residual stock at the end of a programme, and it often gives the maker a right to buy it or to refuse its sale. Ask them in writing and we will hold the listing until the answer comes. Parts you sourced yourself, or standard aftermarket lines bought for resale, are yours to sell without asking.
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.