Britannia AuctionsStock clearance auctions in Wolverhampton
Black Country firms make things in metal, and what is left over is metal too. Pressings for a job that was cancelled, fabricated parts that failed on paperwork rather than on quality, coil and sheet in a gauge nobody now orders, and a stores full of fasteners bought in bulk. Across Wednesfield, Willenhall and Bilston, that is what a stock clearance looks like, and the space it takes is space the next job needs.
We sell it by online timed auction, lotted for the buyers who want it. Other pressworkers and fabricators bid for material and standard parts. Distributors bid for fixings. Construction firms bid for building products and site consumables, which are the other big category in this area.
The sale runs for a week to ten days, buyers collect in a fixed window afterwards, and we deal with you from the first call to settlement. Tell us what is in the stores through the form.
Pressings, fixings and building products in bulk
Bulk metal stock is easiest to sell when it is described the way the trade describes it. Coil and sheet are listed by material, gauge and width, with weight stated. Bar and section by size and grade. Pressings and fabricated parts by what they are and how many, with a photograph that shows the part clearly enough for a buyer in the same trade to recognise it.
Fixings and hardware are lotted by box or by pallet, with unopened stock kept apart from loose. Building products, which turn up here from the merchants and the site contractors, are lotted by type and by what fits in a van.
Parts made to a customer's drawing need a check first. Some supply agreements restrict sale of marked parts, and some customers will buy surplus back at cost, which can be the simpler route. We ask before we list.
Moving pallets out of older units
Many of the estates on the east side of the city were built when lorries were smaller, so the first visit checks the access road, the turning space, the yard and where the loading door opens, and the findings go in the catalogue. A stock sale brings many buyers collecting small quantities, so collection runs by booked slot, one vehicle at a time, over two or three days.
Heavy lots are loaded by forklift where the site has one, and where it does not, lifting can be arranged for the collection days by agreement. A stack of pressings on a stillage or a pallet of coil is loaded onto a flatbed in the yard. Where the unit cannot take that traffic, the stock comes to our own premises before the sale and buyers collect from there.
Walsall, Dudley, West Bromwich and Cannock are close enough to inspect the lots before the sale closes, and the M6 and M54 put the newer estates around i54 and Fordhouses within reach of a lorry from further afield.
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 Wolverhampton
- Will a fabricator buy our pressings, or is it only scrap value?
It depends on whether the part has a use outside the job it was made for. Standard brackets, blanks and washers sell to other shops for what they can save on making them. Parts that only fit one product sell for the metal, unless that product's maker or another of its suppliers wants them. We approach those firms before the sale opens. Whether a mixed lot beats scrap value depends on how much of it a buyer can use, and we will give you a view before you commit.
- We are a builders merchant closing a branch. Does building stock sell at auction?
Yes. Timber, insulation, sheet materials, fixings, plumbing and electrical stock are lotted by the pallet or by the pack for contractors and other merchants, and the trade nearby is close enough to view before bidding. Damaged or weathered stock is described as such and priced by the buyers accordingly. If the branch is closing, the racking, counter, forklift and vans go in the same catalogue, and the yard is cleared in one collection window.
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.