Britannia AuctionsSurplus equipment sales in Cardiff
Two very different kinds of surplus come out of this city, and they often end up in the same catalogue. From the yards on the Wentloog estates and along Lamby Way it is forklifts, telehandlers, block saws, mixers and the racking from a builders merchant that has cut its range. From the Bay and the city centre it is studio kit. Cameras, lighting rigs, grip, edit suites and sound gear that a production company bought for a series and will not use again.
We sell both, and the method does not change. The items are catalogued where they are and sold by online timed auction over a week or two. Collection is in booked slots while your business carries on around them. A production company keeps shooting. A merchant keeps serving the counter. Send us a list and we will give you an honest opinion on what is worth putting in.
Camera kit and forklifts in the same catalogue
Studio and broadcast equipment has a wide, well informed market. Camera bodies, lenses, lights, monitors and grip are catalogued for production companies, hire firms, colleges and freelancers across the UK and beyond, and the bidding is online, so a buyer never has to come to Cardiff. Serial numbers, hours and firmware matter, so we photograph the screens and list the accessories that are included. Edit suite hardware and IT go the same way, once the drives have been wiped.
Yard plant is aimed at the local trade first. The builders and plant hirers in Newport, Barry, Caerphilly and Pontypridd are well placed for the viewing day, and bidding is open to the rest of the country online. Service history and hours are the two things buyers ask about.
Builders merchant fittings, racking, cantilever racks, timber saws and counter equipment, sell to other merchants and to trade counters setting up.
Loading out from the flat eastern estates
Wentloog and Capital Business Park were laid out for articulated lorries, but the unit itself decides the plan, so vehicle access, turning space, the yard surface and the loading door are checked before anything is listed. How each lot leaves depends on its weight and size and on the route out, and the buyer arranges and pays for the removal. The Bay and the older units at Tremorfa and Hadfield Road are a different matter, with tighter yards and, for studio premises, sometimes no yard at all. We look at each site before the sale and tell buyers what they will need.
Collection is booked into slots inside a window we agree with you. One lorry at a time on a yard. Small lots by van at a set hour from a studio. Our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices, and nothing leaves without one.
For small, high value studio kit the lots can be brought to our own premises and sold from there instead, which saves a production company from opening its doors to viewers at all.
What these sales can include
- Machine tools and CNC equipment
- Forklifts and access platforms
- Pallet racking and shelving
- Compressors and air tools
- Welders and fabrication kit
- Vehicles and trailers
- Test and measurement equipment
- Site accommodation and containers
- Packaging and labelling machines
- Obsolete stock and components
- Office furniture and IT
- Catering and canteen equipment
Selling from a live site
Most surplus sales happen inside a business that is still trading. That changes how we work. Cataloguing is done around your shifts. Viewing is by appointment or on a single day, with visitors signed in and escorted. Collection is booked in slots so that nobody is moving a machine through the middle of a production run.
Items that are still bolted down, plumbed in or connected to services are isolated by a competent person before collection, with electrical and gas disconnection done by qualified people. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots, and they do not disconnect services themselves.
Tell us about anything that affects access: weight limits on floors, door heights, crane availability, restricted hours. It all goes in the catalogue so buyers plan the removal properly.
The surplus equipment sales page covers what counts as surplus, one sale or a standing arrangement, pricing, reserves and the buyer's premium, after the sale.
Questions about selling in Cardiff
- We are a production company with kit spread across two units in the Bay. Can it be sold as one sale?
Yes. We catalogue at both addresses and run one auction, with the collection point for each lot stated in the catalogue. Buyers book a slot at the right unit. If the two locations make viewing awkward, we can bring everything to our own premises first and sell from there, which can be the better choice for camera equipment because it means no strangers in your studio while you are still shooting. Either way the paperwork is one account and one settlement.
- Some of our plant is on hire purchase. Can it go in the sale?
Only with the funder's agreement. An item on hire purchase, finance or lease is the funder's until the agreement is settled, so we ask for their written agreement before it is catalogued. Where they agree, the settlement figure is usually paid from the proceeds before we account to you. What we will not do is offer an item while finance on it is still outstanding.
More questions about surplus equipment
Related services
Guides
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.
- How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.