Britannia AuctionsWarehouse and logistics equipment sales in Birmingham
A warehouse in Birmingham can mean a new build shed off junction 6 of the M42 or a parts store on the ground floor of a pressings works in Witton. We sell equipment from both. The east side sheds near the airport hold the racking, reach trucks, sortation and dock equipment that logistics firms fit out against contracts. The older estates at Tyseley and Saltley hold the handling kit of the automotive supply chain, which is stillages, roll cages, counterbalance trucks and shelving by the hundred.
Online timed auction is how we sell it. We catalogue on site where the yard allows a collection day, and collect to our own premises where it does not. Bidding is online and open across the UK, and the trades that use this equipment are thick on the ground across the West Midlands. Use the contact form to tell us what is there and when it has to be gone.
Getting handling equipment out of an inner city estate
The older Birmingham estates were built for a different generation of lorry. Access roads are narrow, yards are shared and an articulated lorry may not be able to turn. That matters for a warehouse sale, because racking leaves on flatbeds and forklifts leave on beavertails or low loaders. Before we list anything we walk the route from the unit to the main road, and we check turning space, door dimensions, floor levels, the shared yard and what loading help there is on site.
Where a unit is on a tight site, the trucks and the loose equipment can be collected to our premises, where that is agreed, and only the racking sold from the building. What we find goes in the catalogue so buyers know before they bid. Bidders price collection time into what they offer, which is why the access is described rather than left as a surprise on the day.
Automotive stores run on stillages
A tier two supplier's warehouse looks different from a retail distribution shed. Instead of pallet racking full of cartons it has hundreds of metal stillages, post pallets and roll cages, a few counterbalance trucks and a weigh scale by the despatch door. When a model runs out or a contract moves to another plant, all of that is surplus at once.
Stillages are lotted in tens or twenties for the component makers who use the same boxes, so we photograph a representative sample and give sizes and counts. The trucks are listed on hours and the report of thorough examination. How quickly the store clears after the sale depends on the lot count and the access, and we agree the window with you before the catalogue goes out. The question worth asking early is whether to hold stillages in case the next contract needs them. They take up floor you may be paying rent on, and storage does not improve them.
What these sales can include
- Counterbalance forklifts
- Reach trucks
- Powered pallet trucks
- Hand pallet trucks
- Pallet racking
- Mezzanine floors
- Longspan and cantilever shelving
- Conveyors and sortation
- Roll cages and stillages
- Stretch wrap machines
- Pallet scales
- Battery chargers
- Order pickers and stackers
- Dock levellers and loading equipment
How the sale runs
After a site visit we agree what is in the sale and what stays. We catalogue and photograph each lot, list the sale online and market it to warehouse operators, dealers and contractors. Bidders view on a set day, then bid online over the sale period, with lots closing in sequence.
Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect before bidding. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately. We collect payment before release.
Collection runs over a window agreed with you. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots, with suitable handling equipment or specialist contractors where the item needs them. Our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices and see that dismantling is done safely.
The warehouse and logistics equipment sales page covers racking and how it comes down, forklifts and the records that matter, the small equipment adds up, timing a sale around a site handover.
Questions about selling in Birmingham
- Our unit in Witton has no yard. How does a viewing day work?
We hold the viewing inside the unit and ask buyers to park on the road or at an agreed point. Viewing needs no vehicle access. Collection is the harder part, so we set collection by appointment rather than an open day, and we tell buyers in the catalogue what size of vehicle can get to the door. Where that is too limiting, the lots can be collected to our premises before the sale closes, where that is agreed, and buyers collect from there.
- We are a logistics firm on a shed near the M42. Does the sale reach beyond the West Midlands?
It does. Bidding is online and open to buyers anywhere in the UK, so racking in long runs, reach trucks, chargers and dock equipment are in front of operators and fit out contractors wherever they are. The trade in Coventry and Tamworth is near enough to view in person, and the M42 and M6 make the site straightforward for a haulier. What a distant bidder offers depends on the lot size, the access and the transport cost, all of which we set out in the catalogue.
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