Britannia AuctionsWarehouse and logistics equipment sales in Cardiff
A builders merchant yard and a steel stockholder's store have one thing in common: they store lengths, not pallets. Around the docks and the Wentloog estates that is a large part of the warehouse stock, alongside the fleet depots and food producers that use standard pallet racking and counterbalance trucks. When a merchant branch closes or a stockholder moves down the coast, the equipment is heavier and longer than the average warehouse sale.
We sell it by online timed auction from the yard or unit, or the lots can come to our own premises and be sold there. Vehicle access, turning space, door dimensions and the state of the yard are checked when we walk the site and described in the catalogue, whichever estate the unit sits on. Bidding is online and open nationally, and the trade in Newport, Barry, Caerphilly and Bridgend is within reach of a viewing day. Use the contact form to tell us what the yard holds and the date it has to be clear.
Yards that store lengths rather than pallets
Cantilever racking, A frames, bar racks and timber storage sheds hold material that a normal pallet rack cannot, and the trucks that serve them are different too. Side loaders, four way forklifts and rough terrain trucks are common in merchant yards, and each has its own buyers. We describe the racking by arm length and rating, the trucks by hours and attachment, and we photograph the yard layout so buyers can see how the runs relate.
The trades that use this equipment are other merchants, timber firms, fabricators and steel stockholders, and South Wales has a good number of them able to get to a viewing day without a long trip. Side loaders are also marketed to the dealers who resell that kind of truck nationally. Weather tells on outdoor racking, so we say which runs have stood outside and what condition they are in. Counter fittings, trolleys and small shelving from a merchant branch are lotted small, so a trade counter on the same estate can bid for what it needs.
Reach along the M4 and up the valleys
Cardiff is the largest industrial market in South Wales, and a sale here sits within easy reach of a wide area. Pontypridd and Caerphilly are a run down the valleys, Bridgend and Llantrisant are along the M4, and Newport and Cwmbran are a short drive east. That matters because transport is one of the costs a bidder prices in, so we set out the access and the loading arrangements and let them work theirs out.
We market each sale to the trades that use the equipment as well as to a general list, and online bidding brings in the rest of the UK. Collection works off the A48(M) and the A4232 link road for the eastern estates and the Bay, which keeps buyers' lorries out of the centre. Collection days are agreed with you to suit a working yard, and the order, usually small lots first, then the trucks, then the racking, is settled for the site rather than fixed in advance.
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 Cardiff
- We are a builders merchant in Leckwith closing a branch. Do the timber sheds and the yard racking sell?
The racking sells. Cantilever runs, bar racks and A frames go to other merchants and to steel and timber firms, and we lot them by run with the arm lengths and ratings. Timber sheds and canopies are structures rather than equipment, and whether they can be sold depends on the lease. If they are yours and the landlord does not want them, a buyer would have to dismantle and remove them, and what that makes depends on the condition and the cost of taking them down. We give you a view on that at the site visit.
- Our racking is galvanised and has stood outside for years. Is it worth selling?
Usually, yes. Galvanised outdoor racking is the same thing merchants and yard operators put up themselves, and condition decides the level. We inspect each run for bent arms, corrosion at the base plates and missing safety pins, and describe what we find. A run in fair order interests the same trades. A run with structural damage may be worth no more than scrap, and we say so before you commit. It can go into the same auction as the trucks and the indoor racking, under one instruction.
More questions about warehouse equipment