Britannia AuctionsWarehouse and logistics equipment sales in Edinburgh
Most warehouse sales in Edinburgh are smaller than the ones in the west, and that suits us. The city's industry is construction contractors, plant hire yards, food producers and distribution firms, and their stores are a unit at Sighthill with a counterbalance truck and thirty bays of racking, or a contractor's yard at Loanhead with shelving, a stacker and a container full of fittings. Newbridge, by the M8 and M9 junction, is where the larger sheds are, and produces the bigger sales when a distribution contract moves.
We sell all of it by online timed auction, catalogued on site or collected to our own premises when the unit is awkward. The western estates sit close to the motorways, though what a low loader can reach is checked on the visit rather than assumed. The auction is online and open to buyers from any part of the country, and the trade in Livingston, Dalkeith, Musselburgh and Bathgate, and over the Queensferry Crossing in Fife, is close enough to come and look. Tell us through the contact form what the store holds and when the lease ends.
Contractor stores and the kit inside them
A construction contractor's store is a warehouse that nobody calls one. Longspan shelving for fittings and fixings, pallet racking for bulk materials, a stacker or a rough terrain forklift, pallet trucks, stillages and lifting gear, often spread between a unit and a yard at Loanhead or Straiton. When a contractor winds down or moves to a smaller base, the whole lot comes to market together, and other contractors and plant hire yards across the Lothians use the same things.
We catalogue the stores side of the business separately from the plant, so that racking, shelving and trucks go to warehouse buyers and the site equipment goes to the construction trade. Lifting gear is listed with its examination dates. Small lots are the rule, because the firms nearby want a few bays or one truck rather than a whole fit out. Where a contractor is in administration, we work to the administrator's timescale and report to them at each stage.
Sighthill units and the single forklift sale
Many warehouse sales at Sighthill and Seven Hills are one forklift, a few runs of racking and the loose equipment around them. That is a job we take on gladly. The forklift is usually the most valuable single item, and a current report of thorough examination and a known hour count are what a warehouse or workshop bidder looks for first. Racking goes by run, which suits the trade counters and small distributors nearby, and the pallet trucks, roll cages and wrappers make a handful of small lots.
Because the unit is small, collection is usually straightforward. Buyers arrange and pay for removal, so vans take the loose lots by appointment, a haulier lifts the truck and the racking comes down in an agreed window. Where a unit is on a tight street at Seafield or Leith with no room to load, the truck and loose lots can be collected to our own premises and sold from there instead.
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 Edinburgh
- The landlord at our Newbridge shed wants the mezzanine to stay. Can we still sell the rest?
Yes. A mezzanine is often treated as part of the building under the lease, and if the landlord wants it to remain it comes out of the catalogue and everything else goes in. We sell the racking, shelving and trucks around it, and the shelving on the mezzanine deck can still be sold if it is freestanding. We confirm what is fixed and what is loose at the site visit and put it in writing before the catalogue goes out, so buyers and landlord work from the same list.
- We have near new racking bought two years ago mixed in with old runs. Should they be lotted separately?
Yes. Newer racking with the load notices still on the frames, and one manufacturer across a run, interests a different bidder from mixed older stock, which tends to go to dealers by the bay. We lot the new runs on their own with the frame heights, beam lengths and ratings, and group the older racking in larger lots. Keeping them apart lets each find its own level and makes the dismantling order simpler to agree.
More questions about warehouse equipment