Britannia AuctionsWarehouse and logistics equipment sales in Northampton
Pallet networks and parcel carriers run Northampton's big sheds, and their equipment is built for throughput rather than storage. A cross dock at Brackmills or Swan Valley has dock levellers along both faces, a fleet of powered pallet trucks and counterbalance trucks, a sortation line or a run of conveyors, and hundreds of roll cages and pallet boxes. When a depot closes or the operator moves to a bigger unit at Pineham, most of that has to go in a matter of weeks.
We sell it by online timed auction from the site, with a viewing day and collection days set around the last outbound load. The smaller stores in the town, from footwear factories to print firms on Moulton Park, sell through the same route with more lots and fewer big machines. Use the contact form to tell us what you have and when the building must be empty.
Cross docks and the fleet of small trucks
A cross dock does not need tall racking, so the value is in the moving equipment. Twenty or thirty powered pallet trucks, a handful of counterbalance trucks, tow tractors and the battery chargers that keep them running are the core of the sale. Bidders want the hours, the battery age and the latest report of thorough examination on each machine, and a truck with all of that to hand is the kind a haulier in Wellingborough or Daventry can put straight to work.
Roll cages, pallet boxes and dollies go in lots of ten and twenty, which suits other carriers and retailers with back of house stores. Conveyors and sortation are harder. A fixed line has to be decommissioned and taken out in sections, at the buyer's cost, so we describe it with the removal in mind and agree a longer window. Dock levellers and shelters suit fit out contractors and landlords refitting a shed nearby.
Footwear factory stores and the mezzanine over the floor
Shoe making is still going in the town, and a factory that closes or moves leaves a stores that is nothing like a distribution shed. Longspan shelving in tight aisles for lasts and components, a mezzanine floor above the factory floor with more shelving on it, a stacker rather than a forklift, and the packing equipment at the door. The building is often old, on a street near the town centre, with a loading bay that takes a van.
The mezzanine is the awkward lot. It can be sold, but the buyer arranges and pays for the dismantling and that takes days, so its collection goes at the end of the window and bidders are told what access they will have. Where the street cannot take a collection day at all, collection to our premises can be arranged and the lot sold there alongside other consignments. The shelving suits other small manufacturers and trade counters, and the trade in Kettering, Market Harborough and Rugby is well placed to attend the viewing.
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 Northampton
- Our depot handles peak parcel volumes in the autumn. When should we sell to catch buyers?
Before the peak, if the handover lets you. Carriers and hauliers fit out for the autumn from late summer, so a sale that closes in August or September puts powered pallet trucks, roll cages and chargers in front of them while they are buying. If your own peak means the depot is busy until December, a January sale still reaches the dealers who hold stock for the year. Timing is one factor among condition, specification and removal cost, and we work the dates back from your last load out.
- We are a haulier at Brackmills selling the yard. Can the warehouse equipment go in the same sale as the trailers?
Yes, and that is usually the sensible route. One catalogue covering the trailers, the forklifts, the racking and the workshop equipment means one viewing day and one set of collection days, and the yard shunter and pallet trucks sit in front of the same trade as the trailers. We catalogue the vehicles with their plating and test dates and the warehouse kit with its inspection reports. Anything on hire purchase or lease is the funder's until the agreement is settled and can only go in with their agreement.
More questions about warehouse equipment