Britannia AuctionsWarehouse and logistics equipment sales in Norwich
A warehouse in Norfolk may be a barn. Food and drink processors, agricultural machinery dealers and packaging firms are spread through the villages as much as the city, and their stores range from a modern unit at Broadland Business Park to a steel framed shed at the end of a farm track. The equipment is much the same, pallet racking, a counterbalance truck, a stretch wrapper and a pallet truck or two, but the sale has to be planned around the building.
We sell warehouse and logistics equipment by online timed auction, on site where the yard can take a lorry and from our own premises where it cannot. The bigger sheds near the airport and at Longwater run like any distribution sale. The village sites need a look first. Tell us where you are and what you have, and we will come out and see it.
Cold rooms, wash down racking and the food trade
Food and drink firms are the largest source of warehouse equipment in the county, and their kit has a market of its own. Galvanised or plastic coated racking from chill and wash down areas, plastic pallets, insulated roll containers, pallet scales and label printers, and powered pallet trucks that have spent their lives in a cold store. A packing line of conveyors, check weighers and a stretch wrapper comes out with it when a contract ends or a processor moves to a bigger unit.
Other food firms across Norfolk and down the A11 use this kit, and general warehouse bidders take the standard racking and the trucks. We lot the packing line so it can go as one or in parts, check that scales have calibration labels and record whether the racking is rated for chill use. The trade in Great Yarmouth, Wymondham, Dereham and Diss is well placed to attend the viewing, and dealers bid online from the rest of the UK.
Farm dealers and the yard at the end of the lane
Agricultural machinery dealers keep parts stores that are heavier than they look. Cantilever racking for long parts, heavy duty pallet racking for engines and gearboxes, bin shelving for the small parts, and a forklift with a fork positioner for the awkward lifts. When a dealership closes or a franchise moves, the same equipment is used by other dealers, fabricators and steel stockholders.
The difficulty is the approach. Many of these yards are outside the ring road, down a lane that will not take an articulated lorry and with a gateway that a rigid lorry has to reverse through. So we check the track, the gateway, the turning space and the hard standing before the sale is listed, put what we find in the catalogue and tell bidders what vehicle the site takes. Where the yard will not do, collection to our premises can be arranged and the lots sold from there. Either way the racking and the truck go in front of the same trades, and the yard clears on a date agreed with you.
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 Norwich
- Our warehouse is a converted barn outside Dereham. Can buyers collect from there?
Often yes, with some planning. We look at the track, the gateway and the hard standing before we list the sale, and we describe the access honestly in the catalogue so nobody turns up with a vehicle that cannot get in. Collection then runs by slot with one vehicle at a time. If the barn has no forklift left to load with, one can be held back until the last day or brought in, where that is agreed. If the track is too poor, everything can be collected to our premises and sold from there.
- Is a small warehouse sale out here in Norfolk worth running?
It can be. Bidding is online, so a firm in the Midlands or the North sees the sale on the same screen as one in Wymondham, and the dealers who trade racking and forklifts in volume bid nationally and send a haulier. The county trade and the firms along the A47 are close enough to view in person. Thirty or forty lots from a food store or a dealer's parts department is a workable sale, and smaller consignments can be combined at our premises where that suits.
More questions about warehouse equipment