Every piece of industrial equipment has a lifecycle. However, in many cases, these machines are removed from production before their full value is utilized. This equipment then becomes surplus to your business and costs your business money to retain and maintain it.
If this surplus asset does not have a use in your production, it is recommended to sell the surplus equipment to recover value, reduce holding costs and recover valuable storage space in your warehouse.
Let’s look at three simple steps that can help you sell your surplus assets online and for the best recovery rates. You will also learn certain handy tips along the way to help you understand how to better manage your surplus electrical equipment.
The process to sell used electrical equipment begins with identifying your surplus assets. The second step constitutes assessing the suitability of the identified equipment for sale, while the third step involves selecting the right sales channel.
Let’s elaborate on each one and understand its nuances.
You can identify your surplus electrical equipment by conducting proper asset audits at a full scale across all your facilities.
You could use the traditional method of creating an asset ledger and keeping records manually, or you could use software that helps you perform your asset audit.
Your audit records would contain information like the name of your electrical equipment, its type and current condition, the date of the audit, the location of your asset, maintenance schedules, and more.
The purpose of this information is to help you see which assets your business is not utilizing very well. This is the best way to identify surplus assets and avoid selling equipment that may be useful to you.
Once the audit is complete, you can print out a list of identified electrical surplus assets that need to be sold.
It is beneficial to leverage an asset management software to help you regularly keep track of your assets. This way, you would always have information on your assets handy when looking to optimize resource use and planning a sale of surplus equipment.
Your audit report will highlight all the industrial electrical equipment that are surplus to ongoing operations. However, there are certain concerns with the list of identified machinery:
To sell used electrical equipment efficiently, it needs to be presented well. The second step to sell electrical equipment is thus to create a catalog of your assets.
To make the buying process more interesting for your buyers, you can catalog your assets using the following methods:
Preparing lists and catalogs to sell used electrical equipment also means including the following information transparently:
It is best to look at your own equipment catalog from the perspective of electrical surplus buyers.
All the information and browsing conveniences that you would expect give you a fair idea of how your surplus assets catalog needs to be prepared. It also helps you set the right expectations for the buyers, eliminating the possibility of any disagreements in the future if a deal is secured.
There are many channels you can explore to sell your electrical surplus. The most popular selling methods are the following
Using an auctioneer to sell electrical surplus is one of the quickest ways to sell your surplus equipment. However this option might not be right for your business. Auctioneers often require a significant amount of assets to conduct a sale. If you are looking to sell equipment to ongoing operations an auctioneer might not be an option. On top of requiring a large amount of equipment Auctioneers typically charge you a seller’s premium or take proceeds from the recovery value resulting in a lower recovery rate for your assets.
Consignment sales offer you a solution to quickly recover storage space by allowing you to ship your equipment to a 3rd party who will store and attempt to sell your equipment on your behalf. This method of selling does not offer a quick solution to your surplus, as you only receive payment on the equipment when the seller makes a sale.
Private treaty sales can be used when your equipment is too specialized to interest a large group of buyers. You would then need to get in touch with an interested buyer individually and secure a direct sale. It would help to foster a network of buyers who have a need for equipment similar to yours so a direct sale can be arranged more readily and without needing much marketing.
When it comes to selling used industrial equipment online marketplaces trump every other method of sale. There are quite a few benefits that come when you sell used industrial equipment at online marketplaces:
Selling industrial surplus assets can seem like a daunting task in the beginning. However, with the right information and sales channels, you can receive the best price possible from the sale of your surplus assets.
All you need to do is establish certain practices at your facility that would help you later with identifying surplus equipment and streamlining the downstream sales process. Alternatively, the easier, simpler method is to sign up on a reliable marketplace like Aucto.
Aucto is an online marketplace dedicated to helping you sell industrial assets that you don’t need anymore. The platform aims to establish a circular economy for industrial assets and hopes to reduce the environmental burden on the planet in this way while connecting interested buyers with owners ready to sell.
Ready to learn more about selling industrial equipment on Aucto? Click here to talk with one our asset recovery specialists