Every year hundreds of small business owners in the USA and Canada are retiring or closing up shop and moving on to the next phase of their life. While many of these businesses are able to sell themselves to a larger company or competitor, or perhaps they have a successor lined up to take the reins. It’s not always clear what happens when there’s no one ready to take over and run your business.
This is a much more common problem in the year 2022 than it was 20-30 years ago. The hands on, machinery, manufacturing, “blue collar” type skill set is becoming rarer with each passing year. It’s shocking to see that many of these businesses, while very profitable, end up closing their doors for good when the primary owner retires, but that’s the reality we live in now.
So, what do you do with all that machinery and equipment you’ve built up over decades? Your best bet is to start advertising it and trying to sell it all. You have a couple options when trying to sell your used and surplus machinery.
Research Pricing and Industry Trends
Reach out to local dealers on Surplus Record in your area with similar machinery. Get a feel for pricing and how certain attachments or addons on your machine affect demand and pricing. You can even use our free service to post a “For Sale” which only goes to SR Dealers who may buy your machine on the spot. This is an excellent choice if you have just 1 or 2 machines you need to dump and get rid of ASAP.
Clean or Refurbish Used Machinery
Make sure you clean your machine before you take a photo. If you’ve upgraded it over the years, don’t forget to include that information too! It’s critical to keep an eye on basic maintenance until the equipment is no longer in your hands. You’ll not only preserve/improve the value of your equipment, but you’ll also guarantee a smooth sales process by eliminating potential complaints regarding the equipment’s quality and cleanliness from interested buyers.
Use Auctions Sell Equipment Fast
If you’re pressed for time, and you don’t own your warehouse and need to vacate your property within a few months, it’s probably best to try and auction your equipment. You’ll want to find an appraiser (some recommended appraisers can be found here who are all AMEA accredited) and find out a rough estimated value of all your equipment.
From there, you’ll need to find an auctioneer that has experience in machinery and industrial type auctions. The good news is many appraisers are also auctioneers. You wouldn’t want to bring in an auctioneer that specializes in real estate auctions to try and sell all your engine lathes or grinders for example.
Choosing the correct Auctioneer can really make or break your auction. One of the most important questions you should be asking your auctioneer is what their marketing plan is for your auction. If they don’t have a marketing plan to push out your auction to the masses to let the world know all the machinery and equipment that is being sold at your shop, then your auction is already doomed.
While Surplus Record is not an auction house, we certainly work with every major industrial machinery auctioneer in the country and help all of them with marketing for their auctions to find the right people to invite and bid on the machines being auctioned. At Surplus Record, we act as matchmakers for auctioneers to find end users to invite to their auctions that will be interested in purchasing the machinery being auctioned.
The auction world is definitely a large and complicated one, but we can help you cut through the noise and get you going in the right direction, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions!
Use Listings for a Controlled Way to Sell
Perhaps you’re not being rushed to get of all your machinery out by a certain deadline. Or maybe you don’t have that many machines in the first place. Or maybe you’re an expert on these machines and believe you would be the best salesman for selling them piecemeal to get the highest price instead of a bundled auction. You’ll want to advertise your machinery and equipment to let the world know what you have for sale.
The best place to sell used or surplus machinery online is on Surplus Record. There’s no commission, and you pay one low monthly fee to keep your machines online being advertised and in our monthly printed catalog of machinery and equipment for sale.
Without putting your machines online or in print, you’re stuck to trying to call machine shops within a 50-mile radius of you in hopes they will buy your machine. Doing that you’ll likely end up getting less money for your machines than if you advertised them nationally on Surplus Record. Each machinery listing on Surplus Record lets you upload 10 photos, a video of the machine under power, spec sheets and more.
One of the most daunting tasks when trying to sell machinery online is creating your listing titles, descriptions, setting up the photos, making sure you’re advertising the correct keywords for your machine so the most amount of people find it, ensuring you chose the correct machine category, etc. Surplus Record handles all of that for you. All you need to do is supply us with the photos and information you have on file, and our team of machine experts will take care of the rest.
You’ll even get your customized web page with your company name on it which you can share with anyone. Your unique page has your company logo, information about your company, along with all the machinery and equipment you currently have for sale on the web page. So now you can have a “one stop shop” to send out to any potential buyers that you know which houses all your equipment for sale and your contact information. Check out this link for more information on setting up listings on Surplus Record.
Provide as Much Information as Possible
Write a thorough description of the machinery or equipment. This should include an informative summary of the machine, key specs, any reports of upgrades or maintenance, model number, etc. If you still own the product’s manual, that’s even better!
Show as Much of Your Machine as Possible
When photographing your equipment, take full, high-resolution photos. A prospective buyer will be hesitant to invest in a machine that they can’t see. For your initial photo, make sure the entire machine is in clear view.
Be Sure That Your Machinery Is in Good Condition
If your business is able and financially equipped to repair damaged or poorly functioning equipment before selling, it’s probably in your best interest to do so. More often than not, repairing the machinery will increase its value and thus improve the chances of making a sale. A machine in good working order will always sell faster than one that needs fixing.
Leverage your current customer base and network
Reach out to your existing customer base. Oftentimes, you’re more likely to make a sale with a returning customer as you’ve already established a rapport and have proven to be a trustworthy business partner.
Start to think about who you would want to email that may be interested in your machinery and equipment. Or utilize our 140,000+ database of qualified machinery buyers at manufacturers in the US and Canada.
When it’s time to close up shop, don’t let your valuable machines go to waste. Make sure you find the best home for them without leaving any money on the table. Used machinery and surplus machinery & equipment is extremely hot right now!
While you may think your machine is 50+ years old and no one wants it, you would be surprised. Even the parts for your machine may be worth thousands of dollars. So, before you “scrap it” reach out Surplus Record to get an estimated value of your machine and learn more about how much it might sell for!
