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Equipment and Surplus Channels
By Michael Lawrence
Purchasing equipment through used or heavily discounted channels can bring great cost savings
to businesses. Industrial assets, high technology manufacturing, process equipment, back office
equipment, integrated circuits and even complete plants can be purchased at a fraction of the cost
of new. This savings is not without risk and effort so it is best to pursue these purchases with as
much information as possible regarding buying methods and the terms of the sale. This series of
articles will cover purchasing at auction, including live auctions and online auctions, with additional
segments on purchasing from brokers and dealers. An overview of these different purchasing
channels will be provided along with suggestions and guidance to help you through the process.
In addition links are provided to some of the channels we are familiar with.
Purchasing Overview
There are an extensive number of buying options within the alternative business to business
(B2B) purchasing channels. To keep this manageable we’ll focus on three major categories,
each having a number of sub-components; Auctions, Brokers and Dealers. If you are interested in
utilizing an alternative channel for a major purchase your first major hurdle may be your own
company’s purchasing policies. Small or privately held businesses may not have an issue here
however most large corporations have gone through great lengths to establish purchasing
management policies that may include, vendor management to limit who you purchase from,
payment terms controlling when you pay, warranty requirements and more. The purchasing
channels that typically offer the greatest discounts include auctions, as well as equipment
brokers. Typically payment is required prior to shipping, and items are sold without warranty.
These terms of sale are often unacceptable to major corporations and regardless of savings
opportunity, make these transactions not viable. Used equipment dealers as well as consignment
resellers, who will be more clearly defined later in this series of articles, often add value to the
transactions and the equipment, making this a viable option for most purchasing managers.
Buying at Auction
Over the past 5 years there have been substantial changes in the auction industry driven in large
part by the internet. Access to these sales has improved dramatically with the ability to listen, view
and bid remotely and there has been a substantial roll up within the industry. The tools now
employed by auction companies include the traditional live auction, live auction with webcast and
online auction.
Other Sections of This Article Series
Business Purchasing
Live Auction Purchasing
Online Auction Purchasing
Broker, Dealer and Consignment
Services Please Contact US.
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ESPRE Partners, Inc