Industrial Auctions

Industrial Auctions is a Dutch online auctioneer with a stated specialism: food and beverage processing machinery. That focus is unusual and useful, because food plant is a market of its own — the buyers are other food producers and the machines are valued on throughput, hygiene certification and compatibility rather than on general condition. Sales come largely from bankruptcies and closures, catalogued plant by plant.

What you can buy

• Food processing machinery: the core specialism, from single machines to complete lines.
• Cooling and catering equipment: refrigeration and commercial kitchen plant.
• Packaging equipment: the downstream end of a food line.
• General plant and handling: whatever else the site being cleared contains.

How the bidding works

Auctions are numbered and each states its subject and location plainly — a bankruptcy clearance at a named company, with the town given. Viewing days are published with times, and the closing date is fixed. That combination of a named seller, a stated location and a real viewing window is the mark of a house that expects buyers to inspect. Register to bid; the interface is available in eight languages.

What to check before you bid

Attend the viewing if the lot matters. Food machinery carries questions no photograph answers: what it was processing, how it was cleaned, whether the certification travels with it. Lots sit at the plant being cleared rather than at a depot, so dismantling — often involving stainless pipework and services — is yours to arrange within the removal window. Check the buyer's premium and whether the lot falls under the margin scheme before calculating your bid.