John Pye Auctions

John Pye Auctions is the trading name of John Pye & Sons Limited (company number 02564753), a family-run auction house founded in 1968 and registered in Nottingham. Its Business Assets department has taken instructions from turnaround, recovery and insolvency practitioners for close to 30 years, alongside banks, lenders and government authorities. Stock arrives from administrations, liquidations, receiverships and bankruptcies, and from retailers clearing returns. Sales are timed online auctions, with viewing and collection sites across England, Wales and Scotland plus one at Bisimbre near Zaragoza in Spain.

What you can buy

• Plant and business assets: factory machinery, workshop equipment and whole-site clearances, from a single item to an entire business, sold from a saleroom or on site at the closed business.
• Vehicles: cars, vans, motorbikes, commercial and articulated vehicles, motorhomes and caravans, around 15,000 a year, in sales opening Monday and closing Wednesday.
• Retail returns and overstock: ex-display, clearance, end-of-line, customer returns and failed deliveries; past administration jobs include Wilko, Made.com and Moore Large bicycle stock.
• IT and electricals: desktops and iMacs, laptops and MacBooks, tablets, phones, drones, games consoles and cameras, some refurbished and data-wiped in-house at Marchington.
• Police, government and luxury: seized and public-sector surplus, jewellery and watches; land and buildings go through John Pye Property.

How the bidding works

You register an account online; private individuals aged 18 or over bid alongside traders, and John Pye puts its buyers at roughly 70% end users, 30% dealers. Bidding is timed and proxy-based: you submit a maximum bid and the system bids for you. A "Three Minute Rule" applies: a bid in the final three minutes pushes the close out by another three, so lots rarely end on the published clock. A deposit may be required before you can take part. Payment is due in full by 11.59pm on the working day after the sale, in pounds sterling only, by bank transfer, CHAPS or online card payment; Amex is not accepted. Goods must be collected by 5pm on the working day after payment clears, though a nominated carrier can deliver some lots.

What to check before you bid

Buyer's premium is usually 25% of the hammer price, with VAT charged on that premium. On many lots VAT at the standard rate also applies to the hammer price itself, stated only in that lot's notes, so read them first. Company credit cards carry a 1.5% surcharge and company debit cards 0.75%. Lots are sold as seen with no grading or guarantee and may include untested items, raw returns, repossessed and seized goods. Sales with a public viewing run under terms that require you to view the lot in person first and give no right to cancel or return; remote sales, where viewing is barred, leave a consumer the statutory 14-day cancellation right. Miss the collection window and you face a £35 plus VAT admin fee plus £10 plus VAT per lot per day storage; walking away from a purchase costs £135 plus VAT per lot. Sterling payment, UK collection and post-Brexit customs and import VAT belong in an EU buyer's budget.

Access note: bidding runs at johnpyeauctions.co.uk. The corporate domain johnpye.co.uk now redirects every address to a host that refuses connections, so older links to it — including ones search engines still hold — lead nowhere. The auction site itself sits behind a bot filter and may show a brief security check before it loads.