MST Auctioneers

MST Auctioneers is a Devon-based firm whose client list tells you exactly what turns up in its sales: insolvency practitioners, receivers, bailiffs and solicitors. It is a specialist rather than a volume platform — the work is valuing and disposing of the assets of businesses that have failed or are being wound down, and the auctions are the disposal end of that process.

What you can buy

• Business inventories: the working contents of companies in administration or liquidation.
• Machinery and workshop equipment: production and trade equipment from closures.
• Catering and hospitality: kitchen and bar fit-outs from failed venues.
• Office and IT: furniture, computing and telephony.
• Stock: remaining trading inventory, sold in lots.

How the bidding works

Two routes run in parallel. Auctions are the usual competitive sales, listed as upcoming and past on the site. Private treaty sales are the alternative: assets offered at a negotiated price outside an auction, which insolvency practitioners often prefer when a going concern or a single high-value item needs a quick, quiet disposal. Both are listed on the same site, so check which one a listing is before assuming you can bid on it. Register and log in to take part.

What to check before you bid

Assets sold on behalf of an insolvency practitioner come with no warranty and, frequently, no history — the practitioner is realising property they took over days earlier and cannot answer detailed questions about how a machine was maintained. Title can also be qualified: equipment on lease or hire purchase may not belong to the estate at all, and the sale conditions will say so. Read them. Collection is from the failed business's premises within the window the practitioner has agreed with the landlord, which is usually the hardest constraint in the whole transaction.