Shop liquidation - where do I advertise?

Well, after 20 years in business and no success selling the shop as a whole, it is finally time to liquidate.

Where, besides here, ebay, and craigslist, is the best place to advertise?

Thanx,

Pat

Perfection Mold & Tool

[email protected]

You'll probably be able to make the fairest deals selling on PM--depends a bit on what you've got. I have
noticed lately that facebook marketplace has a lot of tools and such for sale; might be worth checking out...

First, what are your goals in selling the shop? Retirement, work for wages, stop paying rent on building, rent out building you own, move somewhere else? From a tax standpoint, do you want all the income this year, or would spread out over 2 or 3 years be better?

If you have a commercial building you are probably best with an auction. This moves everything at once and either stops the rent, or allows you to rent the building to someone else. An auction is most likely the best choice if you want to finish the business and work for wages. In this case, don't make piecemeal private sales. The desirable stuff sells easily, and then there is nothing to draw a crowd for whats left. Check fees and reputation of the auctioneer. I know some auctioneers I would hand the keys to the business, and others I wouldn't let on the place.

Private listings allow you to time sales. But unless you have a very good handle on the used machinery market in your area you will price some stuff to high and it won't sell and some stuff to cheap and it will move immediately. Plus you have to deal with lots of calls/messages and lots of low ball offers. If you are a successful negotiator this may return more money but it will require lots of time.

Do you have a list of equipment? I can tell you craigslist is becoming a waste of time. Facebook market place has been working much better for stuff we have been selling, but i have yet to list equipment, but for cars and 4wheelers it is moving stuff.Craigslist is just full of scams these days. Later Jason.

I think it was in the 1980-95 time frame that I attended (separate) auctions of two large machine shops in South Bend. One was South Bend Tool & Die Co., 1916 S. Main St. and I don't recall the name of the other shop. Auctions seem like a quick way to end a business, but the auctioneers certainly take a generous cut of the proceeds.

I used to visit two or three used machinery dealers in the area back then who seemed to be in the business of buying out shops. I know Machinery Supplies is gone (auctioned off), but maybe one or two dealers are still around. Niblock Machinery in Elkhart seems to still be going.

Larry

So, a few answers.
I will start listing here on PM, just had not gotten around to it yet.
Goals - am past retirement age, need to do it. Also want to cash out and sell the building.
Got a pretty good idea of what the stuff is potentially worth, and willing to deal to get rid of it, so no problem listing it pretty much everywhere
Not ready for an auction yet, gotta clean stuff up more and make it really sellable
Have a list / spreadsheet of stuff for sale if anyone is interested, e-mail me at [email protected]

I'll agree with gbent.

Yea, the auctioneer takes a cut, but it doesn't take too many bidding wars on pieces you would have priced too low to make up for it. Getting 85% of $100 is better than 100% of $50.

Last auction I bid at, there were a bunch of decent bench grinders, all of which were missing the guards, rests and shields. I expected them to go for $25-$50, and they all went for $100 and up.

5C collet fixtures you can buy for $25-$50 on ebay went for more than double that, and virtually all of them had oops marks on them.

Also, what is your time worth?

We sold my dad's basement machine shop and it took more than a year (we have day jobs), and we still have hundreds of pounds of tooling left that I am still sorting.

I have hundreds of pounds of fasteners, 50 lbs of drill bits, probably 100 lbs of end mills. I could sell them all as scrap, but that would be literally 5-10 cents on the dollar compared to what they are worth in a more organized fashion.

Steve

My own experience as a surplus dealer selling shops off piecemeal and setting up auctions. The advantage of an auction is everything sells in one day, your show piece right down to the wastebaskets. The little stuff adds up. And the buyers do the work. Its hard to overestimate the time and effort to empty out a shop much less dealing with the local tire kickers who will drive you nuts. Then you can put your building on the market now instead of 6 months from now and get on with your life.
however it depends on the mix. if all you have is a high end EDM or VMC etc with some support equipment, then it would make sense to try to max out your return for the high value item and don't worry about the cats and dogs. but if you have a typical job shop then an auction may be the best bet.
The other thing is thst it is distressing to take apart your lifes work which just makes it harder.