Sell with Equip-Bid
Sell Restaurant Equipment
Whether you're selling a few items to make space in your kitchen or liquidating your entire restaurant, Equip-Bid is here to help. Most often, restaurant liquidations occur due to one of the following reasons:
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Store Closure
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Remodeling / Upgrade of the Equipment
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A Major Need of Funds.
In order to make sure you get the best value for the items and handle your situation, you should ask yourself the following questions:
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Do these items need to be gone by a certain point?
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Are these items costing me more in storage and inconvenience by being here?
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Is time, or profit more important to me in this situation?
If the answer is yes, an online auction is the solution!
You have 3 main options in regards with selling a lot of items:
1. Sell Directly to a Similar Business
If you can find a similar business that is interested in buying them, it may be well worth your time and effort to sell in this way. Someone in the same business as you is going to value your items. Generally speaking, items on auction will sell for about 25% of their retail value, so compare that to whatever prices you are offered. This tends to more often be an option when you are remodeling and less often when you are dealing with a store closure, as bad times in the market tend to affect potential buyers as well. Overall, this is frequently the best option but is rarely available.
2. Sell Directly to a Restaurant Equipment Dealer
Wholesale equipment dealers are usually happy to purchase items for cash, but the value may be much lower than you would like. Expect to be offered 10% of whatever you paid for the item, as the reseller will need to purchase for cheap in order to make a profit.
3. Sell via an Online Auction
Online auctions such as the ones we run at Equip-bid offer the possibility of decently high returns with the least amount of labor on your part. Typically, online auction companies will offer to take care of the problem in return for a sales commission and some expenses (marketing, set up, removal, etc). Online auctions tend to run for 7-14 days, and at the end of the auction, most items will have sold. If an auction is run correctly and in the right conditions, it can offer decent financial returns closer to fair market value and help you handle the sale in one fell swoop.
If you choose to sell via an online auction, there are a few things to consider, in order to get the best value for your items.
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Auctions run for 14 days tend to achieve the best results. Shorter auctions run the risk of not being noticed and longer ones run the risk of bidders losing interest.
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Auctions without sufficient marketing behind them bring the smallest returns. It’s usually worth not skimping on the advertising. Expect to pay $200 for every $5,000 that the auction will bring.
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Select an auction site with a decent amount of existing buyers. If an auction is run by a site that offers very low listing fees but has very few buyers, you will not get good returns on your items.
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Reserves discourage bidding considerably. There is a temptation when doing an auction to ask for a reserve on an item. However, items with reserves tend to do much worse than items without them, as people do not engage at early pricing levels with the item and are effectively bidding against the seller. If you need a high reserve on an item, consider simply selling it via a different method if you can.
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On-site auctions generally do much better than auctions in warehouses. If you have to move everything to a warehouse, you will be spending time, effort, and money to reduce the value of your items. If you have the option, an on-site auction is almost always a better choice.
If you have any questions about online resale or are interested in selling your stuff via an online auction with Equip-Bid.com, please call us using the number below.
