What are the ideas for selling heavy machinery and tools? You may want to sell part of your equipment for a number of reasons. Perhaps you no longer require it, or it needs to be replaced.
Perhaps you wish to get a better model or it isn’t being used.
A statistical analysis reveals that 92% of respondents indicated they were selling their PCs because of their age, 40-50% because they couldn’t keep up with the maintenance, and 30% because they weren’t being used.
Whatever the reason, it is not always simple to sell secondhand equipment because it can be challenging to estimate its value after years of usage and abuse.
Be at ease, though! This post will provide you with some helpful advice that will enable you to quickly turn a profit on your old machinery.
Here are the ideas for selling heavy machinery and tools, so let’s get started!
Know the Value of Your Equipment
The first step you should do if you’re considering selling some of your construction equipment is to determine its value.
You’ve put a lot of money into your equipment and its upkeep; it only makes sense that you’d want to maximize your profit when you sell it.
Imagine that you want to sell your forklift and you advertise it on an internet auction site, but the buyers aren’t really interested in it. You’re perplexed because it’s fairly new and in decent shape.
You can be pricing it too expensive, which is the reason why you’re not selling it. Furthermore, if you want to sell it quickly, you must set a fair price.
How do you go about doing that?
Getting a professional appraisal is the best option.
You can optimize the financial gain from your sale by determining the market value with the aid of a secondhand machinery dealer.
For instance, Michael Cohen, the head equipment buyer at Aaron Equipment Company, regularly assists his clients with evaluations and has some insightful advice.
His best piece of advise is to think about the age of your equipment differently. The reason is that age does not necessarily have a negative effect on value.
The forklift you just bought might not be as valuable as you think it is in comparison to other older versions.
Look at Selling Options
Let’s look into some of your possibilities now that you know how to determine how much the machinery you’re selling is worth.
Selling construction equipment is difficult, as we’ve already discussed; it’s a niche industry, and selecting the best selling strategy can be challenging.
Let’s imagine you’ve been trying to sell the forklift from our earlier example for months with no luck.
It’s important to realize that selling construction equipment is different from selling a car because few individuals are interested in buying bulldozers or excavators.
Therefore, exercise patience since the ideal buyer might not show up straight away. For instance, selling 972M wheel loaders might take up to 105 days, according to MachineryTrader.com.
We’ll go over the finest options for selling your equipment so you can hasten that process.
There are currently two main ways to sell your equipment: locally, at an actual auction, or online.
The majority of sellers prefer to do their business online, even if some people still favor real auctions because it can be expensive and time-consuming to bring equipment to an auction site.
According to statistics, 88% of respondents overall stated they would buy at least some of their machinery online, and another 84% said they would sell their machinery through online channels.
These assertions are supported by Howard Hawk, the CEO of the online heavy equipment marketplace Bidaoo. He notes that, particularly during the pandemic, online auctions have grown steadily over the past three decades.
Selling machinery and equipment online has benefits apart from just time and money savings.
For instance, you can showcase your equipment to a larger audience, which can help you sell it more quickly.
Social media is helpful when trying to sell your equipment online. Yes, you read that right—even large machinery ends up on social media in the modern world.
In fact, 75% of buyers of heavy equipment utilize social media to help them make the best decision, according to Linkedin.
We all know, for instance, that Instagram is a very popular social networking platform; you presumably already use it to upload images of your travels, pets, and loved ones. So instead of trying to sell that forklift, why not upload some pictures of it?
Just be sure to take lots of pictures of it or, even better, film it so that potential customers can see it in action. The appropriate hashtags could help you quickly find your buyer, so you never know!
In the section that follows, we’ll provide you some advice on how to showcase your equipment to its greatest advantage.
In a similar way, you can advertise your machinery on Facebook by uploading pictures to niche groups like Heavy Construction Equipment for Sale or Rent or Heavy Equipment World.
As an alternative, you can increase your reach by using Facebook ads.
Consider marketing your equipment on online markets, whether they are broad like Craigslist or specialist like the aforementioned MachineryTrader or IronPlanet, if social media is not your thing.
Now that you are aware of your main choices, it is up to you to decide which one you like.
Display Your Equipment Well
Finding your platform is only the beginning of your job. Present your equipment in the best possible light if you want to increase your chances of selling it.
People are visual creatures; they like order and beauty, especially in the case of tools and machines used in building. You will definitely make a nice sale if you work to present it properly and make all required repairs.
How can you ensure that your equipment looks its best then? Here are a few pointers!
begin by cleaning. Make sure your equipment is pristine so it will appear newer and show the buyer that it has been well cared for.
Of course, you should confirm that it was actually maintained correctly, since even the most costly and ideal piece of equipment can operate poorly if it has been mistreated or exposed to the elements.
You might need to spend one or two days deep cleaning, but it will be worthwhile, we guarantee.
The next and most important suggestion is to take pictures and videos of the equipment.
Take good images when it comes to photography. Take at least 20 pictures using a high-resolution camera so you have more options.
Additionally, our ideas for selling heavy machinery and tools is to be careful to capture all sides of your equipment while concentrating on the details.
Make careful to employ the right lighting if you want to shoot excellent pictures. With adequate lighting, everything will appear better; this is true for both people and machinery.
Make sure it’s extremely bright and not simply your camera’s flash mode.
It should also go without saying that you should consider the environment. Make sure it’s at least neat and clean, even if it’s not artistic.
There you have it, then. Following these suggestions can help you present your equipment in the best possible light; it’s really not that difficult.
Be open and honest about the deal.
Did you know that it is in your best advantage to be open and honest about the state of the equipment you are attempting to sell?
Although many sellers enjoy embellishing details when listing their products, doing so will eventually be detrimental to their sales in this market.
Customers expect openness and honesty, so you should provide them with both.
As an illustration, this page shows a used rigid dump truck that is for sale. The seller has openly acknowledged the machine’s seven flaws and mentioned that general service is advised.
To be even more open, he also produced a video of the dump track in use. Take note of the engine close-ups:
How can you use this as a model? The significance of including images and videos has previously been discussed, but some further advice would be helpful.
The ideas for selling heavy machinery and tools is first, be careful to accurately describe your equipment. You ought to be as specific as you can in your description.
Even if your equipment is in perfect shape, refrain from using the adjective “excellent condition” since the buyer might take it to suggest that the machine will perform like it just came off the assembly line.
Your supporting documentation will be useful in this situation. Maintenance logs can help you prove your statements regarding the condition of the equipment you’re attempting to sell, which is a fantastic method to gain the trust of potential purchasers.
In this sense, equipment management software can be quite helpful. How? Read on.
With the appropriate equipment management software, such as that provided by equipment planet, you can access all the pertinent information.
Including the purchase date, usage history, and maintenance history, online or in the app.
It is conveniently located there for both you and your customers.
Our final piece of advice is to delete everything that isn’t part of the sale, which is something that most people don’t even consider doing.
What we mean by that is as follows.
Since we’ve already mentioned how important ideas for selling heavy machinery and tools is, many merchants include pictures or videos of their machines in use.
The purchasers, though, might be confused if your photographs show attachments you’re not selling because they’ll presume they’re getting everything they see.
In light of this, we urge you to only share images of the attachments and accessories that are sold together.
To summarize, you should always provide the buyer with images, papers, and maintenance records to show you’ve taken care of your equipment.
To draw in high-quality buyers, provide as much information as you can and be completely honest about everything.
Think about the impact on taxes
Taxes can be challenging, but it’s crucial to keep track of them while you sell your construction apparatus and equipment because doing so can spare you a lot of headaches and restless nights.
Perhaps you’re wondering why they’re so crucial. You will have a gain or loss for tax purposes after selling your machine, I suppose.
Simply simply, if the buyer pays more than the market worth for your computer, you’ll owe taxes.
If so, the IRS will tax you based on how old your forklift is.
For instance, if your equipment is older than three years, it will undoubtedly be underpriced and so 100% taxable.
What if you’re marketing a more recent model? Consider a scenario in which you’ve had it for 1.5 years. Depending on your tax bracket, you will in this situation owe the IRS 20% of your profit.
Before selling your equipment, always speak with a reputable tax advisor to be sure there are no unforeseen taxes.
Although you may have to pay for the guidance, choosing the correct professional and applying these ideas for selling heavy machinery and tools will ultimately result in cost savings.
In conclusion, remember to save aside some cash for your tax obligation when selling construction equipment.
Create connections to help with future sales
The best is saved until last! Since you’ll probably be selling more equipment in the future, aim to establish relationships with your customers to boost subsequent sales.
Reaching out to prior clients is, as many will concur, one of the best ways to sell construction equipment.
Since your prior customers are already familiar with what you have to offer, making a sale to them will be much simpler because you won’t have to spend as much time trying to persuade them that they are getting a good bargain.
How then do good relationships develop?
Let’s use Caterpillar as an example, the leading producer of construction machinery worldwide in 2020.
While many businesses don’t give much thought to after-sales services, Caterpillar benefited by 24.8 billion dollars.
So how did they accomplish that? We appreciate independent retailers!
Working closely with the dealers enabled them to satisfy the needs of their customers.
How is that even doable? Simply put, independent dealers are better equipped than the corporation itself to understand the demands of their clients.
You would believe that the corporation would benefit more if it distributed and maintained its equipment on its own, but Caterpillar specialists think otherwise.
According to their observations, close relationships with the clients that their dealers bring in are completely worthwhile.
They point out, for instance, that their independent dealers in Thailand are significantly more knowledgeable about the local market than Caterpillar is.
They are better able to connect with clients since they are locals than a big business like Caterpillar might be.
Of course, Caterpillar had to build strong relationships with the dealers and acquaint them with their business model in order to fully benefit from this partnership.
Why not take advice from the experts?
Build email lists and try contacting dealers. At the absolute least, you can stay in touch with your previous clients and let them know about your impending sales via email and social media channels.
Conclusion
Your two main objectives should be to sell your construction machines and equipment as quickly as you can and to earn the highest price.
Even though doing both can be challenging, using the tips we provided in this post should significantly ease your burden.
Therefore, be sure to obtain a reliable quote, investigate your options, clean and maintain your equipment, take quality images, and accurately explain it.
You’ll be able to sell it quickly with the correct contacts and selection of platforms.
Good fortune!
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