Customer-owned tooling and stock in a closing business
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Identify customer-owned items before a closure catalogue is prepared. Tooling, patterns, components and unfinished goods can sit beside the business's own stock while belonging to someone else. Their location in the workshop does not make them available for sale.
Start with job records and the people who know the work. Use the owner-knowledge worksheet to find where customer items are stored, then check the documentary evidence rather than relying on a label alone.
Build a customer-property register
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| Item reference | Unique ID, description, photographs and quantity basis |
| Current location | Rack, cabinet, production area or off-site location |
| Claimed owner | Customer or other party, with the evidence supporting the entry |
| Related work | Job number, order or contract reference |
| Condition and contents | Observed state and associated components |
| Outstanding question | Ownership, quantity, unfinished work or another disputed point |
| Responsible contact | Person authorised to resolve the issue |
| Handover instruction | Confirmed recipient, scope and agreed arrangements |
| Completion evidence | Dated record of the authorised handover |
A customer name painted on a tool is a useful lead, not a complete investigation. Keep uncertain entries clearly marked until the relevant parties or advisers resolve them.
Keep the sale boundary clear
Exclude the items from broad mixed lots and tell the catalogue team which photographs contain third-party property. The sale-exclusion guide helps make those boundaries visible to buyers and site staff.
Where a sale includes assets from more than one owner, the multiple-owner guide explains why instructions and proceeds need to remain identifiable. Do not treat a customer's property as an extra seller's lot without the required authority and agreed arrangement.
Coordinate returns without deciding disputes
Once authority and scope are confirmed, arrange the handover through the responsible contact. Verify the actual items against the register before release and keep the agreed record afterwards. A collection of three boxes should be traceable to what those boxes contained, where practical.
If there are unpaid invoices, competing claims or concerns about insolvency, obtain appropriate advice before deciding what may be retained or released. This guide does not determine liens, legal priorities or rights over disputed property.
Remaining stock needs its own review. Use the closure stock and work-in-progress guide to distinguish business-owned goods, customer property and items still tied to unfinished orders. A stock count that combines them all will not produce a reliable sale scope.
UK Auction Group can work from a sale inventory with third-party items clearly excluded. Share the register's relevant boundaries, while keeping confidential customer records within the appropriate business and adviser channels.
Explore the retirement and closure guides.
Sources
This guide gives general information. Equipment-specific, legal, tax and safety decisions may need a qualified adviser or competent specialist. The guides do not promise sale prices, fees or results.