A new digital marketplace, backed by asset disposal company Liquidity Services, is aimed at changing the way local manufacturing companies buy and sell assets to a national, regional and international buyer base.

The company has long-running disposal contracts with organisations such as Boeing, Mondelez, Chevron and Amazon.

Therefore, it notes, the new marketplace is well resourced and effectively modelled on an online marketplace where assets are on offer in 500 categories.

GoIndustry DoveBid South Africa, which currently represents Liquidity Services in South Africa, has been operating in South Africa since 2004. The organisation says it is excited with the migration of its client sales to the www.allsurplus.com platform, calling it a “real game changer”.

The aggregation of all the groups’ seller portals into www.allsurplus.com is expected to give the combined portals a global appeal.

Sellers are now able to access over 3.5-million registered global buyers who regularly buy assets across the various online platforms within the liquidity services stable.

Private sellers, business corporates, liquidators, lawyers, business rescue practitioners and banks are able to harness this buyer base when selling assets through the platform.

GoIndustry DoveBid SA MD John Cowing says the platform was launched in Europe and the US several months ago and he is excited to give South African buyers and sellers access to this comprehensive listing of assets worldwide.

“AllSurplus.com is the perfect marketplace for companies to list their assets. It is quick, easy and does not require extensive marketing campaigns to attract buyers to auctions or private treaty sales. The seller hub allows selected clients freedom of access to upload information, pricing, and images themselves, which we simply vet and upload to the portal.

"Once sales have gone live, each lot becomes infinitely searchable and buyers everywhere are able to start bidding. Buyers can save search choices linking assets by type, region or many any other selectable search criteria. The site will also notify bidders of impending closing bids and allow them time to place new bids or defend their bids if need be,” comments Cowing.

He explains that all bidders are registered in their own countries and must abide by the terms and regulations of the relevant jurisdiction. That means that bids are legally binding and gives sellers peace of mind that the bids are genuine.

Owing to the sheer volume of qualified bidders, sellers are also most likely to fetch genuine market-related prices when they sell their assets through the portal.

Sellers simply need to sign a mandate for the sale of the assets they want to dispose of, upload the required information and images and set required reserve prices to ensure that the assets are not sold for less than the seller expects.

Upon completion of bidding, and provided the reserve prices are met, the buyer can check out the items bought and pay via the selected payment method.

Once payment has been cleared the seller is informed and is required to release the assets before final payment is made to them.

“This is the most efficient way for companies to dispose of their assets in a transparent and responsible manner. Anyone can go onto the site and see the status of the sale, read the terms and conditions and view detailed descriptions and photos of each lot,” notes Cowing.