Corporate & Commercial Sellers
Business Asset Liquidation: Turn Idle Assets Into Recovered Capital
If your business owns it and it holds resale value, there is a market for it. KD Auctions liquidates business assets across the full B2B range, from a single machine sitting idle in a corner to the complete contents of a facility, including production equipment, FF&E, rolling stock, and inventory. Founded by Michael and Arlene Treger in 1996, we have run hundreds of auctions since, with hundreds of millions in machinery sales behind every valuation we hand you.
What Counts as a Business Asset
"Business assets" is a broader category than most owners assume, and the pieces people write off are frequently the ones that surprise them at settlement. We regularly sell:
Production and process equipment. Machine tools, fabrication and sheet metal, plastics and molding, packaging lines, printing, woodworking, food and beverage processing.
Shop and support equipment. Compressors, welders, generators, saws, benches, hand and power tools, tooling and fixtures.
Rolling stock and fleet. Box trucks, service vehicles, trailers, yard tractors, skid steers, aerial lifts, and construction support equipment.
Material handling and storage. Forklifts and lift trucks, pallet racking, mezzanines, conveyors, shelving, bins, and dock equipment.
FF&E. Workstations, private office and conference furniture, seating, break room and cafeteria, retail and showroom fixtures.
IT and technology. Servers, network gear, workstations and laptops, AV, phone systems, and data center hardware.
Lab, test, and metrology. CMMs, analyzers, environmental chambers, medical and dental, R&D benches.
Inventory. Raw material, work in process, finished goods, and spare parts stores.
We also coordinate on real estate. We do not list real property, but we work alongside your broker so the building transaction and the asset removal run on one calendar rather than two competing ones, which is where most closures lose money.
One Machine, or Everything in the Building
The mechanics change with scale, and matching the mechanics to the size is most of the job.
A single asset does not need a full auction production. It needs the right channel and honest pricing, which usually means retail placement or a consignment slot rather than a standalone event.
A department, line, or shift is where a targeted sale works well: enough critical mass to justify a real marketing campaign, small enough to run in weeks rather than months.
A multi-site corporate program is a rolling engagement. We work with corporate real estate, finance, and plant leadership on a repeatable process across locations, with consistent reporting so each site's results are comparable in the same format.
A complete facility is a full managed liquidation: appraisal through settlement, with removal supervision and a cleanout plan attached.
Choosing the Channel: The Power of Two
Every asset has a channel that suits it, and a channel that wastes it. We are one of the few firms that can offer both sides honestly, because we own both sides.
KD Auctions drives competition on a date certain, marketed to our 500,000+ industry contacts, fully online so geography stops limiting who bids. Best when volume, breadth, or a fixed deadline is the driver.
KD Machinery, our sister retail arm, sells more than 750 machine tools a year and has been a used-machinery business for 30+ years. Best for a late-model, high-value single asset that deserves a direct buyer and a negotiation instead of a bid clock.
Cash purchase removes the market from the equation: offer in 24 to 72 hours, funds typically 3 to 7 days after acceptance, removal in 1 to 2 weeks.
That combination is also why our valuations are grounded. Running a live retail book alongside the auction calendar means we price from current transaction data rather than from last year's auction comps, and we know which of the two channels is actually paying more for a given asset class this quarter.
How the Money Works
Fees are tailored to the engagement and quoted upfront, and most sellers pay nothing out of pocket. Nothing on this page comes with a published percentage attached, because the honest structure for a twelve-item office cleanout and a full facility program are not the same, and a firm that quotes you one number before seeing the assets is guessing.
Settlement is per lot: gross proceeds, buyer's premium collected, itemized expenses, and net to you, in a format that survives review by a CFO, an auditor, or a lender. Because every auction is fully online, buyers do not need to travel to participate, which materially widens the pool for ordinary business assets that would never justify a plane ticket.
Credentials & Standing
KD Auctions is auctioneer licensed and bonded in every state that requires it, and carries professional liability and errors and omissions coverage. Our appraisals are AMEA-certified and USPAP-compliant, and are accepted by lenders, courts, and the IRS. We are members of MDNA, AMEA, NAA, and NABT, and credential documentation is available on request.
Request a Confidential ConsultationThe Industries We Sell Into
Our contact list and our sale history run deep in CNC and machining, fabrication and metal forming, plastics and injection molding, aerospace and defense, electronics and semiconductor, food and beverage, packaging, printing, woodworking, medical and laboratory, construction, and warehouse and distribution. If it was used to make, move, test, or store something, we have almost certainly sold one.
A Straight Answer Before You Commit
The most useful thing we do in a first call is sometimes tell a seller not to sell yet, or that a category they were counting on is a scrap conversation rather than a lot. That answer costs you nothing and saves you the expensive version of finding out. We would rather lose an engagement than set an expectation the market will not meet.
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Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is business asset liquidation?
Business asset liquidation is the process of converting a company's physical assets into cash, through auction, direct purchase, consignment, or negotiated private sale. It covers everything a business owns and no longer needs, from production machinery and rolling stock to office furniture, IT hardware, and inventory. A full-service liquidator handles valuation, marketing, sale execution, buyer payment, removal, and settlement accounting so the seller manages one relationship instead of six.
Do I have to be going out of business?
Not at all. A large share of our engagements are healthy companies clearing surplus after an equipment upgrade, consolidating two locations into one, exiting a product line, or converting idle capacity into working capital. Liquidating surplus is a balance sheet decision as often as it is a closure decision, and it is usually a better one when it is made early rather than under pressure.
What is the minimum size you will take on?
There is no hard floor, but the right format changes with size. For a single machine or a very small lot, retail placement or a consignment slot usually nets more than a standalone event would. For small to mid-size lots, our quick liquidation format gets assets in front of the market fast. Tell us what you have and we will point you to the format that fits rather than the biggest one.
Do you handle office furniture and IT, or only machinery?
Both. Industrial machinery is our specialty and where our contact list is deepest, but a business closure almost never stops at the shop floor, so we regularly sell FF&E, workstations, conference and break room furnishings, servers, network hardware, and AV alongside the production assets. Handling it in one sale is also simpler and cheaper for you than splitting the building between two vendors.
How do you value business assets?
We start with make, model, serial, age, hours or cycles, condition, and tooling or options included, then price against live market data rather than a depreciation table. Because our sister retail arm KD Machinery sells more than 750 machine tools a year, we can see what comparable assets are actually transacting at right now. Where you need a formal number for a bank, an auditor, or the IRS, we provide AMEA-certified, USPAP-compliant appraisals.
What about real estate?
We do not list real property, but we coordinate closely with your broker so the building and the contents move on a single timeline. That coordination matters more than it sounds: a facility sold with an unrealistic removal window becomes a rushed asset sale, and a contents sale scheduled without reference to the closing date leaves you paying holdover on an empty building.
What does it cost, and when do I pay?
Fees are tailored to the engagement and quoted upfront, and most sellers pay nothing out of pocket, with costs recovered from proceeds rather than billed in advance. You get the full economics in writing before you sign anything, and a per-lot settlement statement afterward showing gross, buyer's premium, every expense, and net.
Every Deal Is Different.
Let's Talk About Yours.
Tell us what you have and where you are. We'll tell you honestly what it's worth and the best way to move it.
No commitment required · Completely confidential