Lots of test equipment for sale on UK auction

[V_King]

Hi, was scouring auctions for some equipment for work and found this - lots of test equipment for the Dave and co test equipment nerds.

I have no affiliation with the auction house, just sharing the findings

Link - https://www2.ppauctions.com/auction/410/september-collective-sale

[armandine2]

... good find

oooh, a brief look but I'd have the HP3400A and Keithley 228A  and much more 

[Hydron]

Some nice stuff - shame pickup would be a huge hassle coming from south of London without owning a car

Already have a 228A so wouldn't be in competition for that (that was it's own hassle to get though, given ebay inexplicably decided it was an export restricted item after I'd won the auction ). If you do get it I can suggest some mods to make it quieter and burn less idle power.

[iJoseph2]

Some nice stuff

Indeed .. you've always got to pinch yourself whenever you see auctions like that

[factory]

Hi, was scouring auctions for some equipment for work and found this - lots of test equipment for the Dave and co test equipment nerds.

I have no affiliation with the auction house, just sharing the findings

Link - https://www2.ppauctions.com/auction/410/september-collective-sale

Beware of bidding too much on the lots, they often use a hidden reserve, they use random bidder names/alias to do this, the name(s) change for each auction and the items won by the reserve alias bidder then appear in the next auction. Quite annoying, but within the rules they have, being a business to business auction house.

David

[veedub565]

And of course don't forget +20% VAT and then +15% fees on top of that for whatever you bid.

I think the hidden reserve price is rather unrealistic in many cases.

And always remember its condition unknown. It could be a total loss as I've found in the past. Which is annoying when you end up paying more than a decent working one from ebay, just to beat the reserve.

[V_King]

To the doom and gloom lot, nobody is forcing you to buy anything. Our company bought a number of high quality tools at auctions at a very good price over the years. You need to use your thinking head though, which sounds to be rare nowadays.

[tggzzz]

PPAuctions has very variable quality items. Some are fine, some are only worth instant disassembly into component parts. (One such item yeilded only a decent OCXO and a piece of metalwork that enabled me to have a Christmas dinner; long story, not repeating it!)

It is located at a farm, and storage can be a barn. Look carefully at the pictures to see which items are in the barn.

I notice that they are now marking some items "spares or repairs". I haven't seen that before, and I'm not sure what to think about items not marked that way.

[veedub565]

PPAuctions has very variable quality items. Some are fine, some are only worth instant disassembly into component parts. (One such item yeilded only a decent OCXO and a piece of metalwork that enabled me to have a Christmas dinner; long story, not repeating it!)

It is located at a farm, and storage can be a barn. Look carefully at the pictures to see which items are in the barn.

I notice that they are now marking some items "spares or repairs". I haven't seen that before, and I'm not sure what to think about items not marked that way.

To be fair the last lot of items I had from them was pretty decent.

[tggzzz]

PPAuctions has very variable quality items. Some are fine, some are only worth instant disassembly into component parts. (One such item yeilded only a decent OCXO and a piece of metalwork that enabled me to have a Christmas dinner; long story, not repeating it!)

It is located at a farm, and storage can be a barn. Look carefully at the pictures to see which items are in the barn.

I notice that they are now marking some items "spares or repairs". I haven't seen that before, and I'm not sure what to think about items not marked that way.

To be fair the last lot of items I had from them was pretty decent.

Many items I have bought there have been pretty decent too. However, it is wise to presume anything electronic will need to be repaired, and some will be unrepairable.

I class PPAuctions as one step below Ramco. Ramco's prices tend to be higher, partly because Ramco will pack and send stuff.

Anyone why buys something there will probably stop off in Stamford, a pretty town nearby. Aunby itself is a deserted medieval village with a couple of farms attached
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Aunby,+Stamford+PE9+4EE/@52.7251085,-0.4939694,16.75z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x487820b4adb15d2d:0xa8709b20f20a9940!8m2!3d52.725201!4d-0.491058!16s%2Fm%2F02x5cz3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
The ?only? roadsign to Aunby is ~40cm*15cm, and easily hidden in a hedgerow

[armandine2]

If you do get it I can suggest some mods to make it quieter and burn less idle power.

I didn't get it (this time) - it went for a £200 bid, which is inexpensive for this type of thing (even with the extra costs).
 I think the size of the instrument went against it for me.

Anyhow, looking forward to collecting the HP3400A 

[Hydron]

Yeah 200 quid isn't bad, my one from the US cost 300 USD including shipping/tax to California, which I though was a good deal for what turned out to be a spotless unit with ZERO dust inside a 30yo instrument (would have been a much better deal if eBay had allowed the seller to ship to the UK and not made me use my whole suitcase for it ).
Gotta say that other than some of the tempting boat anchors (which I realistically don't have room for) nothing that I'm super unhappy about missing out on, though there's a few nice-to-haves that I would have bid on if logistics were easier.

Enjoy the 3400A!

[armandine2]

Given this was my first online auction I'm reasonably happy, after my bids.

It was quite well behaved compared to eBay countdowns - I've learnt that lesson, emotionally 

So, with diesel day out and all the items about £450.00 total, for stuff which has yet to be seen and used.

... other than the HP3400A, 3No. Beckman HD110 industrial multimeters, a couple of bench PSUs, a Robin insulation/continuity tester, and some torque wrenches 

narrow Lincolnshire roads to look forward to too 

[tggzzz]

Given this was my first online auction I'm reasonably happy, after my bids.

It was quite well behaved compared to eBay countdowns - I've learnt that lesson, emotionally 

So, with diesel day out and all the items about £450.00, total for stuff which has yet to be seen and used.

... other than the HP3400A, 3No. Beckman HD110 industrial multimeters, a couple of bench PSUs, a Robin insulation/continuity tester, and some torque wrenches 

narrow Lincolnshire roads to look forward too 

Many online auctions have the "bids in the last X minutes extend the deadline by X minutes" mechanism. I prefer that to the fleabay sniper's paradise, but it can become interesting if you are simultaneously bidding on several items in the last X minutes.

Have fun, and let us know how you get on (possibly in the TEA thread )