Buying & Selling Used Lab Equipment with Surplus Solutions

Last Updated on 

April 29, 2022

By 

Excedr
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Surplus Solutions: Your Partner for Idle Assets

You’ll face a lot of challenges when starting a biotech or pharma company and acquiring new laboratory space.  You need advanced equipment, talented scientists and technicians, and high-quality consumables and reagents to scale your business. All of this will require a hefty amount of money.

To fund everything from equipment procurement to hiring team members to running R&D, you may consider fundraising with an investor who’s experienced in your area of interest or industry. However, there are other options to consider as well when working on a budget, specifically when it comes to procuring lab equipment. One of those options is the equipment auction, which is utilized by startups to equip their labs with high-tech equipment.

Today, there are many auction platforms available to help you sail through the process of acquiring a piece of equipment.

One such organization is Surplus Solutions, LLC, located at Diamond Hill Road, Woonsocket, Rhode Island, United States. It’s one of the leading global providers of both new and used lab equipment and machinery.

Founded in 2006 by Steve Jones, the company is helping both sellers and buyers of surplus biotech, life sciences, and pharmaceutical equipment with all kinds of services ranging from negotiation, purchasing at an effective cost, brokerage, and auctions. Moreover, the company ensures maximum return on your surplus equipment by curating its services to meet individual needs.

Surplus Solutions has an inventory providing thousands of lab, processing, and packaging equipment from premier manufacturers on sale. The leading manufacturer’s products availed by Surplus Solutions include Thermo Fisher Scientific, GEA, IMA, Bosch, AB Sciex, IMA, Bosch, AB Sciex, and Fitzpatrick.

The company has multiple channels for both purchasing and selling surplus equipment to meet the individual needs of its customers. And, as a premier auctioneer in the pharma and life sciences industry, it also organizes many sales featuring thousands of late-model pharmaceutical equipment.

In this article, we will review the services provided by Surplus Solutions, its online auction system, and things you should be aware of before purchasing from such platforms.

Need new or refurbished lab equipment? Excedr leases.

See our equipment list and browse a sample selection of what we can source. Or, if you’re ready, request an estimate.

Buying Equipment from Surplus Solutions

Surplus Solutions offers pharmaceutical and biotech industries high-quality lab, processing, and packaging equipment. It has thousands of equipment from a myriad of companies, including leading manufacturers.

Lab Equipment

Some of the lab equipment Surplus Solutions offers includes:

  • High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) Systems
  • Acid / Corrosive Storage Cabinets
  • Spectrophotometers
  • Centrifuges
  • Liquid Handlers
  • PCR Systems and Thermal Cyclers
  • Flammable Storage Cabinets
  • Fume Hoods and Biosafety Cabinets
  • Autoclaves / Steam Sterilizers
  • Imagers and Scanners

Packing Equipment

The type of packing equipment available in the Surplus Solutions’ inventory includes:

  • Blister Packaging
  • Metal Detectors
  • Case Packaging
  • Warehouse Equipment
  • Labelers
  • Shrink Equipment
  • Aerosol Equipment
  • Case Packaging
  • Inspection Machines
  • Check Weighers

Processing Equipment

Surplus Solutions offers a range of processing equipment, including:

  • Capsule Equipment
  • Industrial Water Purification
  • Tablet Equipment
  • Process Centrifuges
  • Injection Molding
  • Chiller
  • Tanks / Reactors
  • Motors
  • Chilsonators / Roller Compactors
  • Industrial Water Purification

Surplus Solutions Online Auctions

Surplus Solutions offer great deals on surplus pharma and biotech equipment. Customers can acquire one idle piece of equipment or outfit their entire facility through its accessible online lab auction platform. The company features:

  • Great Deals
  • Surplus Solutions ensures that its customers are getting high-quality value products at a great deal.
  • Variety
  • The company has a variety of equipment that suits its customer’s needs. You can easily discover any specific piece of equipment in its auctions due to a frequent turnover of pieces.
  • Convenience
  • Surplus Solutions has made its auctions convenient by bringing them online. You only need to travel for the physical inspection of your selected products.

What to Watch Out for with Equipment Auctions

Though auctions provide a great opportunity to acquire quality lab equipment at a great deal, they also come with some risks that you should be aware of.

No Guarantee of Equipment

Purchasing equipment through an auction is like shooting in the dark. Here you pay the money for your selected equipment and no warranty or guarantee is offered for the state, maintenance, or repair of equipment.

You will be entirely responsible for maintaining your equipment. Moreover, if it breaks or becomes non-functional for any reason, there will be no replacements or exchanges.

Unknown State of Equipment

During an auction, you are not allowed to physically inspect the equipment you intend to purchase. You can’t know which parts of the machinery have been replaced and repaired and how it has been used and maintained by its previous owners.

This is like gambling on the working conditions of the equipment.

Potential to Be Outbid

Bidding on equipment in an auction doesn’t ensure you’ll get the equipment. Often, you’ll get outbid and end up leaving the auction empty-handed. This is less than ideal, as time is not on your side when trying to research a new drug candidate or novel therapeutic. You can’t waste too much time trying to procure lab equipment that’s essential to your work, and you won’t be sure when that specific type of equipment will be auctioned off again.

That said, if the auction is open for a while, you can outbid the person who outbid you, but in such cases, people go beyond their intended budget and might end up purchasing equipment not worth the price.

Selling Equipment to Surplus Solutions

Surplus Solutions offers a complete brokerage and consignment solution to sellers, ranging from one-off equipment sales to entire plant liquidations.

The sellers are required to go through its four-step approach, which includes:

  • Onsite inspection by a certified equipment specialist.
  • Upfront pricing is offered for the consigned assets.
  • Selling channels are proposed to the sellers, which include options of brokerage, outright purchase, consignment, and auctions, from which sellers choose to sell their surplus equipment.
  • Return on investment as the sellers are paid in full before their equipment leaves their place. Also, the cost of inventory and logistics is even covered by the company.

Find a Liquidator & Lease Lab Equipment through Excedr

Surplus Solutions is a seller and buyer of high-quality surplus equipment to meet the needs of biotech, pharmaceutical, and other life sciences industries. Moreover, it provides services ranging from selling a single piece of equipment to liquidating an entire plant.

The company has an inventory of thousands of lab, processing, and packaging equipment from small to renowned manufacturers. It also features many sales for the buyers to help them acquire their desired equipment at an affordable cost.

Purchasing surplus equipment through auctions is a fantastic way to equip your labs with advanced equipment. However, it comes with a few limitations, such as the requirement of too much research on the equipment, difficulties due to tight schedule, too much time on bidding in auctions, and lack of equipment details.

All this can be tiring and lead to wasted time.

Excedr’s leasing program can help you avoid these issues, however, and might be the alternative you’re looking for.

We offer laboratories a wide range of biotech and life sciences equipment, including chromatography, imaging, and analytical equipment to lease. Your upfront costs are greatly reduced, and the leases come with repair and maintenance coverages that remove any costs you would incur if the equipment were to break down.

Our leasing program is a customizable, affordable, and simple solution that helps you acquire cutting-edge equipment quickly, accelerating your laboratory operations and research, ultimately allowing you to hit milestones faster.

Don’t have the budget to purchase lab equipment outright? Consider leasing through Excedr to save your lab time and money. Browse your leasing options today!

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