Sold As Seen: What You Actually Get When You Buy Used Catering Equipment

You are stood in a stranger's kitchen with the money in your pocket. The fridge looks right. The advert said sold as seen, and you have to decide now whether to hand over the cash or get back in the van.

Most buying guides stop at the inspection, right where it starts to matter. This one carries on. Here is what those three words did to your position, what you are still owed and by whom, and which pieces of paper are worth asking for before you travel.

Sold As Seen Is Not a Magic Phrase

Sold as seen is a line sellers type because everybody types it. It is not a legal off switch.

Where a seller sells goods in the course of a business, Sale of Goods Act 1979 section 14(2) implies a term into the contract that the goods supplied are of satisfactory quality. That term is in there by operation of the Act, and three words in an advert do not delete it on their own. Section 14 does set out what cuts it down, and we come to that shortly.

Treat the phrase as a description, not a legal position. Worth knowing that refurbished has no legal definition either.

Business Seller or Private Seller. Ask Before You Travel.

One question changes everything that comes after it.

That satisfactory quality term applies where the seller sells in the course of a business. Buy the same fridge from a private individual clearing a garage and the term does not attach at all. In that advert, sold as seen is simply accurate.

So send this before you get in the van: "Quick one before I travel, are you selling this as a business or as a private sale?" A straight seller answers it in a line. If the answer is private, price it accordingly, because there is nothing sitting behind it.

You Are Not a Consumer, and That Catches People Out

This one catches good operators out, so take it kindly.

Consumer Rights Act 2015 section 2 defines a consumer as an individual acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession. Buy a fridge for your own kitchen and you are a trader buying from a trader. The Consumer Rights Act cover you have at home on your washing machine does not travel into this purchase.

Almost nobody knows that, and nobody tells you. What it means is that the questions you ask before you travel are doing more of the work than you thought.

Examining It Badly Is Worse Than Not Examining It

That implied term does not extend to matters specifically drawn to your attention before the contract is made. It also does not extend, where you examine the goods before the contract is made, to matters which that examination ought to reveal.

Read the second half again. If you look, you are taken to have seen what a look ought to have shown you. A quick glance round a dark back kitchen can weaken your position rather than protect it.

So either look properly, lights on and the machine running, or say plainly in the message thread that you have not inspected it and are buying on the seller's description. The version to avoid is the quick walk round and a nod.

The PAT Sticker Is Evidence, Not Proof

A green sticker on the flex feels like an answer. It is not one.

HSE is clear that portable appliance testing is not itself a legal requirement. The law simply requires an employer to ensure their electrical equipment is maintained in order to prevent danger, and the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently. HSE recommends a risk based approach, with frequency set by equipment type, how heavily it is used and the environment it works in. There is no mandated interval, so anyone telling you a test is due annually is quoting a habit.

The sticker tells you somebody looked at that machine on that date, which is worth having. An out of date one is not a breach by itself.

Gas Is the One With No Argument In It

Everything above has some grey in it. This does not.

HSE states that in workplaces such as restaurants, work on gas fittings must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer who is qualified to do that work, and that it is illegal for anyone else to do it. Employers must also keep pipework, appliances and flues maintained and provide adequate ventilation in rooms with gas appliances.

None of that softens because the machine was cheap or because the advert said sold as seen. Put the registered engineer to connect and commission it into the purchase price, not onto a list of things you will sort out later. We set out the gas safety rules on second hand kit in full elsewhere.

On a Fridge, Ask for the Leak Check Record

Refrigeration carries a piece of paperwork most buyers never think to ask for.

Under the GB F gas rules, stationary refrigeration equipment must be checked for leaks at least once every 12 months where it contains F gas equivalent to 5 to 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Hermetically sealed systems have no maximum period between checks unless they contain F gas equivalent to 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide or more.

You can work out the bracket yourself. GOV.UK states that product labels on equipment will usually show the mass of F gas in kilograms, so the charge weight is on the machine in front of you. Read the label and note the refrigerant and the kilograms. If it is R290, note that R290 does not appear on the government's F gas list, which is not the same as GOV.UK saying it falls outside the rules. The mechanical side is its own job, and that is what to check on a used commercial fridge.

The Six Questions to Send Before You Get in the Van

Copy these and send them as one message.

1. Are you selling this as a business or privately?
2. When was it last serviced, and by whom?
3. What refrigerant is it, and what charge weight is on the label?
4. Is there a leak check record for it?
5. Has it been PAT tested, and when?
6. Can I see it running up to temperature before I pay?

A seller who answers all six has nothing to hide. One who answers four and goes quiet on the other two has told you exactly where to look. One who answers none has saved you a trip and a tank of diesel. It is six lines in a message box, and it is the difference between buying a machine and buying somebody else's problem. The wider version of the same job is how to buy used catering equipment without getting burned.

Sold as seen tells you how the seller feels about the sale. It does not tell you what you are owed. Whether the seller is a business, whether you examined it properly, and what is printed on the label all matter a great deal more than three words in an advert. Ask first, travel second, pay third. That is how you BUY • SELL • SAVE instead of learning it the expensive way.

Ready To Send Those Six Questions?

CaterBids.uk is a UK fixed price marketplace for new and used commercial catering equipment. Every listing carries a price and a message button, and we are in beta, so what is on there is what is genuinely on there today. Ask the six questions first. Then go and look at what is actually for sale.