Where to Sell Used Catering Equipment in the UK: A Practical Guide for Operators

Idle Kit Is Cash Standing in the Corner

Every kitchen has it. The combi from the refit gathering dust in the store room. The prep counter that came with the lease. The fryer you replaced but never got round to shifting. That kit is capital, and while it sits there it earns nothing and loses value every month.

If you have upgraded, downsized or closed a site, selling the old kit properly can put serious money back into the business. The question is where to sell catering equipment without wasting a week of your life or handing a chunk of the price to a platform.

I have spent 25 years in commercial kitchens, buying, installing and pulling out this kit. Here is the honest rundown of your options.

The Usual Routes, and What They Actually Cost You

• Trade dealers: The fastest exit. A dealer will collect, pay and take the problem away. The price for that convenience is steep. Dealers buy to resell, so expect somewhere around half of what your kit fetches on the open market, sometimes less. Fair enough if speed is everything. Expensive if it isn't.
• eBay: Real buyers, real reach, and a final value fee that comes straight out of your pocket when the sale completes. On a four-figure combi that fee is real money. We've broken down the exact numbers elsewhere on the blog, but the short version is that the platform gets paid before you do.
• Facebook Marketplace: Free to list, and you pay for it in time. Forty messages, thirty of them "is this still available", five lowballers, three no-shows, and a stranger in your kitchen on a Sunday. For a £100 microwave, fine. For a £2,000 oven, it's a part-time job.
• Gumtree and the local ads: Same story as Facebook with a smaller crowd. Low effort to list, low trust both ways, and cash-on-collection haggling at your back door.
• Scrap or skip: The worst outcome, and it happens every week in this trade. Working stainless, refrigeration and cooking kit thrown away because selling it felt like too much hassle. A prep table you skip today is £150 someone would have paid tomorrow.

The Trade Route: Selling on CaterBids

CaterBids exists because none of the above was built for our trade. It's a UK marketplace for commercial catering equipment only, fixed prices, trade buyers, and zero final value fees. Sell a £2,000 oven and you keep £2,000. We're in beta and we're straight about that: it means real trade stock is exactly what the marketplace wants right now.

• Zero final value fees: No cut of your sale. The price you set is the money you keep. That's the whole model and it doesn't change.
• Buyers who know the kit: Operators, dealers and engineers browsing for exactly what you're selling, not passers-by asking if it runs on a normal plug.
• Listing without the typing: Photograph the data plate and CaterBot pulls the specs, dimensions and a pallet delivery quote back automatically. Thirty seconds with your phone instead of an evening writing descriptions.
• Price it right: Check what your kit is genuinely worth before you list. Our used commercial refrigeration guide includes the age-band values that apply to most categories.

Getting It Sold: The Practical Bit

Whichever route you choose, the same three things move a sale.

• Sell it working: Kit that can be seen running sells faster and for more money. If it still runs, sell it before you disconnect it, or video it running first.
• Photograph it honestly: Clean it, shoot it in good light, and include the data plate, the wear and the dents. Honest photos filter out the time-wasters before they message you.
• Sort delivery before you list: Know whether it needs a pallet, a tail-lift or two strong backs. Our pallet delivery guide covers how to wrap and ship heavy kit without drama.

Your Selling Checklist

• List everything idle: if it hasn't been switched on in 3 months, it's stock
• Check what it's worth against age and condition, not what you paid
• Deep-clean it and photograph the data plate
• Prove it working, in person or on video
• Decide the delivery plan before the first enquiry
• Set a fair fixed price and hold it
• Keep service records handy, they add money

Sell the idle kit, free the space, and put the cash back to work in the business. That is the game: BUY • SELL • SAVE, and on CaterBids the SAVE includes the fee you never pay.

Ready to Turn Idle Kit Into Cash?

List your equipment on CaterBids today. Free to list, zero final value fees, and trade buyers looking for exactly what's sat in your store room.