The savvy printer or binder working with the right dealer partner can significantly reduce its capital expenditure without exposing themselves to undue risk by choosing used equipment. At the same time reducing capex can free up cash that could be used to benefit the business in other ways. Also, many have bought secondhand simply because they couldn’t get finance on new.
Why spend £1.5m on a new press when you can get a good late used machine for half that? With such a significant saving it allows the printer to invest in other areas they couldn’t consider at the same time such as bindery or digital printing. Printers are thinking more broadly about what they invest in, not just machinery but business services too. Buying a late used model keeps your options open leaving cash for other acquisitions.
While it is possible to buy used equipment directly from another printer or via an auction house, most machines are sold via dealers. A professional dealer will take the worry out of buying a used machine acting as a buffer between seller and buyer, ironing out any logistical problems, using skilled engineers to dismantle, load and re-install. Therefore ‘cutting out the middle-man’ can be a false economy for several reasons:-
‘Caveat emptor’ – buyer beware! If you buy via auction you must be very sure of what you’re buying, it’s a big risk taking on a non-running machine from a closed down company. For a private sale/purchase it is hard to raise finance. A dealer can put you in touch with good sources of finance sympathetic to the graphic industry.
It’s also hard to do a deal when, a; the seller will not release their machine until they are paid in full and b; the buyer doesn’t want to hand over their money until they are sure it has been released. One part of the dealer’s responsibility is to ensure they do their due diligence, making sure a machine is not encumbered by finance and that the vendor has the right to sell.
Decommissioning is crucial, especially handling delicate electronics. Skilled engineers will ensure machinery is safely and securely loaded on to road transport or into a sea container.
A big advantage of used machines is the immediate availability – if necessary, perhaps due to winning a major contract, a machine can be found, financed, installed and commissioned in three months, whereas it could take a year for a brand-new machine.
Finally, for the last 10 years there has been a world shortage of used machines, as long-established dealers we are able to source from the rest of the world including North America, Asia and Australia.