There are some people in the secondhand market who are keen to pull the wool over printers' eyes, according to Mike Steele, director of the British Used Printing Machinery Suppliers Association (BUPMSA), and some of the perpetrators are more subtle than others.
"Believe it or not, I actually saw a machine listed on a supposedly used machinery sales website the other week from a ‘dealer' called ‘Brown' with an address of ‘10 Downing Street, SW1'," Steele says.
Joking aside, the market is in a trough right now with the recession biting hard. "New and used machinery sales in the UK are pretty much on their knees - there's not a lot of activity out there," says Mark Sheldrick, managing director at Direct Press Marketing (DPM).
Finance problems
The root cause of the drop in sales is the difficulty printers are experiencing in securing finance. Lenders now want more of a deposit and accurate valuations - they don't want a situation where within a year the company goes bust and the value of the machine is wide of the mark. "Print has always been a high-risk area, so lenders want personal guarantees and a ‘lean' on other assets," adds Sheldrick.
As a result, printers are being forced to push existing assets to the limit. However, the weakness of sterling has brought a much-needed shot in the arm for UK dealers, as the market becomes more attractive to overseas buyers.
In terms of secondhand sales, the market currently stands at 90% export, according to Mark Stribley, used machinery specialist at Used Machinery Direct, a division of M Partners. He says that there has been plenty of interest in used UK kit from places like China.
"They are buying a lot of large-format presses at the moment," adds Stribley. "Finance companies auctioning kit from repossessions is driving the UK at the moment."
While equipment manufacturers are struggling to sell new machines, a lot of them are turning their attention to used machinery offerings as a way of keeping their engineers busy.
"The used market right now is probably faring better than new, but that does not result in an increase in the number of sales. Rather it is less of a decrease than is being experienced by the new manufacturers," explains BUPMSA's Steele. "These manufacturers have global sales and service organisations to support. That is a major factor in the number of ex-demo type deals that they may be doing."
Also, manufacturers will tend to sell relatively new presses. "A lot of the older machines that are from the mid-1990s will still be sold on to a dealer," adds Stribley.
If you're contemplating buying secondhand kit, you should always do your homework. Have a clear budget and inspect the machine. "Work with a reputable dealer and make sure your finance has been approved first, which is something that doesn't happen often," says Stribley.
And be aware that if sometimes a deal looks too good to be true, it might just be- especially if the dealer says he lives at the UK's most famous address.
WHAT'S NEW IN SECONDHAND PRESSES
- In March, Manroland GB unveiled a raft of enhanced customer service offerings, including a free 24/7 UK-based technical support service
- Secondhand UK post-press equipment provider Nyland Graphics celebrated its 20th anniversary with one of its biggest ever sales. The Derbyshire-based company shipped a nine-station Muller Martini Prima saddlestitcher to Columbian newspaper printer Grupo Op Graficas in February
- Die-cutting manufacturer Crosland recorded a significant upturn in secondhand machinery sales in April. Operations director Justin Glass said that many of the firm’s customers were investing in secondhand kit in order to survive the recession, with the intention of making larger investments once the economic climate had recovered to a healthier level
