A practical list of what to look at, ask about and verify before you transfer the money.
Buying second-hand industrial equipment is, almost always, a sound economic decision: you pay a fraction of the price of new and the lead time is measured in weeks, not months. Problems rarely come from the machine. They come from what nobody checked in time.
This guide covers what is worth checking before you transfer the money, roughly in order of how much it matters.
Ask for a sharp photo of the nameplate. It gives you the serial number, the real year of manufacture, the power rating, the voltage and the frequency. It is the one document that cannot be dressed up in a listing.
Two checks that save trouble: that the serial number matches the one in the paperwork, and that voltage and frequency are compatible with your installation. A 400 V, 50 Hz machine in a country running at 60 Hz can need changes that cost more than the discount you were given.
Operating hours matter, but something almost nobody asks matters more: how long it has been standing still. A machine that has sat for two years in a damp building can have dried seals, rusted ways and electronics that will not boot, however low the hour counter reads.
Ask for the date it last ran and, if possible, for a video of it running. Thirty seconds of video is worth more than ten photographs.
It sounds like paperwork and it is where most deals collapse. Equipment on lease, on rental or pledged as collateral cannot be sold without clearing the charge first. Ask for written confirmation that the seller owns the asset, can dispose of it and that there are no outstanding charges.
Missing documentation is not necessarily a reason to walk away: it is a reason to adjust the price and to know what you will have to reconstruct later.
Being second-hand does not remove questions of safety or marking. And there is a detail that surprises a great many buyers: a substantial modification can make whoever performs it liable as if they were the manufacturer. If you plan to rebuild the machine, fit a robot to it or change its safety system, check the implications first.
Be wary of anyone who casually assures you that a machine "complies". What can be stated is which documentation exists. The rest gets verified.
As a rule of thumb: if the equipment is over 20,000 euros, or it is in another country, or its failure would stop your production line, hire an independent technician. It usually costs between a few hundred and a few thousand euros, which is cheap compared with buying a problem.
What they should verify: cold start, operation under load, geometry and accuracy on machine tools, wear on critical components, the state of the electronics, and whether what was declared matches what they see.
This is the most expensive mistake of all. The price of the equipment is only part of the cost. Before you agree a price, get a transport quote with real data: weight, dimensions, lifting points, access conditions at the building, and whether dismantling, a crane or special packing is needed.
A machining centre that fits on a standard truck and a line that needs dismantling and special transport are not in the same league. And agree the Incoterm and the exact named place in writing: who loads, who insures and from what point each party takes the risk.
Payment goes from buyer to seller, directly or through an independent professional escrow service. A serious intermediary does not hold the purchase money.
And a warning worth repeating: if halfway through the negotiation you get an email asking to change the bank account, do not pay. Verify the change by calling a phone number you already knew beforehand, never by replying to that same thread. It is the most common fraud in this industry and it still works, because it arrives exactly when the deal already feels trustworthy.
Before signing, validate the tariff classification, the applicable duties and the requirements of the destination country. On high-precision equipment or in sensitive sectors, also check whether export controls apply: there are perfectly legal machines whose export to certain destinations requires a licence.
If the seller answers those five naturally, the deal looks healthy. If they dodge two or more, either the price should come down or the conversation should end.
We put this information together before publishing an asset, coordinate inspections with independent technicians and help request transport quotes with real data. We do not certify equipment and we do not hold the purchase money: we accompany the process so both sides reach the closing without surprises.
If you are looking for a specific machine, tell us what you need and we will search our network. If you have one standing idle, we will give you an initial market opinion within 24-48 business hours.
Depending on what you are after, go straight to machining centres and CNC, to bottling and packaging or to generators. Before closing, look at who is responsible for CE marking and what transport costs. If you would rather see the machine running before you pay, we arrange the inspection.
This guide is general information and does not replace technical, legal, tax or customs advice for a specific transaction.