Heavy Gear

On these pages we offer frequently-updating auction listings of used heavy machinery for sale, or as it is sometimes known in UK English, plant machinery.

This includes used (and occasionally new) agricultural equipment, construction machinery and heavy forestry machinery, listed for sale through eBay and compiled here in an easy-to-browse form.

Buying heavy equipment through eBay

You may have assumed until now that eBay was mostly for buying up people’s basement clearance stuff and it may never have occurred to you that you might be able to buy a major item like a truck crane or a crop sprayer through eBay. But in actual fact a great number of items of heavy equipment are listed and sold every day on eBay. So you do need to be an eBay member, but this is quick and easy – just follow the “Sign up” link at the top of each page of products. Buying and selling is simple and fun on eBay, even when it’s heavy equipment you’re purchasing!

Safe buying

One thing that is a little different about buying a large item such as used construction equipment, as compared to buying, say, a second-hand bike is obviously the price-tag. It can represent a major investment of thousands of dollars/pounds and is not made lightly.

That is why with used heavy machinery the buying-selling process can be a lot more like a classic transaction:

- you may well go and see the machine before putting in a bid

- if the equipment is not as described when you buy it then you have every right to request a return (the same as for any buyer-seller arrangement)

- payment is not usually made by PayPal or credit card, which are not really set up to handle transactions in the thousands or tens of thousands. Rather, sellers usually take checks or bank transfer, so the entire process is fully traceable.

Also very important is the eBay feedback system, whereby you can check out the seller of an item and see what others have said about them and what their average rating is – if the seller has hundreds of ratings and an average in the high nineties, or even 100%, you know you are pretty safe!

How to start buying heavy equipment on eBay

On the right you see a list of product categories. Click any one to see the listing. You will see all the items available in that category, together with the current price and the ending time (in PDT – that’s Pacific Daylight Time, equivalent to California in the summer!) Clicking on any part of the product will take you to a page with more details about the particular item of equipment, including the seller feedback details mentioned above.

Some items have a Buy now price, which allows you to purchase the item outright without bidding. But if you are after a bargain you will probably want to Bid, trying to outdo others who have bid, if there are any bids at all. Remember, bidding can really hot up just before an item is about to end, so you need to be around when that happens!

There are also some Buy Now items marked “Make an Offer“, which means you cannot bid on them, but you can offer the buyer a price which they can accept or decline.

We hope you will find Heavy Gear a useful source of information if you are planning to buy an item of used heavy equipment and that you find the bargain you are looking for!

To start browsing, choose a category from the menu at the top of this article.