Advice on Selling old equipment

[Guest monkeyx]

We are looking to sell old equipment to staff and students. We are also looking to sell some of equpiment as spares ie laptop screens, memory, laptop power supplies etc

 

Can anyone advise on my questions?

 

Do we need to charge VAT on items we sell?

Is there a disclaimer we can use to state that the goods a re sold as is and without a warranty.

We can PAT test them in houe before sale, is this necessary?

If we ask for donations for an item does that help?

Is is best to write of the equipment to a third party ie PTA, then sell through them?

 

Anyone help or advise on this? Would love to here from schools that have tried this, to see how you got on.

 

Thanks,

 

Tim

[soveryapt]

Hi Tim

 

We're just looking into similar things are my school as we're getting some new kit in over the summer, so come the new term, there will be some surplus which staff are already asking if they might be able to have.

 

What we have decided (thus far) is the following:

 

• Staff will have to sign a disclaimer relieving the school of any responsibility for the state of the equipment.
  
  
• Staff will be given a recommended donation amount for the equipment which will be put into school funds as a donation
  
  
• In terms of testing of the equipment, it will be looked over but there will not be any mention of this in the agreement as the staff will be taking on the equipment as is and will be recommended to have it looked at by a qualified person to ensure it remains fit for purpose - under the idea that if the machines were still fully suitable for use, it is not likely the school would be getting rid of them therefore we recommend they get the machines tested if they are worried in any way
  
  

 

I think the VAT issue is one to raise with your Bursar. Generally, if you were to be selling it, then there is likely to be an element of VAT in there and it gets complicated as then you are taking more responsibility as a seller of the goods as well and there are certain things in place to protect buyers. You should seek proper advice from those in the know at your establishment for this.

 

This is the reason we are opting for more of a donations thing.

 

Basically, you probably want to remove any comeback on an item for the school, hence an As Is agreement and not selling, and that the staff should understand if they find the machine is not working as it should be there is no comeback, but should they wish to pay the school £x/hour you as a technician could take a look at the machine, but again, this starts to get complicated.

 

Best advice I could give is stick to taking donations for the machines, make sure there is no comeback for the school or yourself by having the staff sign an As Is Agreement and make the staff aware that the machine is sold in an untested state with no warranty for the goods and that the goods will only be released upon the receipt of a signed and dated agreement.

 

I don't know if that garbled nonsense helps at all.

[tommej]

Say you dumped the equipment and spend the money on biscuits.

[plexer]

If you sell an item which you orginally reclaimed vat on then when you sell it you have to include vat and give that to HMRC.

 

Ben

[plexer]

Say you dumped the equipment and spend the money on biscuits.

 

If it's electrical equipment then you can't just say you've dumped it if you are desposing of it then it has to go to a registered waste carrier and the relevant waste disposal/transfer paperwork has to be completed.

 

Ben

[Guest monkeyx]

Hi Tim

 

We're just looking into similar things are my school as we're getting some new kit in over the summer, so come the new term, there will be some surplus which staff are already asking if they might be able to have.

 

What we have decided (thus far) is the following:

 

• Staff will have to sign a disclaimer relieving the school of any responsibility for the state of the equipment.
  
  
• Staff will be given a recommended donation amount for the equipment which will be put into school funds as a donation
  
  
• In terms of testing of the equipment, it will be looked over but there will not be any mention of this in the agreement as the staff will be taking on the equipment as is and will be recommended to have it looked at by a qualified person to ensure it remains fit for purpose - under the idea that if the machines were still fully suitable for use, it is not likely the school would be getting rid of them therefore we recommend they get the machines tested if they are worried in any way
  
  

 

I think the VAT issue is one to raise with your Bursar. Generally, if you were to be selling it, then there is likely to be an element of VAT in there and it gets complicated as then you are taking more responsibility as a seller of the goods as well and there are certain things in place to protect buyers. You should seek proper advice from those in the know at your establishment for this.

 

This is the reason we are opting for more of a donations thing.

 

Basically, you probably want to remove any comeback on an item for the school, hence an As Is agreement and not selling, and that the staff should understand if they find the machine is not working as it should be there is no comeback, but should they wish to pay the school £x/hour you as a technician could take a look at the machine, but again, this starts to get complicated.

 

Best advice I could give is stick to taking donations for the machines, make sure there is no comeback for the school or yourself by having the staff sign an As Is Agreement and make the staff aware that the machine is sold in an untested state with no warranty for the goods and that the goods will only be released upon the receipt of a signed and dated agreement.

 

I don't know if that garbled nonsense helps at all.

 

It does help a lot, looks like donation and disclaimer route is the way to go.

 

Tim

[PeteM]

I would suggest you get approval for this scheme from your Governing Body before offering anything for sale/donation

[Andrew_C]

Yep. I'd be talking to your Bursar or equiv too. There are bits of Sale of Goods law and consumer protection that you cannot contract out of. Personally, I would at least PAT them if it is working kit, and keep a copy of the results.

 

You will also need to be sure that you keep records of what was sold to whom, and when. If some council jobs-worth finds it on the local dump in two years time, you don't want to be hit for the fine under WEEE.

[tommej]

If it's electrical equipment then you can't just say you've dumped it if you are desposing of it then it has to go to a registered waste carrier and the relevant waste disposal/transfer paperwork has to be completed.

 

Ben

 

You're forgetting how tasty biscuits are.

[sippo]

I've just started to put all old equipment/toners on ebay. I actually got a compliment from our finance team- which is a rarerity.

[soveryapt]

I've just started to put all old equipment/toners on ebay. I actually got a compliment from our finance team- which is a rarerity.

 

Now that's an idea to look into .. I might put this one to the SLT and see what they say ..

[sippo]

Basically, I said I'd use my account then just pay the cash to go into our budget. Selling unwanted toners, PC parts, Projectors etc. They said anything that will swell the coffers is all good.

[witch]

Hmmm...interesting thought - we have loads of toners for printers we no longer have...

[marsdenprimary]

I've just started to put all old equipment/toners on ebay. I actually got a compliment from our finance team- which is a rarerity.

 

Do you take any kind of commission for your efforts?

[plexer]

Basically, I said I'd use my account then just pay the cash to go into our budget. Selling unwanted toners, PC parts, Projectors etc. They said anything that will swell the coffers is all good.

 

Are you providing vat invoices to the winners?

 

Ben

[3s-gtech]

Basically, I said I'd use my account then just pay the cash to go into our budget. Selling unwanted toners, PC parts, Projectors etc. They said anything that will swell the coffers is all good.

 

It's the best way to dispose, and get money back - but from having auditors in recently - make the paper trail totally bulletproof!