If you're looking to sell surplus or used Allen Bradley machines and parts, you know that you have valuable equipment on your hands. Unfortunately, getting value for that equipment in a timely manner can be difficult in the secondary market.
This quick guide will provide you with essential information and tips to ensure you get the best value for your surplus or used Allen Bradley equipment. Whether you have surplus Allen Bradley parts or used equipment still in good condition, understanding the market and the best practices for selling can make a significant difference.
Why Is Allen Bradley Surplus Valuable?
Below are the core factors that keep Allen Bradley surplus in high demand and commanding premium prices on the secondary market. Understanding these drivers helps you negotiate from a position of strength.
- Brand Reputation in Industrial Automation
Allen Bradley is a renowned brand under Rockwell Automation, which held 5.65 percent of the global automation-components market in early 2025—the largest share of any competitor. Rockwell specializes in industrial automation and information technology. Known for its high-quality programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human-machine interfaces (HMIs), sensors, and other automation components, Allen Bradley’s manufacturing machines are widely used in high-quality plants.
- Reliability in Demanding Environments
Their products hold their value well due to a variety of reinforcing factors. First, their products are designed and manufactured to withstand rigorous industrial environments, ensuring long-term performance and minimal downtime. This reliability makes Allen Bradley equipment highly sought after, even in the used and surplus markets.
- Backward Compatibility and Extended Lifecycle
On top of that, Allen Bradley designs many of its products with backward compatibility in mind, ensuring that new components can work with older systems. This long-term support and integration capability extends the useful life of their products, making them valuable on the secondary market.
Rockwell’s legacy PLC-5 ecosystem illustrates this longevity; RSLogix 5 programming software stayed on the market and fully supported for more than 20 years, demonstrating the decades-long lifecycle Allen Bradley users can expect.
- Strong Aftermarket Support
Finally, Rockwell has a strong reputation for aftermarket support, so procurement professionals that buy older machinery from the company still have confidence that they’ll be able to troubleshoot with the manufacturer when things go wrong.
Why it’s Difficult To Sell Allen Bradley
Despite the products’ value, it can be difficult to get fair value for them on secondary markets and at liquidation.
1. Information Asymmetry and Opaque Pricing
- No Public Price Index
First, there’s an information gap between sellers and buyers. The fact is that not all used and surplus equipment is valuable, and due to a lack of public pricing information, distinctions between items are generally opaque to sellers.
- Lowball Bids by Liquidators
Since you don’t have clarity on what’s valuable and what’s not valuable, liquidators and other buyers can and will exploit that to submit low buyout bids. They then turn around and resell the items for as much as 10x their acquisition price.
- Uncertainty Around Condition
Without a recognized grading standard or recent test documentation, most surplus lots offer no objective proof of functionality. Buyers absorb that risk by pricing aggressively low, which drags down the offers you receive. A brief equipment appraisal by an accredited professional provides objective condition and value, reducing that discount.
2. Time-Consuming Direct-Sale Channels
- Platform Restrictions & Fees
On top of that, trying to sell directly to end users without using an intermediary like a liquidator or an equipment dealer is time consuming, frustrating, and often ends up costing supply chain teams more than they make back. eBay is a popular end market for Allen Bradley machinery, so companies with surplus logically conclude that they can maximize their revenue return by setting up an eBay shop and selling the items themselves.
They’re not wrong – you’ll likely get the most revenue by selling used industrial equipment slowly on eBay. The costs you’ll incur, though, are high. It takes time to set up a shop, and eBay and other marketplaces are strict with new sellers to the point where many become frustrated and give up.
- Hidden Carrying Costs
New stores aren’t seen as trustworthy by buyers, so sales come extremely slowly. All the while, you’re racking up inventory carrying costs and eating up valuable employee time. At the end of the day, you’ll end up frustrated and with less profit.
How to Sell Allen Bradley Surplus: Step-by-Step
The seven steps below will help your team maximize the value of surplus Allen Bradley assets.
Step 1 — Audit and Catalog Your Inventory
List every PLC, drive, HMI, and spare part. Capture part numbers, series/revision codes (e.g., 1769-L32E Rev A), and loaded firmware major/minor versions; buyers pay more when these details align with their installed base. Record quantities so that your Allen Bradley equipment data is complete.
Step 2 — Verify Condition and Document Tests
Run a boot-to-run cycle in the appropriate Rockwell programming environment, such as RSLogix™ or Studio 5000, for each controller, and export the diagnostic log. For drives, note power-up hours and fault history. Save screenshots or PDF test logs. Solid proof of performance boosts offers on used Allen Bradley electrical equipment and surplus PLCs for resale.
Step 3 — Benchmark Market Pricing
Compare recent lots of the same series or revision and check Rockwell’s lifecycle status—“End of Life” and “Active Mature” SKUs often trade at a premium. Review closed listings for used Allen Bradley PLCs for sale, call several surplus automation dealers, and log quote ranges to block lowball bids.
Step 4 — Select the Right Sales Channel
Evaluate cash-flow goals, inventory condition, and staff bandwidth. Rapid cash recovery favors channels that close quickly, while maximizing return may require reaching a wider buyer pool. Choose the path that balances price, speed, and administrative effort so you can sell Allen Bradley surplus efficiently without straining your team.
Step 5 — Prepare compliance documents and packaging
Provide Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) or Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certificates if available. Seal each module in an Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)-shielded bag, add desiccant packs and foam bracing, then mark shock-sensitive surfaces. Remove lithium batteries from CPUs before air freight to avoid hazardous materials delays. Careful prep cuts damage claims on obsolete Allen Bradley parts and larger Allen Bradley machinery.
Step 6 — Negotiate Terms and Close
Define Incoterms, payment window, and warranty period up front. Specify whether program licenses or logic backups transfer; incomplete license hand-offs can void Rockwell support for the buyer. Ask parties who routinely buy Allen Bradley parts for bank references or trade-credit insurance. Clear terms accelerate payment and keep finance comfortable.
Step 7 — Ship, Confirm Receipt, and Record the Gain
Email tracking details the same day the pallet ships. Once the buyer signs the POD, post revenue against the asset-retirement account. Finalize documentation so finance can book the realized savings and refine the process for future Allen Bradley surplus sales.
Options to sell Allen Bradley parts
If you’re not going to sell the equipment directly to end users, you should know the ins-and-outs of different secondary sales channels.
1. Industrial Auction Houses
Auction houses specialize in selling industrial equipment, including Allen Bradley products. These can be physical auctions or online.
- Pros: Quick sales process, exposure to a large audience.
- Cons: Auction fees, unpredictable final sale prices.
How to do it:
- Provide detailed information: Ensure the equipment is clean, functional, and well-documented to increase trust from buyers.
- Set reserves: You can set a minimum price (reserve) to ensure you don’t sell below a certain value.
2. Selling Through Liquidators
Industrial liquidators purchase surplus equipment in bulk. This is a quick way to offload large quantities of equipment.
- Pros: Fast transaction, bulk sales.
- Cons: Typically lower prices than selling directly. Can be difficult to find a reputable liquidator.
How to do it:
- Negotiate terms: Be clear about the condition of your equipment and negotiate terms that reflect its value. You should sell “as is” to transfer risk to the liquidator.
- Welcome site visits: Many liquidators will visit your plant to see all of the surplus that you have available. It’s a great way to avoid having to commit your own labor to sorting and cataloging the surplus.
3. Brokerage Services
Brokers specialize in finding buyers for industrial equipment. They handle the sales process for a commission.
- Pros: Less effort for the seller, brokers have extensive networks.
- Cons: Commission fees, longer time to sale, less control over the final sale price.
How to do it:
- Get the commission structure right: Clearly outline the commission structure and any additional fees. Many brokers assess all of their expenses to their clients before they split the commission proceeds, giving you an unequal deal. Look for brokers that share expenses evenly to align their incentives with yours.
- Be patient and flexible: Brokers need time to find the right buyer, as they’ll generally look to sell it directly to an end user to maximize recovery. This can take time.
Amplio: a better way to sell Allen Bradley
At Amplio, we specialize in making the complex world of industrial liquidation simple for our clients. Just send us the details of your used equipment along with your business needs, and we’ll do the heavy lifting for you.
Need a quick buyout? We’ll canvas our network of over 50 specialized liquidators to surface the best offers and get you more for your equipment, fast. Want to maximize recovery? We’ll work with the right partner to take the time needed for more money. All the while, we will be your single, trusted point of contact.
What makes us unique? It’s our software and our network.
Our software collects and analyzes daily transaction data from leading marketplaces to adjust and determine the best reselling strategy. We can tell you what items you should scrap to immediately free up warehouse space, and which you should sell slowly to maximize recovery.
Then we execute the liquidation on your behalf, using our extensive network to ensure you get the most competitive offers for your inventory.
