30 terms for buyers, sellers, and anyone writing about the used production-equipment trade. Licensed CC BY 4.0 — quote freely with a link to this page.
Sold in current condition with no warranty that it will run.
An as-is machine is offered in its present state. The seller is not promising that it is operational, complete, or ready for production. As-is is a legitimate grade for parts machines, surplus that has sat, or equipment a buyer with in-house service can evaluate on site. It is not a synonym for 'cheap and fine.' Budget for inspection, missing guards, and unknown hours before you treat the asking price as the real cost.
Runs or can be made to run, with obvious wear and likely service ahead.
Used — Fair means the machine is a working (or recently working) production tool that shows significant wear. Expect cosmetic damage, tired wear items, and a service visit before you put it on a critical job. Fair is a fit for shops that can wrench, not for buyers who need a plug-and-play cell next week.
Production-ready with normal wear for age and usage.
Used — Good is the most common honest grade on a well-kept used market. The machine should be complete, recently run or demonstrable, and free of known catastrophic faults. Normal wear — rollers, knives, belts, ways — is expected. Ask for hours or impressions, sample work, and a photo of the serial plate before you travel.
Professionally serviced, with worn parts replaced and a test run.
Refurbished means a dealer or in-house tech has gone through the machine: wear items replaced, functions tested, and (ideally) a punch list you can read. It is not the same as factory-new and it is not the same as a full rebuild. Ask what was actually replaced, whether it was run under power after the work, and what limited warranty travels with it.
Inspected against a published checklist, often with a short warranty.
Certified is a dealer grade, not a legal term. It should mean the seller inspected the machine against a written list, documented the result, and will stand behind a defined window of coverage. Demand the checklist. If 'certified' is only a word on a listing, treat the machine as Used — Good until the paperwork shows otherwise.
The machine is connected to power and can be demonstrated.
Under power means you can see the machine run in place — motors, controls, pumps, and safety circuits live. It is the single most useful status flag on a used listing. A machine that is not under power may be perfectly fine, but you are buying more unknown: control faults, missing fuses, and 'it ran when we unplugged it' stories. Insist on a video under power if you cannot visit.
The seller can run buyer-supplied or house material on the machine.
Can run samples means the cell is set up enough to process a real job, not just jog. Bring your stock, blank, or substrate if the process is material-sensitive (folding, gluing, cutting, wrapping). A clean sample on the seller's house job is useful; a sample on your job is better.
The machine's odometer — run hours or sheets/cycles processed.
Hours (CNC, packaging, handling) and impressions or copies (print and finishing) are the odometer. They are not a verdict on their own. A high-count machine with logs and a clean sample can beat a low-count machine that sat in a damp building. Read the meter on the console, photograph it, and compare it to service records rather than treating any single number as a cutoff.
The stamped identity of the machine: make, model, serial, and often voltage.
The serial plate (data plate) is how you confirm you are buying the machine in the photos. Match make, model, serial, and year to the listing. Note voltage, phase, and full-load amps for the electrician. If the plate is painted over, missing, or does not match the paperwork, slow down — parts, manuals, and resale all hang on that number.
Factory parts and documentation versus third-party substitutes.
OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts and manuals follow the machine's factory spec. Aftermarket parts can be equal, better, or a false economy depending on the wear item. For safety circuits, knives, and control boards, prefer OEM or a named equivalent. Ask which critical parts on a refurbished machine were OEM and keep the invoices.
Manuals, electrical drawings, parts lists, and service history that should travel with the machine.
A complete documentation package is operator and service manuals, electrical and pneumatic drawings, a parts list, and whatever maintenance log exists. Missing docs are not a deal-breaker on common models — that is why a public manuals library matters — but they add time and risk on obscure or heavily modified machines. Get PDFs before the riggers roll.
The skilled move: disconnect, lift, load, transport, and set the machine.
Rigging is not 'shipping.' It is millwright work: lockout, disconnect, drain, crib, lift, and set. A 4-ton cutter and a 20-ton press are different jobs. Price rigging at both ends before you agree on an asking price. Doorways, floor loading, and overhead obstructions kill more used-equipment deals than mechanical faults.
Bolted or lagged to a timber or steel skid so a forklift can pick it.
A skidded machine is already on a fork-ready base. That saves a shop day at the seller and reduces the chance of twisting a frame during the pick. Confirm the skid is structural, not decorative lumber, and that fork pockets clear the machine's weight. Skidded is not the same as crate-export ready.
On a pallet for LTL freight — typical of smaller machines and parts.
Palletized equipment can often move LTL instead of a dedicated flatbed and rigger. Check height, overhang, and whether the pallet is heat-treated (ISPM 15) if it will cross a border. Do not palletize a machine that needs a skid or crib; a crushed pallet is an expensive way to save a freight class.
Free On Board — the point where title and risk transfer in the move.
FOB names the place where the seller's responsibility ends. FOB origin (seller's dock) means the buyer owns the freight risk once it is loaded. FOB destination means the seller carries risk to the buyer's dock. Used-equipment deals are often FOB origin plus a buyer-hired rigger. Write the FOB point on the invoice so insurance has a place to stand.
The carrier's receipt and contract for the move.
The bill of lading lists the shipper, consignee, piece count, weight, and any noted damage. Photograph the machine on the truck and note exceptions on the BOL before the driver leaves. Concealed damage claims are harder if the BOL was signed clean. Keep the BOL with the serial number and the paid invoice.
The tradesperson who levels, aligns, and reconnects industrial machinery.
A millwright (or a rigger/millwright crew) sets the machine, checks level, reconnects power and air, and often does the first run with the seller's tech or yours. Budget their time separately from freight. Precision equipment (CNC, cutters with backgauges, binders) needs a real set — not 'fork it off and plug it in.'
A priced move based on weight, dimensions, origin, destination, and access.
A usable freight quote needs weight, dimensions, whether it is skidded, pickup and delivery access (dock, forklift, residential, inside delivery), and any permits. 'About two pallets' is not a quote. On Requip Market, buyers can request a freight quote from a listing; have the serial, weight, and photos of the pickup path ready.
Binds loose sheets or signatures into a softcover book with adhesive.
A perfect binder mills the spine, applies adhesive (EVA or PUR), and nips a cover. Used buyers should inspect clamp condition, mill sharpness, glue-pot cleanliness, cover feeder, and whether the machine is set up for the adhesive they actually run. PUR is not a drop-in swap on every EVA pot. See also the Müller Martini inspection guide.
A programmable clamp-and-knife cutter for stacks of sheets.
A guillotine cutter (Polar, Challenge, and others) is defined by knife width, clamp pressure, backgauge accuracy, and safety circuits (two-hand, light curtain, or IR). Used inspections should include a clamp-pressure check, backgauge repeatability, knife change hardware, and whether safety systems have been bypassed. Never buy a cutter with defeated safeties.
A buckle, knife, or combination folder that puts folds in sheets or signatures.
Bindery folders are specified by sheet size, plate count, and whether they are buckle, knife, or combo. Used buyers should watch a real sheet run: register, marking, and delivery stack. Rollers, tapes, and plates are wear items. Refurbished vs as-is on a folder is often a roller-and-timing job, not a frame job.
Forms RSC cartons from blanks and seals them with tape or hot melt.
A case erector pulls a blank, squares it, and seals the bottom; a sealer closes the top downstream. The used-market questions are blank-size range, speed in cases per minute, tape vs hot melt, and whether changeover is tool-less. Run the buyer's blank if the size is near the published min or max.
Applies stretch film to a pallet load — turntable or rotary-arm.
Turntable wrappers rotate the load; rotary-arm wrappers rotate the film around a tall or unstable load. Check film carriage, pre-stretch percentage, load-height sensor, and whether the turntable bearing feels notchy. Throughput is pallets per hour at a stated wrap pattern, not the motor's nameplate RPM.
Computer-controlled mill; a VMC is a vertical machining center.
On the used market, a CNC mill or VMC is judged by control generation, axis travel, spindle taper and hours, tool-changer condition, and ball-screw backlash. Control vintage drives parts and service more than the paint. Get a ball-bar or at least an indicator check, and confirm the transformer and phase match your shop.
A bending machine that forms sheet metal between punch and die.
Used press brakes are specified by tonnage, bed length, and control (manual, NC, or CNC with crowning). Inspect ram parallelism, tooling, backgauge, and hydraulic leaks. A cheap brake with worn ways or a tired hydraulic pack is a shop bottleneck, not a bargain.
Powered or gravity equipment that moves product between operations.
Used conveyors are easy to under-specify. Record belt or roller type, width, length, speed, incline, and drive. Matching height and controls to an existing line matters more than buying 'a conveyor.' Check lacing, bearings, and whether the frame is bent from a forklift.
The seller's listed price — not a closed transaction and not a valuation appraisal.
Asking prices on a marketplace are offers, not sold comps. They are still useful: they show what sellers believe the market will bear for a make, model, and condition. Requip Market's market snapshot reports medians of asking prices on live listings, not hammer prices. Treat them as a starting range, then adjust for hours, docs, location, and how fast the seller needs it gone.
The seller will quote after they know the buyer and the application.
Price on request (POR) is common on higher-value or easily shopped machines. It is not automatically a red flag. It can mean the seller is avoiding a public race to the bottom, or that configuration options change the number. Ask for a written quote with serial, included tooling, and FOB point.
A dealer sells the machine for the owner and takes a commission.
On consignment, title usually stays with the owner until the buyer pays. Confirm who can accept an offer, who has the keys, and who is responsible for the machine until pickup. Get the consignment terms in writing so you are not negotiating with two parties who disagree.
Equipment released from a plant that is changing process, closing, or consolidating.
Surplus machines can be excellent buys — they often come with history — or they can be the cell nobody wanted to maintain. Ask why it is coming out, when it last ran, and whether you can see it under power before the electricians pull the feed. Decommissioning timelines are real: a 'must be out by Friday' price is only a deal if you can rigger on that calendar.