Surplus cable · business to business
Surplus cable, passed on with a record
Most contracts finish with cable left over: a part-used drum of SWA, a few hundred metres of twin and earth, a full drum ordered for a job that changed. It is worth money to another business, but only if that business can tell what it is, how much is left and what state it has been kept in. These guides are for UK businesses on both sides of that trade.
Selling surplus cable drums
The routes open to you, what a buying business will ask for, and the paperwork that should go with the drum.
Read the guide →Checking cable before you buy
What to read on the sheath and the label, how to look up a BASEC approval, and how to check the seller.
Read the guide →The drum record
The fields that let a buyer act without a site visit: sheath print, approval, length left, condition.
See the record →List a drum, or ask for one
Send the record of a drum you want to move, or describe the cable you need.
List or ask →Why surplus cable is hard to pass on
The cable itself is rarely the problem. What stops it moving is uncertainty on the buyer's side:
- Is it what it says? Approved cable carries its approval on the sheath. Counterfeit and substandard cable has reached the UK market before, including a recall of over 11 million metres in 2010.
- How much is really left? A part-used drum without a reading of its metre marks or its weight is a guess.
- How has it been kept? Open ends, a drum left on its flanges or a winter in the rain change what the cable is fit for.
- Who is selling? A business with a company number and a VAT registration you can check is a different proposition from a name on a listing.
Each of those questions has a factual answer the seller can write down before the drum leaves. That written answer is what these guides are about. We call it the drum record.
How Surplus UK works
- A business with surplus cable sends us the drum record. A business looking for cable tells us what it needs. Both go to Cargovate's team by email, from the list or ask page.
- We read every one. When a listing and a request match, we introduce the two businesses to each other.
- The sale is between the two of you. We do not buy, hold, sell or inspect cable, and we take no part in the deal.
It is for businesses only: contractors, installers, wholesalers, manufacturers and facilities teams. We ask for a Companies House number with every listing and request, so the other side knows who they are dealing with.
Who publishes this
Surplus UK is published by Cargovate, which builds software that keeps one record of what changed hands, when, and in what condition. A surplus drum is a small version of the same problem: the value is in the record that travels with it. More on the about page.