The Cycle of Industrial Equipment

There must be thousands of ways to buy and to sell industrial equipment. In the current economic climate, many companies are choosing for flexibility to remarket or acquire their mobile machinery, trucks and attachments. Whatever the motivation, in many scenarios auction companies seem to fit the bill perfectly.

Between the manufacturing of equipment and complete depreciation, an item often changes ownership through a myriad of reselling possibilities. Equipment dealers, equipment websites, business relationships, used equipment guides and rental companies are methods that may spring to mind. The global used equipment market is estimated around USD 100 billion per year and no other company in the world handles more of these industrial asset exchanges than the Canadian company Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers.  At the Company’s globally held auctions in 2011, more than 385,000 online and on-site bidders from all over the world were registered, purchasing more than 268,000 items for a total value of USD 3.7 billion.

At a typical Ritchie Bros. auction, a large variety of machinery, trucks and attachments used in construction, agriculture, transportation, material handling and other industries, is offered to the highest bidders one item at a time. Their auctions are open to the public and everything is sold unreserved - meaning there are no minimum bids or reserve prices (each lot sells on auction day to the highest bidder).

In Europe, Ritchie Bros. frequently runs auctions at six permanent sites in The Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and two locations in Spain. 

Even though Ritchie Bros. has been around since the late 1950s, the auction company strives to meet the changing needs of today’s industries. Without leaving the powerful principle of the unreserved auction, Ritchie Bros. introduced innovations over the years that made equipment auctions popular in many parts of the world. In July 2011, Ritchie Bros. rolled out a range of new services, designed to make the exchange process for buyers and sellers at the auctions easier and more efficient. These additional services include arranging equipment insurance (for the transportation of goods to and from an auction site), free wifi internet at auction sites and detailed equipment information (more item specifications, information on basic functionality and up to 50 hi-res, zoom-able photos) on the Company’s website.

Ritchie Bros Auctioneers
US Head Office
4000 Pine Lake Road
Lincoln
Nebraska 68516 USA

T: +1.402.421.3631