Ritchie Bros. plans to sell even more to farmers as it revels in its role as the world’s biggest equipment auctioneer
It’s so huge and full, you can’t see the far end. Transports, pickups, massive payloaders, dump trucks, all sorts of excavators and even a fire truck are lined up for inspection.
We’re on the way home from the Toronto farm show and our group has stopped for a look at Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers’ lot. We lift hoods, crawl into cabs and even test drive a couple of pickup trucks around the lot.
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We’re like a bunch of kids on a playground… a big playground, full of big equipment.
Amazingly, this is only a small portion of Ritchie Bros. sales. In 2008, this Canadian company auctioned $3.57 billion of equipment — over 253,000 lots to 84,000 buyers. That’s makes them the largest equipment auctioneer in the world.
To Kevin Tink, senior vice-president of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, it’s a business that is all based on trust. Without it, their whole business model fails.
Ritchie Bros. allows no minimum bids or reserve prices. Every item is sold to the highest bidder on auction day, regardless of price.
“Auctions done right is our mantra,” Tink says. “The buyers know there’s no games or gimmicks and can come to the sale or bid online with confidence.”
So how did three brothers running a furniture
