Ritchie Bros conducted its largest auction in Grande Prairie to date. Running from November 23rd to 26th, the online event set new records for gross transaction value, lots sold, and the number of bidders attending.
Regional Sales Manager Terry Moon says the results of the auction were not unexpected.
“This year, we’ve seen with all the online bidding and people not being allowed to bid on site, that the attendance [of] online registered bidders has been going up with every sale all year long.”
“In our April sale, we were at 11,000 registered bidders so this wasn’t a surprise with the lineup of gear that we had here,” he says.
Over 4,900 equipment items were sold throughout the auction, bringing in over $82 million. The company says this surpassed their previous GTV record by roughly 32 per cent.
A total of over 12,350 online bidders from 53 countries were registered for the auction. Approximately 91 percent of the equipment in the auction was purchased by Canadians, including 52 percent purchased by Albertans.
More than 375 owners consigned equipment to the Grande Prairie auction. Moon says Ritchie Bros is simply providing a solution to companies that are wanting to move assets.
“Right now it’s a difficult time and with the broad, global reach that we have, we’re able to get very substantial prices for people who want to move gear,” he says.
NTL Pipelines’ pink pipelayer, one of over 80 sold, went for $245,000. All of the proceeds from that sale were donated to the Community Foundation of Northwest Alberta Eva Marie Fund.
Moon added this sale marked the last auction of the calendar year for Ritchie Bros in Grande Prairie.