Ritchie Bros. conducted its first-ever online-only auction in Mexico at its site in Polotitlán last week. Traditionally the site sees more than 80% of its bidders participating in person. The July 2 auction attracted a record of more than 1,200 bidders from 44 countries, which was a 17% increase from the same auction last year.

“We increased our marketing, conducted a massive call campaign and held special how-to-bid online seminars to help our customers feel more comfortable bidding online,” Richard Aldersley, sales director at Ritchie Bros, said. “In just a few short weeks, we were able to shift our entire buying audience online and set a new bidder record, which helped us achieve strong returns for our consignors.”

More than 850 equipment items and trucks were sold in the auction, including a 2006 Grove RT890E 90-ton rough terrain crane that sold for $90,000, a 2012 Volvo PF6110 crawler asphalt paver that sold for $71,000 and a 2015 Caterpillar 320DL excavator that also sold for $71,000.

“I want to thank the entire Ritchie Bros. team for the great support and proactiveness — this event exceeded our expectations,” Rey Gomez of Servicios de Transporte Jaguar, said. “We had a big challenge delivering 116 trucks to the auction, but with Ritchie Bros. helping with logistics and detailing our units, we were able [to] achieve our goal. Thanks again for your support.”

Approximately 93% of the equipment in the auction was sold to online buyers in Mexico, while the remaining 7% sold to buyers from countries that included Nicaragua, Canada and the Netherlands.

The company’s next online-only Mexico auction will take place in September 2020.