Ritchie Bros. attracted close to 12,000 bidders for its recent Rocky Mountain regional online auction, selling more than 4,150 items for more than $54 million, making it the company’s largest auction ever in the region.

Equipment for the auction was stored at three Ritchie Bros. locations in Denver, Salt Lake City and Williston, ND, but all bidding was done online. Highlights of the auction included six 2019 John Deere 300GLC hydraulic excavators that sold for a combined $1.17 million and two 2018 Caterpillar 745 6×6 articulated dump trucks that sold for a combined $840,000.

“We have seen a steady increase in bidder registrations over the past year, especially for these combined regional events, helping drive great returns for our consignors,” Noni Garcia, regional sales manager for Ritchie Bros., said. “Our Rocky Mountain auction featured a great selection of late-model, low-hour equipment that sold extremely well. In fact, we have received a ton of great feedback from consignors recently. They just wish they had consigned more equipment, as demand is very strong right now.”

The Rocky Mountain auction experienced a 33% increase in pageviews (more than 956,000) compared with the same auction in December 2020. It also experienced a 35% increase in watchlist adds (more than 89,000) and a 19% increase in PriorityBids (more than 28,000) compared with the same auction in December 2020.

Approximately 93% of the equipment in the auction was sold to U.S. buyers, including 24% to buyers from Colorado, 9% to buyers from Utah and 1% to buyers from North Dakota. The remaining 7% was sold to international buyers from countries such as Australia, Egypt and the United Kingdom.

More than 600 owners sold equipment, including local Colorado companies 1888 Industrial Services and Miete.

“I’ve worked with Ritchie Bros. in Texas and Colorado. They have always been a great partner — they have it figured out,” Jeremy Townley, CEO of 1888 Industrial Services, which is based in Greeley, CO, said. “The new auction format is great. Inspect onsite ahead of time and then bid online. We sold more than 30 items in the Rocky Mountain auction and exceeded our expectations.”

“Ritchie Bros. is passionate about equipment and its customers,” Corey Huwa, co-owner of Miete, which is based in Keenesburg, CO, said. “We consigned more than 160 pieces of equipment two weeks before the auction and Ritchie Bros. immediately jumped into action. They put a team together to appraise items, working through the weekends, taking inspection photographs and videos for buyers, and advertising our equipment to the world. At the end of the auction, our returns were right where Ritchie Bros. said they would be.”

Auction Quick Facts

• Gross Transaction Value (GTV): More than $54 million
• Total Registered Bidders: Close to 12,000
• Total Number of Lots: More than 4,150
• Total Number of Consignors: More than 600