It was another record-breaking auction for Ritchie Bros. of Chilliwack last week with online attendance due to COVID-19 skyrocketing to an all-time high of 6,400 bidders from 44 countries.
The equipment auctioneers sold off more than 1,600 pieces of forestry-related equipment and trucks for $34 million, and those results surpassed the previous site record by 39 per cent, said Ritchie Bros. officials in a release Oct. 19.
“This auction was built around a fantastic lineup of forestry equipment, which attracted additional consignors and a lot of buyer attention from around the world,” said Pat Elliott spokesperson for Ritchie Bros. “The forestry sector has been under pressure, but we were still able to achieve strong results for sellers.”
Most of the equipment will stay in Canada, but international buyers were credited for driving up the pricing.
An estimated 89 per cent of auctioned items were sold to Canadian buyers, of which 72 per cent was purchased by B.C. buyers. The remaining 11 per cent was sold to international buyers from countries like Australia, Vietnam, and the United Kingdom.
The Ritchie Bros. website had more than 223,000 unique pageviews, close to 30,000 watchlist adds, and 9,900+ PriorityBids for the 1,600+ items over the two-day auction.
The release included sales highlights like a 2020 Tigercat LS855E tilter hoe chucker log loader that sold for CA$670,000; a 2019 Tigercat LX830D tilter feller buncher for CA$620,000; and a 2018 Tigercat 880D processor that went for CA$525,000.
Equipment was sold more than 375 owners in the online-only Chilliwack auction, including a large selection of forestry equipment for Don Bahen and Mary DeLury of Island Fibre Ltd.
“Ritchie Bros. has transitioned extremely well to a fully online auction experience,” said Don Bahen.
The company switched its onsite auctions to online only as of March 2020 due to the pandemic.
Ritchie Bros.’ next auction from Chilliwack will be in December 2020.
READ MORE: Auction results from 2018 forestry equipment sale
READ MORE: TV crew gets in on the auction action
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