Anybody actively use these guys? I went ahead and registered with them because we have a local one coming up. I'm just looking for a cheap work truck anywhere from $1-5000 and I see form some of the auction results that this may be a real possibility. What kind of experiences have you guys had with them? Any tips? Thanks in advance.
Bought a couple of things in Nashville last summer. Seemed like a well run outfit. One issue I had was with my check- the letter of guarantee my bank sent (their standard one) wasn't good enough for RB. They then gave me a sample for the bank. So go ahead and get the sample early on...
I love them. I go to every local sell Edmonton and Grande Prairie, and have flown to lots in the states they are all good. Have boughten alot of stuff and has been a great experence
RB runs a very proffessional auction. Much better organized than any of the small local one I have ever been to. You also don't have to worry about the seller bidding in and running up the price. They have no tolerance for that. I have been going for over 15 years. Just like any auction, do your homework on what you want to buy. Research the value, and set what you are willing to pay in advance. Check the condition carefully. Find out if you can where the piece you want came from (the auction usually wont tell you). That will tell you a little about the risk. I have seen tremendous deals, like the $5,000 service truck, nice IH with a crane, compressor, welder, and in good shape, and I have bought some real lemons that have been painful experiences on what to look carefully at before raising your hand. It is a fast paced sale, and can be intimidating for first timers, but it is also fair, and you don't have to worry about making a mistake when bidding. If you are bid in, the caller will recognize you, and if you are out, he will ask if you want to bid again. Ask questions, as all the ones I have been to have very helpful staff. Good luck
Some very good advice Jerry. With my very limited experience of RB in the UK I agree 100% with everything you say.
I have been going to the RB auctions for over 30 years, first one I went to was in Surrey, BC. and I bought a Ford L8000 dump truck. And yes you do have to know your prices because sometimes things go far higher than they are worth, and sometimes there are some killer deals. Always go a day or two before the auction so you can look over the equipment real good, you are allowed to start and run the equipment in place. Trucks you can't do too much besides start them, but with equipment you can drive them back and forth a little and run everything up and down, etc. I was at the RB auction in Olympia, WA last week and ran all the excavators and man lifts I was interested in. But all I bought was a new generator, the prices were very high. Basically what I could buy it on Machinery Trader or a dealer for, and some stuff was even higher. Don't know what was with these people, but there were a lot of overseas buyers and the dollar is weak now. So research the prices and know what your limit is and don't get caught up in the bidding game where you have to win. Like I always tell everyone I don't go to a auction to buy retail, I want a deal. And you want a deal because you never really know how much you might have to sink into your purchase if something needs fixing. And there can be some great deals. I bought our loader quite awhile back for $40,000 and it was worth about $70,000 at that time and have not done anything to it other than normal maintainence since we bought it. I bought a 2006 Kenworth T800 dump truck about 3 years ago for $115,000, it only had 16,000 miles was still under the 2 year warranty and was worth about $150,000. And last year I bought a pup trailer for the dump truck, was at one auction and the pups were going for $35,000 to $45,000 and didn't buy one prices were too high for me. 3 months later I went to the next auction and bought a pup trailer for $17,000 which was worth at least $35,000. So don't go looking to buy something you need right now, because most locations have a auction every 3 months or so. And prices can vary dramatically from auction to auction. Also if you sign up at rbauction.com you can look up prices from previous auctions to see how much they went for, where, etc. Forgot: You can also watch the auctions on their website, so this will give you a idea of how the bidding goes, etc. I always take my laptop with me so I can watch on the drive there if I am not getting there early because what I want won't be up till later. And to watch the other ring because sometimes they have 2 rings at once, and I want to bid on something from both rings.
We just bought two more machines at the auction they had in Perris, CA last weekend. We've probably bought about 20 machines from them so far. No complaints with RB other than one time I was top bidder on a 621 Differential core. When I went to pay for it, they said that somebody else was the top bidder but wouldn't tell me who. I protested so they went back and "listened to the tape." They came back and said the tape was "unclear" and never really gave me any solid answers. Many other people at the auction all saw me bid on it and were all as confused as I was. Fortunately, it was a low dollar item so we weren't too upset. Lesson learned: :beatsme ... be clear?
Yes, that is a problem. We have to send two people if we want something from both rings to avoid the online bidding fees. :cussing
One thing to be careful with, A friend did online bidding on a couple of boom lifts a year ago and had them do it for him with a pre set maximum bid. He was watching online and saw that most booms were going for 10 to 12k but when the ones he wanted came up his went for the 18k maximum he had set with them. Then the next ones went for the lower prices again so he felt that they scammed him:beatsme He wasn't too sore about it though as he still got two top units for a good price but still.
Sounds familiar. They used to be a lot straighter and honest than they are now. But hey its that way with any company. Once you're answering to shareholders all over creation its a little different than to a good businessman (Dave Richie) who understands the business and the people. It also seems like the last while they've brought a lot of younger guys which provide good energy for the company but unfortunately a bunch of cockiness too. But by and large still a reasonable company.
I'm just curious, did you ask to listen to it?
No, they said that somebody else had already came and picked it up. (which was probably true since when we were picking up our winnings it wasn't there) Plus, like I said, it wasn't a high dollar purchase- like $500 dollars so it wasn't really worth it for us to pursue it especially since we already have a lot of those cores. It was more of a shrug-your-shoulders situation. If it was a bigger piece of equipment that we really had our heart set on it would have been a different story.
I've worked on many pieces of equipment that have come straight from RB auctions. For me it becomes a game of mechanic VS mechanic, because someone else has tried to hide all the problems, and now I have to find them. But I think that is just the nature of the beast, I've also been the guy who preps a machine on it's way to auction. No one dumps money into a machine they plan to sell. My advice: the fresher the paintjob, the more worn out the machine.
I agree with Muffler Bearing,Look long and hard at that stuff.I helped haul a crane for a small outfit to their yard.It was in bad shape then only to go back and load it 5 years later and haul it to RB. Didn't do anything repair wise but paint it. The boom wasn't fit to use but we unloaded and stuck it together
Hi newbie here, Agree with whats posted already. There is an old saying when dealing with buying from an auction and its this "BUYER BEWARE", thats the key to buying in an auction That goes without saying with ritchiebros, you get a great selection of machinery, and the prices are great. But at each RB auction there can be a great variation in the value of a machine. Eg if I put a crusher in the Sacramento auction, and then put an identical one (same hours, same year) a few months later in the La auction, there COULD be a big difference in the sale price. And that goes for all the west coast states and indeed world wide. If you are in no hurry to buy, I'd suggest becoming a member of RB auction site and view their results archive, then you will have a good idea on how much you can spend and save.
We go to all the ones in Northeast, MD. We have purchased quite a few machines and small items from there. Like everyone said, do your homework. Lately, I have noticed that they are becoming everyones dumping ground for their junk. Being so close to the docks, the exporters are all over the place and drive the prices up. They seem to be only interested in the big iron, especially excavators.
mentioning the exporters, reminds me of the "gray market" equipment I've worked on. Stuff that was built for Asia and was never meant to reach the states, thus parts were truly impossible to get. Speaking of RB auctions, we just had one Tuesday, wonder if any mystery machines will be appearing at my shop!
You are buying a cat in the bag at RB, but posters are right, the prices are good. Because we have mechanics and inspector on staff for our company checking out machines for us, we've tried keeping them busy at auctions by offering 3rd party inspection services. They're not expensive and usually our inspector will provide report over the phone, but if bidding online could save you problems down the road.
I can second that because i spent a ridiculous amount of time doing half ass repairs and clean ups so the equipment would be a quick easy flip the worst one of all being a forklift that would barely start and after finally getting it started we left t running the entire way from our yard to the auction yard so they could do the videos of it running for the auction and our driver could off load it and get the hell out of dodge felt sorry for whatever poor son of a bitch bought it but i just did whatever they paid me to do so i didn’t feel that bad
Dude at work sent me a few links for some stuff. He knows even less about heavy equipment than I do, but they had a bunch of unbidded on mini-mini-excavators listed that he was asking about. I have no idea the quality but it looked to me like China has flooded the market with these things. All of them looked to small to be very effective and they all had crazy names, kind of like the stuff you see on Cramazon, where someone has made something decent, then China rips it off and makes 15 different copies of it. I suggested to the guy that these were probably not great machines but if he bought one he should probably buy three and hope for 2 parts donor machines. One another note- I bought an electric kettle, off of cramazon, that came with the brand name Ulalov. To me that sounds an awful lot Iike EULA-Love which I assume the fine print of the instructions say something about the likelihood of this kettle burning my house down... Kind of a funny play on words, until it's not.
Couple of old terms to remember when going to an auction - Don't fall in love with an item and get caught up in a bidding frenzy Buyer beware All sales are final
Make sure you look at all fees, buyers premium, lot fee, cc fees, etc.
I use em. Seem like a good company. I’ve bought a few things and sold a few things. They’re good for offloading stuff that’s otherwise hard to sell. No complaints about them.
RB's service has gone downhill and their fee's have went way up on small stuff. There is a minimum $100 buyers fee and there is a minimum $150 sellers fee. The $150 minimum is for every item. So you basically need stuff to sell for at least $600 to pay the standard 25% seller fee up to $3000 I think. The last auction I bought a ripper for $850 but didn't pay the 10% had to pay the $100 minimum. There were a lot of small buckets and attachments that RB made more money on than the sellers. With that said it wouldn't surprise me that large consignors get a break on their small items. It would better selling the stuff for scrap. Their hours are greatly reduced too. They have a 3 to 5 day auction bringing in a hundred million $$$$ or more but close strictly at 5pm even on the days of the sale. They used to stay open till 8 or 9 so people could load up and/or pay. They are only open on Saturday when they used to be open all weekend after the sale for picking items up. It's not they can't afford to pay for staff on Sunday. I generally like how they sell items but the service and fee's they charge now are big negatives. It used to be a lot better.
I use them here in Australia, but they have little cover for items that need cover, all their yards are just open storage yards - so good new parts and components get left out in the weather, they get wet, and they're ruined. Seems pretty dumb to me. They've also started this minimum $100 bid stunt, so you get no item under about $125 by the time fees and taxes are added. In addition, they won't take credit cards now, "unless their site has an EFTPOS machine". Of course, my local RB yard has no EFTPOS machine. I used to be able to call up their main office in Brisbane and they'd take a CC payment over the phone. Now they've stopped that system, they reckoned it was to prevent money laundering. I call BS on that, they just don't want to offer any payment options, except direct bank funds transfer. I deal with numerous other local auction houses and they keep your CC on file, and they simply deduct the amount as soon as they have decided on the sale - usually immediately the auction ends, or within a couple of hours. Some of the local auction houses pass items in, and call you looking for a higher bid the next day. I often tell them my last bid was my highest bid, and they often come back later after talks with the seller, and sell it to me for my high bid! I've never had anyone from RB's call me after an auction, asking for a higher bid, they just seem to pass items in and put them in the next sale. RB's do have reasonable fees - 7.5% buyers premium here. A lot of local auction houses are much greedier, charging up to 15%-16% on items under, say $5K. Then there's administration fees and other fees they all dream up. One auction house here charges 1% for handling cash payments! What a rort! I have to admit, I've done fairly well out of buying at RB auctions - but I've bought little by way of big equipment from them - mostly tools, components, project surplus new equipment, a couple of small trailers, and even a 2011 Ford Ranger that was an excellent buy. I'll double my money on that Ranger without a lot of expenditure, it's a nice clean "big corporate operator" vehicle, that was only used as a city runaround, picking up people from the airport, and to go get lunches in! RB's item descriptions are seriously lacking in good detail, and you're well advised to go check out the items in person. I've never sold anything through them and I doubt I ever will, as they care little about how much they get for an item, it's all about keeping up the turnover.
A lot of places charge 4% for using a credit card because the credit card fee's are ridiculous. I can understand why they don't take cash. I was just reading where they tried to buy another auction company but it fell through because the gov't. there said RB would have too much of a monopoly. I think it was in the UK but can't remember the name of the company. That auction company ended up buying Michener Allen auctions here in Canada. RB has become quite greedy. Now they're looking into to selling used equipment like a dealer. I think competition is good but RB has been allowed to much leeway in buying up most of their competition. It's like they've forget what made them successful in the first place and it's all about how much fee's they can get away with. I'd be upset if I was selling smaller items. There is very little description on most of them. It's kind of the opposite to the bigger items. Instead of giving better descriptions that would help get more money, it's easier to charge the minimum fee's for buyer and seller. They have a small building for some things like parts but there is a lot of stuff left out in the yard. The Nisku site here is their busiest site in N. America. Orlando FL. typically has the biggest sale but Nisku has a lot more sales in a year. Some are 5 days.
RB's CEO is showing signs of massive corporate greed and world domination. They've bought out auction house after auction house, obviously intent on market domination. RB's have taken over 13 companies, including 7 in the last 5 years. None of them were small purchases, they bought out IronPlanet for US$760M. They got kicked in the a** over their attempted takeover of Euro Auctions UK for US$1.3B, because the UK Competitions and Markets Authority started talking about stopping the takeover due to monopolisation - so RB's backed out of that deal. So then RB's went and blew US$7B on the takeover of IAA - meaning RB's are becoming a bigger monopoly threat all the time. RB's profits have gone up 40% in 5 years, so they know when they're on a winner. And owning an auction house sure looks like a good little earner to me - they rip off the seller, and rip off the buyers as well!
Euro Auctions is the one I was referring too. I'm surprised RB hadn't already bought Michener Allen. They aren't real big but are competition for them. The new CEO is a woman and she's the one that wants to sell like a used equipment dealer. How is that going to work? They get all the best deals at their sales because they don't have to pay any fee's? Pretty unfair they can do that but sellers are strictly no reserve. Some people have accused them of shill bidding too. They should never have been allowed to buy out the majority of their competition. They also do real estate auctions and have bought some of those auctioneers.
The buyer and seller willingly use RB, it's not like RB is holding a gun to their head. Buyer beware works on both transactions. Locally we have a "large" auction company that has several sales through the year selling near new trucks and used equipment from the state, counties, power company and individuals. I think the closest RB auction is over in Georgia.
Agreed. At the end of the day the customer can still vote with their wallet. If people quit using them they will change. Never been to a RB auction myself, not even sure where the closest one is to here.
If RB wasn't allowed to buy the majority of their competition I'd bet their fee's wouldn't have increased as much as they have. When they're the only game in town they can pretty much charge whatever they want. That's where competition is a good thing. Customers needing to liquidate assets don't have a choice. RB does good marketing and runs a good sale on big pieces but for if you're selling stuff under $3000 you're not getting the best bang for your buck.
Sounds like Airgas ? Joe H
Here in the midwest we have two good local auction companies, Big Iron and Purple Wave.
Purple wave will beat out rb, only a matter of time Better web site to find things, flat 10% buyer commission and only $100 per item to list, which they sometimes wave.
I like what I see on Purple Wave and Big Iron, lots of good photos and a good description makes you get a better feel on what they're selling. Here, RB's aim at the big corporate operators and big miners market - these operator don't care what they pay to auction houses, nor do they care what they get for their equipment/parts/components or vehicles - it's already all written off on the tax angle anyway, and even if they make a profit on the sale, it doesn't alter their mega-dollar bottom line.
That flat 10% buyers fee is a pretty steep fee for big buyers. On a $80-100,000 item, purple wave doesn’t cap their fees. $10k to purple wave vs $3,500 fee at Ritchie Bros (who has a cap on their fee), and I’m a Ritchie buyer. I’ve bought from both, but my biggest auction purchases have been from Ritchie Bros.
I prefer Big Iron. No buyers rip. Sellers charge varies by total sale price. I was charged 11% a couple of times.
Fees just lower the purchase price, so if it's a 80k item I'm bidding 70k. It's simple and I don't have to do any math. I just add 29% to my bid for fee and sales tax
They don't do in person auctions here anymore. Haven't in 5+ years. Last several years it's a been headache/shitshow of an auction combined Chehalis, Wasilla, Spokane, sometimes Idaho as well. Kill a whole day following the online auction for maybe 200 items that are local. And have to be careful that it's a local item vs way out in WA. Their fees are very high too, in both ends. $100 minimum, 15% seller and buyer fee. So that $5000 item, RB is making $1500 on. Used to be a huge event here, 400-500 people, food trucks, etc. Lots of guys would go just to see equipment and people they hadn't seen in a while.
Can't edit it, 20%, 10 for buys fee and 10 for sales tax