Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers held another successful auction and live Internet auction broadcast in Fort Worth, TX. The three-day auction, conducted on June 13, 14 and 15, 2000 generated gross auction sales exceeding $30 million. The first two days of the auction were broadcast live over the Internet.

More than 1,800 registered bidders came to the sale from 41 states, six Canadian provinces and 12 other countries.

Bidders from outside the state of Texas made more than 50 percent of the purchases.

Thousands of people visited the Ritchie Bros. Web site at www.rbauction.com during the broadcast where they were able to watch the auction, review the listings of trucks and equipment being sold in upcoming auctions, and place absentee, or proxy, bids.

Customers were able to watch a live video feed of the auction and follow the selling prices.

According to David Ritchie, chairman and CEO of the company, “This online participation, coupled with the thousands of bidders who continue to travel from around the world to inspect, test, and compare the trucks and equipment in our auctions, further demonstrates the value of our auction methods. It also reaffirms our decision to pursue a ’clicks and mortar’ strategy; we are using the Internet to enhance, rather than replace, our live auctions.

“Our customers are becoming increasingly comfortable using our Web site to gather information about the equipment in our auctions; but when it comes to the actual buying decision, they still like to inspect, test and compare the equipment in person,” he said.

Featured equipment in the Fort Worth auction included 69 crawler tractors, 60 wheel loaders, 51 hydraulic excavators, 257 truck tractors, 63 dump trucks, 47 agricultural tractors, 111 forklifts, 77 loader backhoes, 37 lowboys, and a variety of cranes.