EDMONTON, Alberta -

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers revealed this week that it achieved some Canadian records for the company at its recent three-day unreserved public equipment auction in Edmonton.

The company posted its best-ever Canadian marks for the amount of equipment sold online, most registered online bidders and most unique buyers.

Not only that, the gross auction proceeds were the second highest the company has ever recorded in Canada.

During the sale — which was held April 27 through April 29 at Richie Bros. permanent auction site in Edmonton — more than 7,100 unique bidders came to the auction. There were more than 2,800 online bidders throughout 41 countries.

These online bidders bought $23 million CAD worth of equipment, which was 28 percent of the equipment at the sale.

Bidders outside of Alberta bought 40 percent of the equipment at the sale, totaling $34 million. Some of these buyers hailed from faraway places like Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Australia, Japan, India, Peru, German and Thailand.

Total sales for the auction — online and on-site — came in at $84 million.

“We were fortunate to have over 750 quality consignors contribute to more than 5,300 lots sold, which resulted in some very large asset categories, including more than 130 crawler tractors, more than 120 hydraulic excavators, 150 truck tractors and hundreds of rental pieces,” said Jake Lawson, regional manager for  Ritchie Bros. 

“Overall, the diverse selection of equipment available at the auction drew thousands of bidders from around the world. Bidders competed aggressively on-site and online and pricing on equipment was very strong,” he added. “This depth in the marketplace is consistent with the robust demand for quality equipment we’ve seen lately and reflects our ability to attract the global market to our auctions, regardless of the location.”