Ritchie Bros Auctioneers will conduct its next unreserved Dubai auction at Jebel Ali Free Zone from June 2 to 4.

The auction house also promises to have a live simulcast of its Singapore auction at the Dubai auction site on the second day of the three-day auction.
“The variety and selection of equipment at every unreserved Ritchie Bros auction is impressive, with most auctions featuring a wide array of used and unused assets for the construction, transportation, material handling, mining and other industries,” says a company spokesman.
“If you’re looking to buy construction equipment, our unreserved auction is one of the best places to look,” says Steve Barritt, Ritchie Bros regional manager for the Gulf States. “Not only do we offer our customers a wide range of equipment to choose from, we give them the comfort of knowing they’re paying fair market value for their purchases.”
At the most recent Ritchie Bros auction in Dubai, this March, more than 1,800 lots were sold over two days, including wheel loaders, motor graders, articulated dumptrucks, crawler tractors, crawler loaders, hydraulic excavators, loader backhoes, forklifts, skid-steer loaders and trucks.
“The growth and success of Ritchie Bros over the past 50 years has been largely due to its unwavering commitment to the unreserved auction process,” says Barritt. “Unreserved means there are no minimum bids and no reserve prices for the equipment in the auction. This would mean that every item is sold to the highest bidder on auction day, regardless of price. Interested buyers bid competitively on the lots being sold, and the final sale price is set by the bidders themselves – not by the owner, nor by the auctioneer. As a result, equipment in an unreserved auction is sold for its true market value.”
At these auctions, owners and their agents are also forbidden by contract from bidding on their own equipment, which means that only legitimate bidders are able to raise the price. “Hundreds, sometimes thousands of interested buyers attend each unreserved auction, and many people will travel a long way to do so. They appreciate the large selection of equipment that is available to bid on; they know that every item will be sold on auction day; and they trust that the bidding process is fair. Interested buyers who cannot make it to the auction site on auction day can bid over the internet, live and in real time, using the Ritchie Bros internet bidding service rbauctionBid-Live. About 25 per cent of the bidders at each Ritchie Bros auction participate online,” he says.
Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros Auctioneers is the world’s largest industrial auctioneer. In 2007 alone, the auction house sold more than 261,000 equipment items at over 350 unreserved auctions, generating a record-breaking $3.19 billion in total gross auction proceeds. The company has offices in more than 25 countries and 38 full-service auction sites around the world, including an auction site in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone where it conducts four regular industrial auctions each year.
“We sell more used equipment than anyone else in the world,” says Barritt. “However, the company can only sell the equipment that people are ready to sell. Over the decade that we have been conducting unreserved auctions in Dubai, we have seen a dramatic change in the Middle East construction equipment marketplace. Massive growth and booming infrastructure development have driven increased demand for both used and unused construction machinery, resulting in a shortage of equipment locally.
“There has also been an increase in size of the auctions each year, with thousands of equipment being sold every year, which only proves that local demand continues to outpace supply.
“We’ve been conducting unreserved auctions in Dubai since 1997, and our customer base in the Middle East has been growing consistently each year,” says Barritt. “Although our unreserved auctions have become a widely accepted channel for selling industrial equipment and trucks in the region, there is just not enough equipment available locally to meet the demands of a thriving construction industry.”
“Looking for alternative sources of equipment, an increasing number of Ritchie Bros customers in the Middle East have turned to the company’s unreserved auctions in other parts of the world to find the right equipment for their needs. The convenience of both on-site and online bidding, the proximity of each auction site to major transportation routes, the relative ease of international shipping, and the sheer volume and diversity of equipment available makes this an attractive option for many buyers in the Middle East.
“The global marketplace has opened up significantly over the past few years, thanks in part to changes brought by the internet,” says Barritt. “Our Middle East customers like to buy locally, but when they can’t find the right equipment for their needs, we can help them find that equipment elsewhere in the world – especially through our US auctions, which have become even more attractive as the US dollar has fallen, giving international buyers even greater purchasing power.”
He adds: “People from throughout the Middle East participated at Ritchie Bros. auctions around the world in 2007. They bought equipment from auctions in Dubai and Europe, but more than 25 per cent of their purchases were made at US auctions. They also purchased equipment from auctions conducted as far away as Australia, Singapore and Canada.”
In a bid to give those Middle East customers who prefer bidding in person access to a wider selection of equipment, Ritchie Bros introduced the concept of combined auctions last year, starting with a successful Singapore-Dubai auction in September 2007. A live auction simulcast of the Singapore auction was held at the Ritchie Bros auction site in Dubai, on Day One of a two-day auction at that site, enabling participants in Dubai to bid live and in person on equipment located in both the UAE and Singapore.
“Our customers responded positively to our first combined auction; it was a great success,” says Barritt. “As a company, we pride ourselves on being innovative. Whether it’s internet bidding or live auction simulcasts, we strive to offer a range of services that meet the changing needs of our diverse global customer base – without sacrificing the level of personal service and attention to detail that helped us become the dominant player in our industry.”