I recently placed several pieces of construction equipment on consignment from Ritchie Bros. And have left with a bad taste in my mouth'. It is my opinion that Ritchie Bros. Had hidden additional fees from me when they acted as my Agent and sold my construction equipment.
Specifically, I had initially met with Chris Blood in early January in Phoenix, AZ. He had assured me of their leadership and integrity' in the auctioneer market place and that Ritchie Bros. Had been in business for over 50 years so I decided to use Ritchie Bros. To help me liquidate the equipment that I no longer needed because of the slow down in the Phoenix market. Within 2 weeks I had handed over a lot of my total net worth including:
2007 Caterpillar 345CL Hydraulic Excavator
2005 Caterpillar 320C Hydraulic Excavator
2004 Caterpillar 312CL Hydraulic Excavator
Caterpillar 225B LC Hydraulic Excavator
The 2 day auction was held on February 25-26 and was anxiously waiting on their online bidding area at www.rbauction.com to see how much my equipment had fetched. I could have gotten about 30-40% more had I sold 6 months ago, but nonetheless I was content with the final sales prices.
A week later I received a check for my equipment and it was over $20,000 less than I had expected. Now I knew what the contract stated about maintenance and repair fees. But I got billed over $20k for paint! I find that absolutely appalling and dishonest to both the buyer and the seller.
Some of my equipment is 4 or 5 years old and adding brand new coats of paint adds absolutely nothing to the structural and mechanical integrity of the machines. My experience with Ritchie has left an awful taste in my mouth and when I voiced my complaints when them all I got was there is nothing we can do.
The auction model was great because I didn't have to deal with anyone else, but I don't think Ritchie Bros. Gets you the best possible out the door sales proceeds. I guess I should have known all along& Ritchie Bros.net Profit Margin is 24% and is downright wrong to the entire fair market price claim they make so often.
Ritchie Bros. Really does do a lot to manipulate the "fair market price" for buyers and sellers of construction equipment. Besides adding new coats of paint to equipment thats 5 years old, they also go "all out" to create an "experience" at auctions. The fancy hats, the ice sculptures, the grab bags, excess staffing... All these expenses come from somewhere and its not the best value for buyers and sellers since they're probably the ones paying for these unessential items.
If you think about the "fair market price" for any item than the math equation is:
(Seller's Proceeds) - ('Ritchie Fees') = Buyer Price.
In my opinion neither sellers nor buyers get the most value from Ritchie Bros. I feel like they owe me over $20,000 from their outrageous fees and I will never use their services again.
Sincerely,
Gary P.
Mesa, AZ
And by the way Ritchie Bros. Is a public company so maybe its good policy for the shareholders to take additional fees from the consignors, sellers and buyers.
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