Euro Auctions, Leeds, Europe’s largest sales arena for the sale of construction machinery, agricultural equipment, and industrial plant, hosted one of its largest auctions on record, attracting a good local audience whilst online bidding from global buyers was exceptional.
The sale held between 23rd and 26th September attracted the biggest online audience in Euro Auctions recent history, showing a true appetite for good used equipment and machinery. Seen as a true ‘home sale’ with over 540 vendors, from 23 countries, 87% of those sellers were from the UK.
With close to 5,200 lots of construction machinery, agricultural equipment, and industrial plant for sale, Euro Auctions proceeded with its traditional format of a mix of biding from the floor on the day, in addition to inviting bids from a global audience via the online bidding platform.
The hammer total for the four days was £33.5 million, with prices strong, and bidding robust. For this sale, close to 4,000 buyers registered to bid, with approximately 600 choosing to bid in person, on the day, from the floor, with 86% bidding online which, for an open sale with buyers attending on the day is the way bidding is moving since Covid.
But it was the home market that monopolised the day, with 95% of buyers coming from Europe, which included UK as the top-bidding country, snapping up close to 50% of all lots. Registrations to bid came from 88 countries from around the globe, such is the power of the Euro Auctions brand and the global marketing reach.
With increasing demand for good quality used machinery, the first-time bidders registering for this auction have increased sale on sale, with over 4,000 new bidding accounts registering during the last five sales in 2020. All Euro Auctions sales are unreserved, and when the hammer went down, all 5,000 plus lots were sold, with prices being strong, and clearly a great deal of interest from eager bidders.
Jonnie Keys comments, “Since the advent of Covid, the demand for good quality used equipment has been building, sale on sale. All throughout 2020 the increase in first time bidders at all Euro Auctions sales has been growing. We still believe that this is due to the slow-down and eventual halt of the manufacturing of new equipment due to the pandemic. We saw the same pattern in 2008 and 2009 following the last downturn. If users are replacing their fleets, or buying for projects, the current activity shows auctions are a good place to attend for that one-stop shopping experience.”
Keys continues, “New buyers and consignors also like our fair and transparent fee structure, where there are no hidden extras and with our staff really engaging with both buyers and sellers. In addition, in a time when more consignors are looking to turn iron into cash, they put their trust in Euro Auctions sell their equipment for fair money, with the funds from this sale helping to keep their businesses afloat across the UK and Europe.”
