160 machines in Iron Planet's first European online auction

Iron Planet’s first European online auction on 28 Jan will feature 160 machines in countries from Norway to Spain. The company holds weekly auctions in the USA and Tom Cornell, managing director of the Dublin-based European operation, said auctions were needed over here to cater for CE-marked machines.

Owners prepare their own machines for Iron Planet auctions and keep possession until the buyer arranges transport. “There’s no need to transport the machine to an auction site or pay the auctioneer to prepare the unit for sale,” said Cornell.

An Iron Planet inspector prepares a condition report on the machine which includes a description, running hours, general condition plus 30 to 50 detailed photographs (including the plate) and checks or ratings on individual items like tracks, boom cylinders and pins. “Buyers can bid with confidence because we guarantee that machines inspected by our staff will match the description,” said Cornell. 

He said advantages for buyers begin by not having to travel to the auction site as they can view the items online, see where each item is located (by county in the UK), the starting price and the time each lot will finish. Bids can be placed ahead of the auction going live and buyers logged on while the auction is underway can bid directly and their screens will show if they are the highest or have been outbid.

On the auction day Iron Planet’s multi-lingual call centre staff contact potential bidders (there are 430,000 registered buyers from 65 countries) to help maximise the sale price. When a bid is placed the computer system extends the finishing time by two minutes to allow time for counter bids.

The winning bidder is notified by email and has three days to pay the invoice. Once Iron Planet has received the funds the seller is informed and the buyer is given the seller’s details along with the machine’s whereabouts.

Sellers have to pay a listing fee plus a commission of between 6% and 11% while the buyer pays commission of just less than 2% to a maximum of around £850. Cornell said in the US the time from a seller putting a machine in the auction to receiving the cash is typically around four weeks but that could be longer in Europe as initially auctions will be held monthly.