In 2009, equipment auctioneers Ritchie Bros. sold $3.5 billion of used and unused equipment to buyers in a range of industries like construction, transportation, agriculture and forestry. The company's 2009 sales broke records for highest number of bidders (336,000 registered bidders in 2009), total number of items sold, and highest total sales to online bidders at $380 million, an 18 percent increase over 2008 numbers.
In today's economy, more and more contractors are looking to the used equipment market to sell their excess equipment or purchase new-to-them units at less-than-new prices. And a growing number of them are turning to the Internet.
Recently, Concrete Contractor and its sister publications teamed with an online used equipment service to create equipmentconnector.com. While flipping through the magazine and visiting our website, you'll see information about this online marketplace devoted to the buying, selling and appraisal needs of construction and landscape professionals. The site has more than 13,000 loaders, backhoes and other types of equipment from over 800 dealers throughout North America.
Sellers can use equipmentconnector.com to list their equipment for sale. Equipmentconnector.com also offers appraisal services based on years of equipment sales data, helping sellers better price the equipment they list.
Buyers looking for used equipment can search equipment for sale by type, model, year and price.
Like any other item you consider purchasing for your business, you'll need to determine the type of equipment that will best help you get your job done and how you can keep that piece of equipment busy enough to justify the cost. The Internet is a great way to research construction equipment. You can visit manufacturers' websites, and of course there is concretecontractormag.com, where you will find articles from our archives and our sister publications' archives. Many of these stories cover equipment maintenance and describe how contractors have used certain types of equipment to save time and increase productivity on their jobsites - from earthmoving equipment to power trowels to rebar benders.
If you're in the market for a "new-to-you" piece of equipment, or looking to sell a piece of equipment you no longer need, do your research at concretecontractormag.com and don't forget to check out the new equipmentconnector.com.
