The World's Largest Industrial Auctioneer Ritchie Bros. Holds its First Japan Auction

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers opened a permanent auction site on January 27 in Narita City, Chiba Prefecture, thereby commencing services for the Japanese market.

The unreserved public auction got underway on January 27. More than 550 bidders registered from both Japan and overseas (from 32 countries) and purchased more than 300 equipment items at the busy Narita auction site. The hundreds of million yen auction attracted interested buyers from as far away as North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and from all over Asia. An official grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Narita City Mayor Kazunari Koizumi was also held. Every item was sold on auction day to the highest bidder, regardless of price. At a Ritchie Bros. Auction, there are no minimum bids and no reserve prices. It’s the competitive bidding process that determines the final price of each and every item.

“As we have expanded our global footprint around the world, we have seen a lot of our customers sourcing equipment from Japan,” said Rob Mackay, President of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. “These same customers have been asking us to hold our unreserved public auctions here in Japan too. So, after many years, we are pleased to now be able to service local Japanese consignors and our global buyers from this great Narita facility.”

Patrick Patterson, Director of Patterson Equipment Pty Ltd from Australia travelled to Japan: “Knowing it’s an unreserved auction, you know the equipment does sell. You fly around the world to attend a Ritchie Bros. Auction because you know you can actually buy something and they are an honest company to deal with.”