More than 1,000 forklifts a year are sold online by GraysOnline

Buyers and sellers are turning to online auctions, taking advantage of the 24-hour marketplace on sites like GraysOnline.

"Previously, on-site auctions were deemed successful if around 100 people attended the site and a fair proportion actually bid on the assets," says Grays spokesman Josh Sanders. "The online auction environment means that we can appeal to hundreds of thousands of legitimate buyers from across the country and, in fact, the world.

"Buyers are happy with the convenience, as they don't have to waste time attending auctions when they may not end up being the successful bidder. Vendors are happy as sale prices reflect the fact that thousands of people are interested in bidding on the assets, instead of the limited number of people who are able to actually attend a traditional auction."

Another benefit of online auctions, he tells Forkliftaction.com News, is that vendors can utilise the company's services whether they have one forklift or 150 forklifts to sell.

"We conduct auctions on behalf of the biggest names in the forklift industry, right down to sole traders looking to downgrade, retire or even upgrade," says Sanders, adding that the company sells well over 1, 000 forklifts a year online.

GraysOnline, one of Australia's largest auctioneering companies, offers forklift vendors significant advantages, says Sanders. "The main reason our website works so well is that we have a huge amount of traffic visiting the site ... with over 350,000 unique visitors a month. We are amongst the top 10 shopping websites in Australia, according to Nielsen reporting. This is coupled with our previous history as a legitimate auctioneer which means that we are perfectly placed to assist anyone thinking of buying or selling via an online auction."

The benefit for vendors of using auctions as a route to market is the ease and flexibility that it offers. Whether a company is a small business or a multi-national organisation, the online auction house manages the process from beginning to end, leaving the vendor to concentrate on their core business while the auction house handles warehousing, supply chain management, promotion, sales and delivery.

Another advantage is that the items can remain at the vendor's site until they're sold. There is no need to consolidate assets into one area (which would need to occur for a traditional on-site auction).

Assets can be sold in-situ all over Australia, eliminating relocation costs. Buyers then come to the premises to pick up the assets or have them couriered.

"We manage the end-to-end process for our vendors," Sanders explains.
"We handle customer enquiries, payment from our buyers, we offer inspections and pick-up days and then fast payment to the vendors after the sale, with a detailed summary of exactly what sold and what it sold for."

Selling online, step-by-step

• A representative from GraysOnline visits the vendor's premises to discuss their requirements.
• Within a couple of days, Grays responds with a strategy tailored to suit the vendor. This includes an outline of proposed promotional activity required to ensure a successful auction sale.
• Grays then lists and photographs the major assets. This provides the template for the sale overview on the website as well as the brochure that it sends out to target markets it identifies as being interested in this particular auction.
• About one week prior to the beginning of the auction, the company's sales cataloguers come onto the premises and take a detailed listing of each asset to be sold as well as a digital photograph of each lot. This constitutes the catalogue which goes live when the sale begins.
• The company then sends out an email to its database of customers who have expressed interest in forklifts. This email links directly to an online overview of the auction sale and a link to the catalogue.
• Once the sale has begun, it advertises in the relevant print and online journals.
• The sale typically lasts five or six days.
  • On the second-last day, an inspection occurs. This ensures that buyers are comfortable with their possible purchases.
• The sale then closes the next afternoon.
• Once the auction is closed, the proceeds from the buyers goes into Gray's trust account.
• Once buyers have paid in full, they pick up their assets and Grays forwards the vendor's cheque along with a break-down of its costs, what was sold and the price each lot achieved.

On the international front, last week interested buyers from across North America and around the world participated in an auction conducted by Ritchie Bros Auctioneers in North East Maryland.

Close to 3,100 trucks and other industrial equipment items were sold in the USD26 million auction, including 38 truck tractors; over 200 forklifts, scissorlifts and boom lifts; 23 articulated dump trucks; 77 hydraulic excavators; 89 skid steer loaders; 39 trenchers; 45 crawler tractors; 33 crawler loaders; 50 wheel loaders; and 71 loader backhoes.

Almost 2,000 registered bidders from 27 countries, 45 US states and all 10 Canadian provinces participated in the auction with close to one-third of them using the company's real-time Internet bidding service, rbauctionBid-Live. Nearly 350 items, representing over USD7 million worth of gross auction sales, were sold online. Internet bidders from as far away as the United Kingdom, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates purchased equipment in the auction.