Don Dobbas was most familiar with the classic auction style. The president of Jim Dobbas Inc., a well-known and respected Sacramento-area heavy equipment contractor who specializes in emergency train derailment responses among other jobs, attended Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers events for years with his father (Jim). He was used to live auctioneers, bidders in the theatre or out in the yard, listing catalogs raised in air, etc.
So, when Don decided it was time to sell equipment in a full dispersal with Ritchie Bros., he wasn’t expecting to use our Timed Auction system. In fact, the idea took some getting used to.
‘Was Timed Auction different? Yes. Did I like it? Yes!’
Timed Auctions are an automated online bidding system where each item closes at staggered times during the auction. As bids come in, extra time (two minutes) is given to all bidders to make another bid. Because it is unreserved, ultimately every item is sold to the highest bidder when the item finally closes.
“What I like about it is it gives the bidders more opportunity to bid, and more time to make decisions,” said Don after his successful June 9 Sacramento sale. “What if a bidder needs to talk to his owner, or partner, and ask ‘Can I spend that much?’ It gives them that extra two minutes. In a live auction you don’t always have that luxury.”
Don says that more time for bidders can mean better returns for sellers like him.
“I think the Timed Auction went really well – it gave the bidders opportunity to go a little longer, more time to get the product versus with the live auctioneer where maybe they maybe move too fast. I feel that it really helped that the bidders have more time, and the seller to get better returns.”
.jpg-572x299.jpg?resize=572%2C299&ssl=1 "Jim and Don Dobbas of construction contractor Jim Dobbas Inc.")
All the work leading up to the big day
Don’s consignment package received a strong push ahead of the auction using Ritchie Bros.’ full global marketing power, both on the ground and in the digital space.
Jim Dobbas Inc. sold over 250 pieces of heavy equipment and attachments. Don’s consignment package of top-quality excavators, loaders, heavy haul trucks, trailers and more were the auction’s highlight. Online buyers poured in from all over the world, including Italy, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The vast majority of bidders were from California and nearby Idaho and Arizona.
“The results exceeded our expectations,” said Don. “I felt Ritchie Bros. did a real good job on the marketing and getting the info out on the sale, staging it for the pictures and brochures – same thing on social media and the website. It was a great job as far as getting the word out.
“It was emotionally exhausting. All the prep leading up to it, getting everything ready. I was just emotionally spent by the end of it. We did have a little champagne in the office that day when the sale was over, then went out to a nice dinner that evening.”