Online auctioneer IronPlanet opens European office
13 November 2008
US internet equipment auction company IronPlanet is opening an office in Dublin, Ireland, to serve Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The initiative coincides with its first European auction on 28 January, 2009.
Tom Cornell, managing director of IronPlanet Europe, said IronPlanet already had customers in the regions and that the new office "will create the local presence necessary to quickly respond to customer needs and provide one-on-one support from a multilingual, local staff of representatives as we approach our first auction in January."
IronPlanet said its global presence continued to increase in the third quarter, having shipped 29% of auctined equipment to buyers outside the US compared to 21% in the third quarter of 2007. According to the company, 14000 buyers participate in its approximately weekly US auctions of equipment from the US, Canada and Australia.
Separately, IronPlanet reported a gross auction sales rise of nearly 60% - to $76.4 million (€61 million) - over the third quarter of 2007. Sales for the nine months ended 30 September, 2008 were $245.4 million (€200 million), a 66% increase over the same period in 2007.
It said it auctioned 13000 lots of equipment in the first nine months of 2008, up 77% over the same period last year. That volume was from approximately 800 sellers, a rise of 82% over the same period in 2007.