If you had a chance to attend the 2014 CONEXPO-CON/AGG show, you know that it was a busy and exciting display of the latest construction equipment, products and services. At the IronPlanet booth, CEO Greg Owens highlighted some of our top milestones of the last 12 months, including:

Today, an increasing number of equipment owners are turning to the Internet for help in disposing and acquiring machines. Why? The Internet can reach a wider number of potential buyers and sellers. Online auctions are also more efficient and convenient because they eliminate the need to travel to a physical auction.

Crane owners are among those who are taking advantage of online auctions to sell their big-ticket items. David Tobon, IronPlanet's director of crane operations, offers his insight on online auctions in the latest issue of International Cranes and Specialized Transport. View the article here (p. 44).

IronPlanet will celebrate the 14^th anniversary of its first auction this week (download the infographic for a comparison of auctions over the past 14 years).

“We’re excited to celebrate 14 years of growth since our first online auction,” said Greg Owens, CEO, IronPlanet. “We have attracted more than one million registered users around the globe and sold more than $3.5 billion of equipment over the Internet. Our success is based on our customers’ recognition that IronPlanet offers the industry’s most efficient and timely way to buy and sell used heavy equipment.”

IronPlanet held its first online auction March 23, 2000 which consisted of one seller, 32 bidders and 22 items within the construction industry. This year, IronPlanet held a four-day online auction that featured 406 sellers, 2,996 unique bidders from 78 countries and 1,795 items sold.

“The convenience of working with IronPlanet is great. I simply call my sales rep and tell him what I have and they have a simple process that takes care of the rest. I like the fact that I don’t have to transport my equipment anywhere. An inspector comes to me and all items stay on my lot under my control until they sell. The ease of the entire transaction makes it the ideal way for us to do business.” - Dave Morse, Sunbelt Rentals

“Before IronPlanet we negotiated each sale deal-by-deal with mixed results. We had to coordinate the sale and transportation ourselves. We tried traditional auctions, but there was time and travel involved. What we didn’t sell, we had to transport back to our lot. With IronPlanet, it’s just easier. Everything is done online and we don’t have to move the equipment off site to auction. The IronPlanet team takes great photos and provides complete inspection reports. We get a lot of repeat buyers who keep an eye on our weekly auctions at IronPlanet.com.” - Dan VanderPol, Oak Harbor Freight Lines