MARK STOCK

The CEO of BigIron Auctions talks about the state of machinery auctions since the start of the pandemic.

- Alex Gray

The second oldest of seven kids, Mark Stock grew up on a farm near St. Edward, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska while his only brother, Ron, attended auction school in the 1980s when farmers were facing high interest rates and selling machinery to get by. The brothers started a full-service machinery auction business in 1984, taking care of everything from start to finish, including cleanup, lineup, and load out.

They operated like this until the late 1990s when they were approached to start an online auction service, eventually launching Proxibid.

According to Stock, they were the first auction company in North America to broadcast an auction on a remote farm site in conjunction with real-time internet bidding. The brothers later left the company in 2009 to form the BigIron timed-only online auction platform. Stock and his brother currently run BigIron, selling everything ag machinery, classic cars, and real estate.

SF: How have equipment sales been affected by the pandemic?

MS: I recently spoke with a gentleman who sold an item on BigIron. He bought a brand new hay processor in 2009 for $8,900. Due to supply chain and labor shortages, he sold it 14 years later for $14,050.