From Classified Ads to 3.1 Million Visits a Month: Mascus Turns 25

The used machinery marketplace launched in Helsinki in 2001 now lists 500,000 machines and, ten years into Ritchie Bros. ownership, feeds sellers into auctions too

In 2001, selling a used excavator in Europe usually meant a newspaper ad, a dealer’s yard or a phone call to someone who knew someone. That January, a small Finnish team put machinery listings online and launched Mascus in Helsinki.

Twenty-five years later, Mascus is a global marketplace for used heavy equipment and trucks. More than 5,700 professional sellers list on it, buyers browse over 500,000 listings in six sectors (agriculture, transport, construction, forestry, material handling, and green and road maintenance) and the platform records about 3.1 million visits a month. This year it also marks ten years as part of Ritchie Bros.

A quarter century in numbers

Since 2001, more than 18 million heavy machines and trucks have been listed on Mascus, by more than 32,000 companies. Sellers in 222 countries have used it, and they have received more than 5 million email enquiries and over 4 million phone calls from buyers. Equipment is organised in 53 main categories and 547 subcategories.

The network grew fast: today there are 27 offices, 23 of them in Europe, and 43 websites in more than 30 languages. Local teams remain central, working alongside dealers, OEMs, rental companies and resellers. Mascus also builds branded webshops for its customers, which sync automatically with their listings; about 1,500 are live.

“Our most important achievement is not the technology itself, but the success of our customers,” said Rickard Krøtø, Managing Director of Mascus.

One seller, several routes

The bigger change of the past decade is integration with Ritchie Bros. Alongside fixed-price listings on Mascus, sellers can now choose reserve or unreserved auctions. An asset that does not sell through one channel can be moved to a Ritchie Bros. auction, giving the owner a defined sale date and a clearer path to cash. Buyers, meanwhile, can browse auction inventory on Mascus next to traditional listings.

“When a seller comes to us today, we can offer the full range of options available and help them choose the path that leads to the best result,” said Ghislaine Duijmelings, General Manager at Ritchie Bros.

For fleet owners, that means one contact and several ways to sell: a useful option at a time when many contractors are rotating equipment faster.