How it works

The spread is what a Southeast dealer asks for a machine, minus what the same machine cost landed on your lot after an auction. Here is exactly how each number is built, and what it can't tell you.

Sources

Auction hammers are published sold results from Ritchie Bros, IronPlanet and RB Marketplace-E. Only completed sales: no live bids, no unsold lots. The stored price is the bare hammer, before any buyer fee.

Dealer asks are asking prices on public dealer listings for machines located in GA, NC, SC, TN, FL, AL, recorded by hand with the listing link and the date they were seen. An ask is not a sale price.

Coverage

• 6 models today: CAT 305E2 CR, CAT 305 CR, Kubota KX040-4, Bobcat T650, CAT 259D, Bobcat S650.
• Auction hammers are nationwide: any sale in the lower 48 in the last 18 months. A Texas machine is a fair comp for a Georgia dealer once the haul is costed in. Alaska, Hawaii and the territories are left out, because a machine there can't be trucked here.
• Dealer asks are regional: GA, NC, SC, TN, FL, AL only, because they describe what a dealer here can charge.
• Right now that's 678 auction sales and 152 dealer asks across all models.
• Lots sold as inoperable are left out. A dead machine's hammer isn't a comp.

Landed cost

Landed = hammer + buyer fee + haul to your zip, worked out for each lot.

Buyer fee

Ritchie Bros and IronPlanet charge a buyer fee on top of the hammer. We apply the fee schedule that was in force on the sale date. Every tier is a rate on the whole hammer:

• Sales from Aug 1, 2026: 10% (min $100) to $30,000; 5.5% (min $3,000) $30,001-$75,000; flat $4,125 above.
• Sales Jan 1, 2025 to Jul 31, 2026: 10% to $25,000; 5% (min $2,500) above.

When a lot's own terms set a different rate (“a flat transaction fee of 12%”), that rate wins. For RB Marketplace-E sales we assume the same schedule; we haven't confirmed their terms. We don't know the tier breaks for sales before Jan 1, 2025, so any such sale is left out of every median rather than carry a wrong fee.

Haul

The haul is measured from where the lot sold to the middle of your zip. For lots sold at a Ritchie Bros yard whose address we've checked, that's the yard. For everything else, it's the location on the listing. We measure straight-line miles and price them at $3.25 a loaded mile for the first 400 miles and $3.00 a mile after that, with a $550 minimum. We checked those rates against real haul prices (uShip estimates 2026-10-01, 3 lanes). It is still an estimate, not a quote: roads are longer than straight lines, and every haul is labelled “transport est.”

If we can't place a lot, it has no landed cost and no part in the spread.

The spread, lot by lot

We take the median dealer ask for the model (and for your years and hours, if you set them), subtract each auction lot's landed cost from it, and show the median of those per-lot spreads. We never subtract one median from another: a cheap Texas hammer and a short Georgia haul belong to different machines, and pairing them would describe a lot that doesn't exist. Medians, not averages, so one odd sale can't drag the figure. Every figure shows how many lots or listings it's the median of.

Year and hours filters apply to both sides. A listing that doesn't state its year or hours is left out when you filter on them, because it can't show it qualifies.

How often it updates

For now the data is brought in by hand, not on a schedule. Auction results were last pulled Sep 17, 2026. Dealer asks were last recorded Oct 1, 2026. The pages pick up new data within a day.

Limits

• Sample sizes vary by model and shrink fast when you filter. Read the count next to every figure; a median of a handful of lots is a rough guide.
• An ask is not a selling price. Dealers often take less than they list for, so the real spread is usually narrower.
• Condition isn't captured beyond year and hours: no undercarriage, attachments, cab versus canopy, or repairs. Inoperable lots are only dropped when the auction flags them.
• Dealer asks don't expire yet. Each one counts as recorded, even if the machine has since sold.
• The haul is a straight-line estimate, not a quote for that lot.
• Your own costs aren't in it: reconditioning, financing, sales tax, or the time a machine sits on your lot.