Canadian auto tech company Selectbidder, best known for its auction-centric dealer trade networking platform, has been busy lately with the signing of three new auction locations on the Eastern Seaboard.

Selectbidder signed Bloomsburg Auto Auction in Bloomsburg, Pa., a couple weeks ago, and penned an agreement with Acadia Auto Auctions on Tuesday. The latter has two auction locations that will be serviced by Selectbidder: Port City Auto Auction in Richmond, Maine and Acadia Auto Auction in Carmel, Maine.

Auto Remarketing caught up with Sean Liptay, Selectbidder’s chief executive officer and owner of the Great Northern Auction in Moncton, New Brunswick, to learn more about the additions.

“We’ve been really focused on proving the model fit in the U.S. and we’re having really good success,” Liptay said. “We’ve signed up four auctions in different markets and we’re really immersed in getting the up and running right now.”

That fourth auction, Space Coast AA, was signed as Selectbidder’s first U.S. client following the NAAA Convention at the end of September. Liptay says the Melbourne, Fla. auction is still building its dealer network but really excited to completely roll-out the system.

According to Liptay, the relationship with the Acadia auctions was stirred up the old-fashioned way: by doing the legwork.

“Originally the Maine auto auctions we had popped in to visit them way back when we had the concept of rolling it out to other independent auto auctions,” Liptay said. “Unfortunately, they weren’t even there at that time so we had to circle back to them. But we had really good conversations with them and just basically picking up the phone and calling them. That’s the way these relationships have started, really.”

Looking back at Selectbidder’s home auction of Great Northern Auction in Canada, the only location where the Selectbidder system is completely rolled out, Liptay says the response from his own auction staff and the dealers utilizing the network has maintained its strength since it officially hit the ground in April.

“We’re still getting new signups and the auction sales people are still loving it,” Liptay said. “And loving being out there helping dealers move their trade-ins quicker.”

He also says the auctions really love the idea of the auction being the center of the dealer-to-dealer network.

“We hear that a lot,” he said. “Especially on the buying side of it, they’re really happy to have the auction and the infrastructure within the auction providing those extra services for this dealer-to-dealer network with the auction as the central hub. We hear that time and time again.”

Stay tuned to Auto Remarketing’s sister publication, Auto Remarketing Canada, as we next take a closer look at Selectbidder’s operations in its home country in our November-December issue.