IT auctioneer calls in administrators

Second-hand IT equipment auctioneer IT Asset Management Pty Ltd has called in voluntary administrators, in a move it attributes to massive reductions in the price of new computer equipment over the past few years.

The voluntary administrators were called in this week to facilitate the closure of the business, according to a statement.

Ian Hyman, CEO at IT Asset Management, said that because new IT equipment was becoming so cheap IT Asset Management had posted a decrease in sales revenue last year of 11 percent, despite selling more than 50,000 additional items.

"Unfortunately the profit margins are no longer there and the second-hand IT equipment market is joining other victims of progress in a technological dead-end," Hyman said.

"While it is devastating to end the business, the Hyman Group of Companies had to make the tough decision to exit the IT market and concentrate on our profitable and core activities of valuations, major asset disposals and asset management."

He said as this trend continues, much of the older IT equipment the company had previously been able to recycle back into the market would now end up on the tip.

Hyman said the staff -- which number about 50 permanent and casual -- had been told about the decision.