Equity and dividends (Schedule of Quarterly Dividends Declared and Paid) (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2022	Mar. 31, 2021
Fourth Quarter 2021 [Member]
Dividends Payable [Line Items]
Declaration date	Jan. 21, 2022
Dividend per share	$ 0.2500
Record date	Feb. 11, 2022
Total dividends	$ 27,659
Payment date	Mar. 04, 2022
Fourth Quarter 2020 [Member]
Dividends Payable [Line Items]
Declaration date		Jan. 22, 2021
Dividend per share		$ 0.2200
Record date		Feb. 12, 2021
Total dividends		$ 24,181
Payment date		Mar. 05, 2021

Aggregate dividends declared during the period for each share of common stock outstanding.

Name:	us-gaap_CommonStockDividendsPerShareDeclared
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Date the declared dividend will be paid, in YYYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123431023&loc=d3e4304-108586

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendPayableDateToBePaidDayMonthAndYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of paid and unpaid cash, stock, and paid-in-kind (PIK) dividends declared, for example, but not limited to, common and preferred stock.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120397183&loc=d3e187085-122770

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 405
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6957935&loc=d3e64057-112817

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_Dividends
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Date the dividend to be paid was declared, in YYYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendsPayableDateDeclaredDayMonthAndYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Date the holder must own the stock to be entitled to the dividend, in YYYY-MM-DD format.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendsPayableDateOfRecordDayMonthAndYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:dateItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendsPayableLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendsAxis=rba_FourthQuarter2021Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendsAxis=rba_FourthQuarter2020Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: