eBay Inc. (EBAY) and Invaluable have collaborated to launch live auctions. The idea is to offer lovers of art and collectibles a whole new way of browsing and buying these premium products at the click of a mouse.
Live Auctions
eBay’s live auctions will allow its 149 million active users virtual entry into auction house salerooms regardless of their location.
This will put eBay customers on the same footing as a person physically bidding on the auction room floor.
Inventory will be sold directly by several world class traditional auction houses like Doyle New York, Freeman’s, Garth's Auctions and Swann Auction Galleries.
All items will come with the customary eBay Money Back Guarantee.
Shoppers can start previewing catalogs and signing up for the upcoming auctions beginning today. They can then bid at the individual events. For additional convenience, users will also have the option of entering absentee bids prior to the actual event.
The first few events for eBay users include:
|
DATE |
EVENT |
HOST |
|
09/10/2014 |
African-American Fine Art |
Swann Auction Galleries |
|
14/10/2014 |
Rare & Important Travel Posters |
Swann Auction Galleries |
|
15/10/2014 |
English & Continental Furniture & Decorations/Old Master Paintings |
Doyle New York |
|
16/10/2014 |
Books, Maps and Manuscripts |
Freeman’s |
|
17/10/2014 |
Fine Photographs: Icons & Images |
Swann Auction Galleries |
|
21/10/2014 |
Important Jewelry |
Doyle New York |
eBay, on its part, will be entitled to an undisclosed percentage of the sale price of a given item, excluding the buyer’s premium.
Significantly, many auctioneers around the world allow potential clients to bid via the virtual medium. These smaller firms, however, stand to benefit more from alliances such as the one mentioned herewith, given eBay’s widespread global reach.
Similar Alliances
Recently, eBay had announced that it would team up with auctioneer Sotheby (BID) to bring live auctions to the desktop, restoring a partnership that had fizzled out in 2003. However, eBay hasn’t disclosed any specific time as to when Sotheby’s auction will start featuring on its website.
Looking Ahead
Increasing its revenues is of vital importance to eBay, particularly because of the recent spin-off of its PayPal business. PayPal was responsible for roughly half of the company’s revenues.
Auctions have always been a part of eBay's business. Even though selling art at auctions is a tricky business, eBay has taken the plunge. The auction houses, even though renowned, at times tend to sell fake art pieces. Under such circumstances, eBay's reputation might be hurt, even though the sold artwork comes with a money return guarantee. Also, volume of sales with rare art works is not very high.
The company faces direct competition from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA).
Amazon, last year, began allowing galleries to sell fine art pieces on its website. A host of competitor sites like Artsy offer comparable works.
It remains to be seen how popular these live auctions will be in the long run. The dot-com boom saw Sotheby partner with eBay and Amazon to offer online access to its auctions, but it soon pulled out. Various other auction sites also followed suit but unfortunately, saw little success.
eBay currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
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