The Changing Faces of Auctioneering
The internet has done many wonderful things for the human race, but in this difficult financial climate, perhaps the greatest thing to be thankful for is the reduction in price of many items. Retail stores, estate agents, manufacturers, etc. although seeing a hike in the cost of their products, have seen less of a hike than they would had the internet never come into being. The reason for this is clear: competition. To survive the online world, businesses need to reduce their prices. However, there is one area of the internet that has brought us exceptional savings: the online auctions.
There are hundreds of different types of auctions:
- There are general auctions selling a huge range of goods, spanning almost anything from speed boats to ant farms and everything in-between and around.
- There are more specific auctions selling specialists goods and services. There are property auctions, car auctions, antiques auctions, procurement sites, and a whole host of other specialist sites.
Next, there are many different auction formats, for example:
- There are traditional auctions, such as those run by the larger, established auctioneers of the likes of Christy’s (- whose first auctions opened in 1766!) and Sotheby’s (- slightly older with an opening date of 1744). This is incredible to conceive, these auction houses were born in a time before we had harnessed the power of electricity, let alone computers!
- Then, there are the traditional online auctions, which although only around 15 years old, are considered ancient, such as eBay and Amazon. These sites remain popular today, but latter formats are infiltrating the industry.
- Finally, there are the new penny auction formats, where people pay to bid, rather than places bids and if they do not win then they do not pay.
You may be able to think of other examples within each of these categories, but generally speaking, these are the broad categorisations of auctions as we know them today.
Each type of auction brings with it its own advantages and disadvantages:
- The auctions run by the likes of Christy’s and Sotheby’s are beyond the budget of most ordinary people, and the wider audiences that they can now attract by moving to the online market means that their items often fetch greater sums of money than they would have were the internet not to exist.
- The penny auctions are great for people who find the more traditional formats too expensive, as with these auctions there is the possibility of buying premium products for as much as 99.7% off their RRP.
- With the traditional online auctions you cannot be guaranteed of the quality of the product, instead, to establish whether or not you will get what you want, you need to go by the sellers’ reputation. The penny auctions only sell new items that come with manufacturers warrantees, and Christy’s and Sotheby’s are bound by ethics in their selling.
In conclusion, then, there are plenty of choices for people looking for a bargain, but clearly, the best place to grab a bargain is on the traditional online auctions, or the penny auctions. If you have never heard of the penny auctions and would like to see what the deal is, then please visit http://www.bidvid.com/.
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