Online auctions: a guide to selling your items successfully

Our guide to online auctions will help you discover the most suitable solutions for auctioning your items quickly and at the best price! So, whatare online auctions?

Online auctions: what are they?

Appearing during antiquity, the auction sales system, which involves selling an item to the highest bidder, has continued to develop and adapt throughout history.

In 1995, as the use of the Internet grew worldwide, the eBay company successfully launched one of the first online auction sites.

The system is simple : individuals or professionals publish a advertisementaccompanied by a description and a photo without indication of price, once published this will be visible to a large number of Internet users for several days, the item will be sold to the last bidder at the end of the period.

Accessible to the world and free from physical constraints, online auctions are meeting with vigorous success.

Eager to meet their customers' needs, traditional auction houses have been quick to implement tools to digitalize their sales.

Broadcasting the object catalog online, using platforms that enable bidders to follow the sale and bid remotely, broadcasting the sale via webcam, launching sales exclusively online.

Did you know ?

In 2020, 2/3 of public auctions held in France were accessible online.

What's the difference between online auction sites and physical auction houses ?

To sell your item at auction, there are various options available to you :

• Confide your item to a auction house

List your item on an online auction site

While these two solutions have the end goal of selling an item to the highest bidder, they don't offer the same services and guarantees at the time of sale.

The online auction site

An online auction site acts as a simple intermediary in the transaction between the seller (who remains responsible for the item) and the buyer.

His role will mainly be to offer visibility to your item in order to increase the chances of selling it at the best price. Before publishing your ad, you'll need to photograph your lot to show it off to its best advantage and fill in the item's description sheet (description, period, artist's name, dimensions...).

You alone are responsible for the information you provide and your responsibility may be engaged if you fail to comply with current regulations (counterfeiting, forgery, sale of ivory or protected species...).

In addition, after sending the item sold to the buyer, the latter benefits from a 14-day right of withdrawal in accordance with the European Directive 2011/83 on consumer rights.

The auction house

An auction house, represented by an authorized auctioneer, acts as agent. It takes the place of the seller and assumes the responsibilities associated with the sale.

She experts the object and verifies its authenticity (drawing on a network of specialized experts if necessary), takes the photos, organizes a sale, includes the object in the sale catalog and will communicate about it to her network of buyers and collectors, online or in the press.

The auction houses and the experts who work in collaboration with them take responsibility for the authenticity of the goods offered for sale, so the buyer takes no risk on the nature of the goods purchased.

The sale is said to be " perfect " from the moment of adjudication, which implies that the buyer has no right of withdrawal and must pay for his purchase as soon as the sale is over, even if he has bid online.

Did you know ?

Auctioneers are authorized to carry out home inventories as part of an estate. They can also help you assess the value of your objects on photo.

Examples of lots sold online at Auctie's

What types of items can be sold at an online auction?

Many auctions are held around the world every year. There are even auction houses specializing in horse sales, such as Arquana, based in Deauville.

However, the goods most traded at online auctions fall into the " Works of Art and Collectables " category, which brings together numerous subcategories of objects :

• Archaeology & Antiquity

• Arms and historical memorabilia

• Silverware & Silverware

• First art from Africa, Oceania & d'Amérique

• Art d'Asie

• Art populaire

• Bijoux et Montres

• Ceramics, Faïence & Porcelain

• Drawings, Pastel, Watercolor, Gouache, Charcoal & Ink

• Estampings, Engraving, Lithography & Etching

• Natural History, Minerals & Taxidermy

• Antique Musical Instruments

• Scientific Instruments, Marine Objects & Curiosities

• Books, Manuscripts, Comics

• Period furniture (before 1890)

• Modern, contemporary and Design furniture (after 1890)

• Fashion, Vintage, Leather Goods

• Numismatics, Coins, Coins, Banknotes

• Art and Decorative Objects (before 1890)

• Twentieth Century Art and Decorative Objects (after 1890)

• Orientalism: Art from the Middle East and Mediterranean Basin

• Anders & Clocks

• Photographs

• Sculptures in Bronze, Plaster, Stone, Wood, Earth...

• Antique paintings (pre-1870 Impressionism)

• Rugs, Tapestries & Hangings

• Timbles & Philately

Collectible vehicles

• Wines & Spirits
  

  Did you know ?

In 2020, French auction houses sold over €1.2 billion worth of art and collectibles, 68% of which went to online bidders !

Online bidding: Where to go?

Auctions broadcast live

Imagine, comfortably seated on your sofa, you're following the live auction featuring the object of your dreams. The lot passes in a few moments, you've carefully studied the auction catalog beforehand.

This is it! Lot 124 is presented to the camera, the bidding displayed on the screen. Now it's your turn! After a brief bidding battle and a brief hesitation, the hammer falls and you win the item. You've just experienced the thrill of the auction...

Here's the promise of digital platforms that list the catalogs of public auction houses and allow you to bid live during the sale.

On the seller's side, when the auction house to which you've entrusted your item uses the services of one of these platforms, you have the guarantee that it will benefit from high visibility.

These platforms have immense databases of potential buyers around the world. Each user can access the sale catalog and will be notified as soon as an item matching their search criteria goes on sale.

Here is a selection of the best online auction sites offering live  auctions:

With over 2.6 million visitors a year and 5300 auctions broadcast by 600 partner auction houses, the Drouot auction platform is No. 1 in Francefor art and collectibles.

Each year, nearly 2 million items are offered for sale by Drouot.

By bringing together voluntary and judicial auctions on its platform, Interenchères boasts a communitý of nearly 1.1 million buyers.

In the year 2020, 2.3 million items were put up for sale on the platform, 58% of which found takers on live for proceeds sold of €396 million (including €176 million in the " Art and collectibles " category).

A well-known player in the world of marketplaces dedicated to art auctions, the Auction.fr platform provides access to catalogs from over 400 auction houses.

Recently, the platform offers its users the opportunity to follow live sales via webcam and to bid on objects put up for sale via its platform.

An international auction platform, based in Boston (USA) and with offices in France, the UK and Australia, Invaluable collaborates with 5,000 auction houses worldwide.

It brings together 4 million registered collectors for nearly 300 million euros worth of items sold on the platform every year.

Online auctions

The Drouot, Interenchères and Invaluable auction platforms enable auction houses to set up so-called " online " sales.

On this type of sale, you won't see auctioneers tapping the hammer : the entire sale is computer-managed.

Once the catalog is available online, bidders have several days to bid; as soon as a higher bid is made, the previous bidder is notified. When the countdown ends, the last bidder wins the lot.

Online auction sites

We saw earlier in this article that it's important to differentiate between online auction platforms (ex : Catawiki, E-Bay...) which act as simple intermediaries between seller and buyer.

Online auction sites such as Drouot.com, Interencheres.com or Auction.fr enable public auction houses with a mandate to digitalize their sales. The guarantees offered are not the same.

Let's take an example : Imagine you decide to sell a ring set with a beautiful diamond. You choose to sell this one directly on an online auction site, without going through an auctioneer.

Once sold, you send the item to the buyer as agreed. A few days later, he sends you a message, he wishes to return the ring and get his money back.

You're annoyed, but agree, as you don't really have a choice. The ring finally arrives at your home, but something worries you : the diamond doesn't sparkle like it used to.

You go to your local jeweller who examines the ring and the surprise... he tells you that the stone is synthetic. You're certain, the buyer replaced the diamond before returning your ring.

But how do you prove it? The fraudster flatly denies it, and the online auction platform never had a chance to appraise the ring...

Useful tips : We advise you to sell only on these online auction sites, items of moderate value, easily identifiable and not likely to give rise to contentious situations.

Second-hand sites

It's also tempting, particularly for your fashion items (handbags), but also your watches, jewelry, etc ... to sell your valuables on sites inspired by the authentication procedures inherent in auction sales (Vinted, 1st Dibs, Vestiaire Collective ...)

We can only advise you to be careful and pay attention to the guarantees that protect you during these sales. Very interesting for Gucci pumps or a Sandro dress, these platforms are less suitable for selling items such as Birkins.

The more valuable your item, the more it requires increased expertise and authentication by an authorized professional. It may be worthwhile to sell a lithograph online, much less so if it's a painting.

In fact, many buyers get trapped on these platforms despite protective consumer regulations at European level. The flow and the sometimes relative level of specialization of experts do not systematically enable disputes to be settled fairly.

How an online auction works

How to sell an item on an online auction via an auction house

To sell your item via an auction house, you can contact the public auction house of your choice, here are the various steps:

• The auctioneer will appraise your item and determine an estimate of its value based on market trends.

• If you agree with the proposed estimate, the auction house will ask you to fill in a sales requisition, a document that summarizes your contact information, the description of the object, the estimate, the selling expenses, any reserve price you may have indicated and the general conditions of sale.

• Once this document has been signed, the auction house will have a mandate and will be responsible for your object. You can follow the sale of your object live or in the sales room.

• Was your object successful during the sale? The auction house will contact you promptly to arrange payment!

• If it didn't find a buyer, don't worry, you can put it back on sale or get it back.

Did you know ?

At Auctie's we estimate the value of your items online, free of charge in less than 48 hours. Need an estimation ? Make an appointment !