2014年10月20日星期一

Major auction giants promote online services_2



Major auction giants promote online services


















Major auction giants promote online services






December 17, 2013 -- Both domestic and international auction houses have held online auctions of artworks in recent weeks.


Debates on the advantages and disadvantages of this form of auctioning are heating up.


Christie's, the world's leading fine art auction house, launched two online auctions. The auctions sold Chinese works of art, including snuff bottles from a private New York Collection. When Christie's decided to hold an online auction in Asia, China's domestic auction giant, Poly International Auction Company, did the same, in the expectation of upgrading the current auction market.


But the question is, will buyers embrace online auctions? And how will the emergence of online auctions affect traditional auctions?


Art critic Zhu Xiaojun says that compared to traditional auctions, online auctions surpass the limitations of time and space. It enables people far away from the art to get to know and buy items more conveniently.


Zhu Xiaojun believes that online art auctions will be a future trend.


"It will become a trend in the art market because the Chinese economy now appreciates the transformation to e-commerce and e-branding; I believe its presence in the art market is inevitable."


In Beijing, some of the larger auction houses are already planning online auctions. Meanwhile, around one thousand artwork trading websites are entering this market.


However, that does not mean the online auction will totally replace the traditional auction, which maintains its own value that cannot be matched.


Li Dexin, a professional collector of inscriptions, has online bidding experience that spans almost ten years. About 30% of his collections are from online bids, with values ranging from hundreds of yuan to tens of thousands of yuan.


Li Dexin says that he is conservative regarding online bidding for artworks due to the current Auction Law of China, which states that if the auction broker and consignor declare that they cannot assure the genuineness or quality of the item prior to the auction, they shall not be liable for assurance against defects.


This is also the reason why online bidding markets are crowded with middle-and-low end items.


Insiders also believe that perhaps an ideal approach is to make use of both the online and traditional approaches for auction so that the exhibition of the products can take place at the same time as the online bidding. This may indeed be a more appropriate form of artwork auction to consider for the future.







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