The Auction Process

Author: The Auction Collective

Published: 16 Jan 2020

Preparation and Planning

Bespoke Advice for Auction Planning

First step, we have a call to hear what you want to achieve with your auction and then, drawing from our experience, provide you with the best advice to plan your auction and make it a success.

In this call we cover everything from: the different types of auctions, gathering auction lots, key dates and setting estimates, to marketing strategies, auction licenses and shipping logistics.

Choosing Your Auction

We help people run five different types of auction. Each auction comes with the ability to list auction items, register bidders, collect bids and, when needed, collect payments and coordinate shipping.

In-Person Auction
A physical event with an auctioneer. People can bid in the room, leave absentee bids or set up telephone bids (see demo).

Live-Stream Auction
An online-only auction with a live-streamed auctioneer. People can ‘click to bid’ through a live video feed, leave absentee bids and or set up telephone bids (see demo).

Hybrid Auction
An in-person auction that is also live-streamed to bidders not at the event.

Timed Auction (Silent Auction)
An online-only auction. People leave maximum bids against a countdown clock (see demo).

Print Auction
An online shop for limited-edition items. The full edition is listed online with all but the last available to ‘buy now’. The last work, due to its rarity is put up for auction.

A more detailed comparison of the auctions can be found here.

These auctions can be run individually or concurrently with a single Viewing Room acting as a single landing page for your bidders.

Choosing Your Support

We can provide varying levels of support for your auction depending on your budget and your own resources. You just let us know how we can help.

A professional auctioneer
Open calls for auction items
Auction marketing and promotion
Bidder registration - with KYC and anti-money laundering checks
Payment processing - to single or multiple sellers
Post-auction shipping logistics

Contracts and Code of Conducts

Once we know what type of auction and support you would like, a dedicated account manager is assigned to you, key deadlines are shared, a contract is created and we ask you to sign up to our code of conduct.

Our work is based around five core principles: impartiality, inclusivity, professionality, confidentiality and enjoyability (see here). We insist that all our clients sign up to these principles so that all who engage with the platform are treated fairly, equally and with the same entitlement to take part in an auction.

Landing Page

We recommend setting up a landing page for the auction as soon as possible to start registering bidders. This URL can also be used as a place holder in your marketing campaign (which you should start planning as early as possible).

Auction Management System

With the contract signed, and after a demonstration from one of our team, you are given access to our AMS (Auction Management System) .

For no additional fees, our bespoke AMS software will give you full control of your auction. You can quickly create, edit and personalise information about your auctions as well as uploading the auction items in your own time.

AMS has a fully-integrated CRM with the ability to track all auction data including registrations, page interactions and a live history of bidding that will help you analyse the performance of your auction in real-time.

Proofing

When you are ready to go live, the auction is proofed by our in-house team to make sure your lots will attract the most bidders. If needed, we can add a password to your auction page so that you can share it with others to proof before going live to the public.

Promotion

In parallel to your marketing campaign, The Auction Collective will promote your auction to our international network of buyers from over X countries via our newsletter, our one-on-one bespoke art advisory and our social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter).

Bidding Begins

Interest and Engagement

Through your AMS dashboard you get 24/7 live oversight of all bidder registrations and bids placed in your auction, plus regular updates on the engagement and traffic to your auction pages. This means you can start monitoring the interest of your auction to know which lots might need more promotion or lower starting bids (reserves).

Bidding

Years of research and industry experience have helped us build the best bidding environment for buyers so that we can maximise the potential of your auction.

Industry leading auction software that is completely mobile-friendly
Innovative Timed Auction bidding extensions (see How to bid)
Video integrated live-streaming technology with optional bidder identity displays
The world’s first downloadable bidding paddles (see our story)

Our team of professional auctioneers and our gamification bidding software, make our auctions the only form of retail where negotiating a price upwards is fun.

Auctions for everyone

To ensure we get the greatest number of bidders involved on the platform, we reinvented the auction model to make it more inclusive and welcoming to bidders. The more bidders the better the results.

No hidden costs - Bidders and buyers pay no additional fees or buyer’s premium (also known as buyer’s commission). What they bid is what they pay.
Monthly payments - We are the only auction platform eligible for the Own Art scheme which allows buyers to spread their payments over several months, completely interest free.
VIP for everyone – We give all our clients the art world VIP treatment regardless of their transaction value.

Post-Sale Logistics

Finishing an auction is only 50% of the work. After an auction there is a long list of post-auction logistics that needs to be carefully considered to ensure you and your buyers continue their happy experience.

Payment Processing

After the auction, your AMS dashboard will display all bidder and buyer information. If you already have your own payment system, this is where you access the results to send out your invoices.

Alternatively, The Auction Collective can collect payments for you and even split those payments to multiple sellers.

Shipping & Logistics

If needed, we can provide a fully comprehensive collection, packing and shipping service for both local and international shipments. This includes a ‘print at home’ shipping label service if you, or your sellers, are able to pack the items themselves and so help reduce the costs for your buyers and speed up the sale process.

If we are helping collect payments and coordinate shipping, funds are only released to you or your seller once the item has been received by the buyer.

Post-Sale Analysis

Like us, we are sure you will want to analyse all your auction results to learn from and celebrate the results. Our AMS can generate detailed reports of your auction to help you understand how your auction performed, which lots generated the most interest and where your bidders and buyers came from.

Feedback and Planning

With this post-sale analysis information, we can have another call to run through the auction to share our advice for your future events and hear your feedback.

---------

Suggested for you:

For a free one to one consultation with our auction advisory team, contact [email protected].
For more hints and tips on how to run an auction, sign up to our Auctioneer's Newsletter.