New York/London
Christie’s has launched Christie’s LIVE®, which lets clients follow live auctions by computer and bid on lots as they come up.
The initiative, launched in July, allows clients to bid in selected sales. By next year, all of Christie’s sales will allow internet bidding. According to the auction house, the internet could eventually overtake telephone bidding. The advantage is that the prospective buyer can see the auctioneer, although saleroom bidders are not visible. Clients have to register two days before the sale and download customised software.
Online bidding is not new—eBay has been selling to millions of clients for years—but this is a first for Christie’s. So far it has mainly been low- to mid-priced works that have sold online. Sotheby’s incursion into this field in 2000-2003 was an expensive failure costing more than $100m.
