We are getting closer to buying great masters of … – The Associated Press

             

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‘re not quite there yet, but it will not be long, say the Sotheby’s and eBay, the world’s largest specialist online auctions. The two giants announced on Monday a new partnership through which arriving customers of each other repositioning themselves in the global market for buying and selling art and antiques online .

                 

                     For now, from the autumn, the bet will focus on segments such as jewelery, watchmaking, engraving, photography, wine and the design of the twentieth century. Only later the new platform Sotheby’s still under construction within eBay will eventually allow forward and bid in auctions to lots reserved “ blue chip “, the most valuable, like those dedicated to large masters of ancient, modern and contemporary painting.

“The growth of the art market, the new generation and our joint forces make this technology is right for this exciting new opportunity now,” said Bruno Vinciguerra, Sotheby’s, quoted by Wall Street Journal . “Come join us with eBay to make our sales more accessible to the widest possible global audience,” he concluded.

is not the first time that Sotheby’s and eBay trying to embark on this adventure together. During 2002 there was a similar attempt. Frustrated by the poor market response. Exactly like the attempt three years earlier, in 1999 when Sotheby’s tried to join with Amazon, which however, in the past year alone created your Amazon Art “It was too early,” Vinciguerra also said, “people were not prepared.”

oped Decade and a half, the growth of online transactions sector has become exponential. And not just as far in vintage products or luxury fashion: according to a March report from the European Fine Art Foundation, Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 2013 sales online represented only 5% of the nearly 66 billion (EUR 47 700 million) of the total global market for art and antiques; However, the same experts anticipate a growth of 25% annually in the near future – to say that in 2020 sales of art and antiques online could account for nearly 13 billion dollars (about 10 billion) <. / p> Reinforcing this perspective, New York Times also points out that between 2012 and 2013 the number of lots auctioned online by clients of Sotheby’s grew 36%, representing In the last year, about 17% of the total bids. It turns out that Sotheby’s will have about 100 thousand customers -. EBay has 145 million users, most of whom have never entered an auction or in an art gallery

Sotheby’s and eBay did not reveal details of the agreement reached. However, the Wall Street Journal states that this partnership appears to reverse the decision of the Sotheby’s 2006 auction indicated that would focus on its top market, the market blue chip . The newspaper also notes that more than half of the lots sold last year at Sotheby’s had values ​​between five thousand and $ 100,000 (ie, between 3.6 and 73 500 euros) – the mid-market, which You can be the customer find through eBay. Have the NYT points out that, recently, both Sotheby’s and its rival, Christie’s, made great sales online : in May, Christie’s sold a drawing Ricard Serra for $ 905,000 (665,000 euros ) while in the previous month Sotheby’s had made a record sale of 3.5 million (EUR 2.5 million) for a set of watercolors naturalist John James Audubon.