Artfact, provider of Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live!, the world’s premier live marketplaces for traditional live estate auctions, announced the launch of Infinite Bidding™, a new, customizable auction platform designed specifically to run from an auction house’s own website. Built for auction houses to privately brand and directly broadcast live auctions in real-time over the Internet to their own clients, Infinite Bidding™ dramatically enhances access to traditional live estate auctions.
Adam Kirsch, Artfact’s CEO, said “Artfact strives to provide estate auctioneers of all sizes worldwide with a complete and integrated set of technology and marketing services that assist in building their businesses with little increase to their costs. With over 150 of the best estate and art auction houses around the world already using the Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live! marketplaces after only 6 months since launch, Infinite Bidding™ is the latest example of how quickly our team, including more than 15 software engineers, reacts to the constant auction house input and feedback it receives. As we enter the busy fall auction season, we believe that auctioneers adding Infinite Bidding™ as another powerful tool in their selling arsenal will see a pick-up in important concessions.”
The Infinite Bidding™ live auction system is fully integrated with auctioneer websites and the Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live! bidding marketplaces, offering auctioneers three simultaneous bidding channels managed by a single saleroom clerk. Infinite Bidding™ allows the most important bidders at traditional estate auctions, dealers and collectors, to access live auctions online from anywhere in the world using only their Internet browser, and without any troublesome software downloads. And, Infinite Bidding™ assures owner-consignors of merchandise being sold at auction that their auctioneer is using every available marketing tool to achieve the highest bid.
“Infinite Bidding™ provides auctioneers with the most significant under-bidding lift since the telephone!” comments Rod Funston, Artfact’s President. Funston continues, “Infinite Bidding™ attracts new bidders unable to make their first trip to the auction room, and unwilling to leave absentee bids. This technology is exactly what auction houses have been asking for, and we are confident it will greatly exceed their expectations.”
In addition to the boost they will experience from increased bidder participation levels by using their own private branded online auctions, Artfact’s auction house partners continue to benefit from the premium marketplace of online bidders available through Artfact and Invaluable Live! Infinite Bidding™ and the Artfact and Invaluable Live! platforms use the same, world-class technology to manage all aspects of online live auctions through a single interface, making the move to Infinite Bidding™ seamless.
Doug Ellinger, Artfact’s VP Marketing remarks, “After all the time and money auction houses invest in cataloguing, expensive mailings, website management, and countless emails, Infinite Bidding™ maximizes qualified bidding on auction day. With over $1 billion for auction on Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live! this year, no other live auction platforms provide the breadth and scope of upcoming auctions as Artfact, attracting the most serious, and best qualified, collectors and dealers from around the world. The result is unrivaled sell-through and underbidding support for Artfact’s auction house partners.”
About Artfact
Founded in 1989, Artfact is the largest global marketplace of fine and decorative arts, antiques, collectibles, and estate auctions. On January 1, 2009, Artfact launched Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live!, its proprietary live auction bidding platforms, enabling users to bid in real-time on auctions being held around the world by its prestigious auction house partners. Currently, over 1,000 fine auctioneers actively list their catalogues with Artfact.com and its U.K. sister site Invaluable.com, reaching the Artfact community of more than 10 million knowledgeable collectors and dealers worldwide. Artfact’s industry leading database includes more than 50 million complete auction results totaling more than $190 billion in value, including information on more than 500,000 international artists. In 2006, Artfact acquired RFC Systems, the leading provider of enterprise software developed specifically for the fine art and antique auction house industry. RFC helps prestigious auction houses around the world manage their businesses by automating their day-to-day operations.
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