There may not be an auctioneer who has not said, “Why can’t the online platform be easier to use?” or similar words expressing displeasure with how difficult the platform is to manage. Our question today involves if auctioneers would be served by easier to use platforms?
It seems that generally speaking, consumers hire other people to do things for them when they can’t do those things themselves. There’s not a travel agent, dentist or encyclopedia salesman who doesn’t know we make our own travel arrangements, whiten our own teeth, and use Wikipedia and other Internet sources for information because we can.
Our evaluation here in 2021 is that if online platforms become much easier and intuitive to use, consumers will be able to use them themselves and auctioneers may not be needed for such commerce. Of course, there’s people who don’t have time and/or don’t want to do it themselves, so there will still be business for some auctioneers.
Certainly we’ve argued that online auction platforms should be easier to use, and they have become easier, but can a platform be too easy to use? If all I have to do is take a few pictures of the lot, and the software identifies the property, lists it on the platform, bidding begins and it sends me the money … what do I need an auctioneer for?
I would also offer the obvious: Every single online auction platform either already does — or will eventually — allow sellers to directly sell with them. For such an endeavor, easier will be paramount, so auctioneers can rightly wonder if the software is becoming easier to use and more intuitive for solely auctioneers, or for the public (sellers) overall?
We’ve suggested “it’s too late” to do anything about online auction platforms using data gathered from auctioneers to compete against them: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/auctioneers-is-it-too-late-does-it-matter/. It’s never too late to develop another online auction platform, however.
The other issue is, we’re introducing auction marketing to more and more people, while at the same time selling items “as is” and “where is” with no guarantees, warranties nor return/exchange policies (for the most part) … so can we rightly expect the next generation to participate?
It regularly occurs to me that we auctioneers had a really good live auction market for centuries, which many took and put online, making it increasingly worse for bidders/buyers (misrepresentation, running the bid.) That next generation online platform will consider, “What bidder wouldn’t appreciate warranties, guarantees and a return policy?” eBay is already utilizing third-parties for that purpose.
We’ll discussed contracts of adhesion here: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2021/06/24/a-common-law-adhesion-standard/ (and have in the past written about such) and increasingly we’re seeing online auction’s (and live auction’s) bidder terms and conditions crossing that line of adhesion, where bidders/buyers will no doubt be looking for alternatives including a more fair playing field — especially for high-dollar assets.
In summary, next time you as an auctioneer wish the online auction platform was “easier to use” you may want to think again, as the easier it becomes to use, the more likely your sellers will use it themselves without your involvement. Equally, the easier and more reasonable the platform (and the auctioneer’s terms) is for bidders, the more they will participate, thus improving the seller’s and auctioneer’s positions.
Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, CAI, CAS, AARE has been an auctioneer and certified appraiser for over 30 years. His company’s auctions are located at: Mike Brandly, Auctioneer, RES Auction Services, and Goodwill Columbus Car Auction. He serves as Distinguished Faculty at Hondros College, Executive Director of The Ohio Auction School, and an Instructor at the National Auctioneers Association’s Designation Academy and Western College of Auctioneering. He is faculty at the Certified Auctioneers Institute held at Indiana University and is approved by The Supreme Court of Ohio for attorney education.
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