Auctioneers use a variety of platforms to host their own websites, provide for online bidding, and/or to disseminate a variety of content. Do these platforms perform 100% of the time? Do these platforms ever go down (not function?) Is there any platform that is “up” 100% of the time?
The answer to that last question is, “likely not.” The moral to this story is if your platform of choice is not functioning, and thus you’re changing to another platform, it’s almost a sure bet your new platform will not function 100% of the time either.
Maybe you haven’t been an auctioneer long enough to realize technology is not perfect. Even auctioneers conducting live auctions know electricity, water, heat, and the weather is not always perfect. Just what is this auction-related platform (software) that works flawlessly? That answer is, there isn’t any …
Nonetheless, you’re moving on to that next platform that will eventually go down, forcing you to choose yet another, right? How do you determine that next platform? I suppose by asking, “What’s the best platform?” We would counter, “Best in what regard?”
There is a myriad of questions, including …
What are you selling?
Do they have a marketplace?
Credit card processing?
Simulacast capability?
Do you care about sharing your data?
We wrote about this before, but maybe you missed Russ Hilk’s analysis: https://mikebrandlyauctioneer.wordpress.com/2020/07/24/russ-hilk-and-which-platform/. Asking, “What is the best platform?” doesn’t have an answer.
So continue that endless journey to find that platform that never goes down and does all the things you need it to do, even though apparently you don’t know what you need it to do.
As an auctioneer for clients, you should know as much as you can about technology and realize no platform is flawless, and there are far more questions than, “What is the best platform?”
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, Brandly Real Estate & Auction, 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 has served as 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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