Sotheby's and eBay partner to sell online, with projected sales of $13bn by 2020
Sothebys, the venerable British auction house now headquartered in New York City, has entered into a partnership with eBay to sell artworks online.
Founded in 1744, Sotheby’s is the world’s fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation, with 90 locations in 40 countries.
Sotheby’s and eBay are building an online platform for collectors and first-time buyers to browse and purchase collectibles including art, jewelry and fine wine.
They will start by offering a number of live auctions taking place at New York-based Sotheby’s and will offer 18 collecting categories.
Sotheby’s and eBay see a growing number of customers buying art online, with such sales projected to reach $13bn by 2020, the companies said.
Online bidders accounted for 17 per cent of the total lots offered in 2013 by Sotheby’s. In April they sold John James Audubon’s The Birds of America for an online record price of $3.5m.
“We believe there is a great opportunity, through this partnership, to truly make art more accessible to exponentially more collectors,” Bruno Vinciguerra, Sotheby’s chief operating officer, said in today’s statement.
Billionaire hedge-fund manager Dan Loeb in May joined the board of Sotheby’s following a proxy fight. The largest shareholder. he for months has pushed the auction house to improve what it calls a “deteriorating” competitive position.
Sotheby's has just appointed TBWA as its global strategic and creative agency, with the account to be led in London.
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