Real time Internet Bidding

by Zeljko Stefanovic, from Live Global Bid
February 2007

As I come from the wholesale automobile industry, you'll find my experiences will be skewed to this environment. Nevertheless, the wholesale auto industry posts and sells millions of vehicles each year using streaming auction technology and provides a useful indication of the results being achieved using streaming auction technology.

Real-time auction streaming proves invaluable to auto auctions

• More than 80% of all wholesale auto auctions use streaming.
• It is not unusual to sell between 25% and 30% of vehicles to on-line bidders.
• In some instances close to 70% of vehicles in an auction have been sold to on-line, or off-site bidders. However, this is not the norm.
• Live streaming auctions has become invaluable to dealers and auctions.

Streaming auctions saves dealers time, travel expenses, and time away from the office

Live Internet auctions allow dealers the luxury of making most of their inventory purchases without ever leaving the office.

• Dealers can now make his inventory purchases with the click of a mouse.
• Dealers can attend more than one auction at a time.
• Dealers no longer need to contend with security at airports or crowds at the auction.
• Streaming technologies allow dealers to be placed right in the lane.
• Dealers get a bird’s eye view from a camera located in the lane.
• Dealers can hear all of the action live through computer speakers via audio connected directly to the auctioneer’s microphone.

How does streaming auction technology work?

It all begins at the auction house. A proper Internet connection is needed in order to have any type streaming solution.

The size of the connection needed will depend on the quality of transmission. As a general rule, the better quality broadcast you wish to have, the more bandwidth you will need at the auction house.

A streamer is, in most cases, needed at the auction facility. The audio from the auctioneer’s microphone as well as the video from a camera that is located either on the auction floor or the auction lane is also connected.

This media is then sent to either a data centre where servers are located or it is encoded and sent directly to the end users. Either method works.

However, if streaming directly from the auction house to end users, the connection required will depend on how many users are planning on attending. The larger the number of users, the larger the connection will have to be. This is not as much of a problem if the servers are at a data centre, as bandwidth is much easier to get.

Once the audio and video are sent to the server and streamed to the Internet, users or bidders log into the sale via a website. Again there are varying degrees of sophistication and complexities when it comes to this technology.

Real-time auction broadcast and quality matter most to bidders

The important things to consider are the quality of the auction broadcast and time delay. The better technologies deliver a very high quality audio feed - almost CD quality, and a TV quality video signal. 15 frames per second or higher should be the measuring stick. As long as the buffers are kept to less than a second for audio and video it should appear to be almost transparent and should put the bidder right on the auction floor. If the delay falls below the one second mark, it may cause confusion at the auction house, as bids may come in too late to be counted.

Pre-sale catalogues are important

Pre-sale catalogues should be available, regardless of the commodity the auction house is selling.

Since all purchasing decisions in a live streaming auction are made relatively quickly, a catalogue containing as much information about the items as is possible will help with the sale.

Detailed information instills online buyer confidence

To provide the necessary comfort level for prospective on-line bidders in the auto industry, it takes a minimum of 6 images to assist in the selling process of a certified, pre-owned vehicle. It can take up to 12 images for a used vehicle.

Usually a very detailed condition report is generated by the auction house. This condition report goes as far as measuring remaining tread on the tires.

Consequently it is not uncommon for the on-line bidder to have a better and more detailed view of the vehicle than if they were actually at the auction.

To learn more

We have the technology, proven track record and dedicated customer service to help you achieve greater on-line success with your auctions.

We invite you to call us toll free on 1-866-578-6951 to discuss your requirements.