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# Sotheby's and eBay Join Forces for Online Auctions
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/sothebys-and-ebay-join-forces-for-online-auctions/
- Published: 2014-07-14T16:58:02.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:33:11.000Z
- Description: Sotheby's auction house has tapped eBay to expand its offerings online, the companies announced in a joint statement today.
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, eBay, Sotheby's, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![ebay_main](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/ebay_main.jpg)

(image via eBay, Inc.)

Sotheby’s auction house has tapped eBay to expand its offerings online, the companies announced in a joint statement today. The deal marks the second time Sotheby’s has partnered with the internet auctions giant — a 2002 venture saw Sotheby’s hire 200 employees in an attempt to bring live auctions to the eBay platform. Though according to the [*New York Times*](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/arts/design/with-ebay-partnership-sothebys-extends-potential-reach-by-145-million.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&ref=hyperallergic.com) that project failed after a year, the current effort capitalizes on an increased consumer comfort with online retail. “Even if we only reach point 1 percent of eBay users, that’s huge for us,” Sotheby’s chief operating officer Bruno Vinciguerra told the *Times*.

eBay claims a user base of 145 million; a redesigned eBay website planned for October will feature Sotheby’s as an “[anchor tenant](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-14/ebay-to-take-sotheby-s-auctions-online-to-expand-bidding-pool.html?ref=hyperallergic.com).” The Sotheby’s presence will begin with live-streamed auctions and expand to online-only sales encompassing 18 “collecting categories.”

In an earnings call in May, Sotheby’s chief executive William Ruprecht [stated](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-07/sotheby-s-first-quarter-loss-narrows-as-art-sales-rise.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) his firm’s intent to expand its online offerings as well as its sales in the so-called “middle market” of artworks priced between $50,000 and $2 million. These were both identified as areas of weakness against Christie’s by activist investor Dan Loeb, who [has castigated Ruprecht](http://hyperallergic.com/86431/hedge-fund-manager-wants-sothebys-to-start-betting-on-art/) for “shun\[ning\] the lower value lots that your top competitor has effectively captured by leveraging new technologies.”

A number of companies have established themselves in the online art sales category in recent years, with online retailer Amazon’s [launch of its fine art section last May](http://hyperallergic.com/71545/watch-out-art-world-amazon-is-about-to-start-selling-art/) joining an already crowded online art marketplace, comprising Artnet (founded 1998), Artsy (founded 2009), Artspace (founded 2011), Paddle 8 (founded 2011), and Auctionata (founded 2012), among others. (Of those, Artnet, Auctionata, and Paddle 8 offer auctions.) Christie’s has also invested $50 million in developing an online platform for auctions, with several sales under its belt, the *New York Times* [noted](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/arts/design/with-ebay-partnership-sothebys-extends-potential-reach-by-145-million.html?ref=hyperallergic.com).

The logic behind the eBay-Sotheby’s deal is further explained in the infographic below, which was provided to Hyperallergic by Sotheby’s:

![eBaySothebys_Infographic_071114](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/ebaysothebys_infographic_071114c-lg.jpg)