In a marriage between the high and the lowbrow, the mass consumerism of eBay and the exclusivity of the fine art action house Sotheby's come together to build an online auction house. The two companies announced on Monday that starting this fall, many of Sotheby's New York auctions will be broadcast live on eBay. This will provide eBay users real-time bidding access from anywhere in the world. The auction site on eBay will also function as a virtual shopping mall, where users can browse 18 different collection categories.

"We are joining with eBay to make our sales more accessible to the broadest possible audience around the world," Bruno Vinciguerra, Sotheby's chief operating officer, said in a statement. It makes sense that Sotheby's, known for incredible events like its $45 million sale of a Francis Bacon painting, would want to harness the power of eBay's 145 million online users.

eBay hopes to use its partnership with Sotheby's to elevate its image, proving that it is a fit platform for luxury goods. "We want eBay to be a destination, not just a utility," Devin Wenig, president of Global eBay Marketplaces told The New York Times. "If you look at what we were selling 10 years ago, it's really different now," Mr. Wenig said. "We sell a lot of expensive items, including roughly 13,000 automobiles every week to mobile shoppers. Customer trust in e-commerce has evolved."

It seems that the art world is taking note of how successfully the high-end fashion world has adapted to online platforms. Fashion brands have been streaming their runway shows online in real-time for the past few seasons. And sites like net-a-porter.com and Gilt sell luxury clothes and accessories to consumers in a get-it-while-it-lasts urgency. If the art world can convince their consumers to buy luxury products sight unseen like the fashion world has, their marketplace and demographics could change dramatically. 

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Tags: Sotheby's eBay
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