We’ve been following the new features and website from Proxibid for the last few weeks. Today they’ve launched the new website and announced that you can start reserving the embedded bidding solution. Here’s the release.

Omaha, NE – September 22, 2009 – Proxibid, the world’s largest provider of live auction webcasting services, today announced that the Company will now offer embedded solutions as part of its online auction service offering. Beginning today, auctioneers can reserve their embedded solution, which will be customized to fit seamlessly into the Web sites of auction companies that request this value-added service.

“An embedded bidding solution from Proxibid is a feature for which auctioneers have long been asking. Allowing bidders to participate directly on an auctioneer’s website creates a more seamless user experience that is a win for both the auctioneers and their customers,” said Aaron Traffas, editor of AuctioneerTech.

Proxibid’s embedded solution allows bidders to create an account, register to bid, launch the online bidding application and place bids through the auction catalog without leaving the auctioneer’s Web site. The embedded solution fits seamlessly into the auctioneer’s Web site, enabling auctioneers to offer a full-service online auction experience to bidders from across the globe. Proxibid’s embedded solution enables auctioneers to develop a more strategic relationship with the bidder similar to the relationship that is created when the bidder is sitting in the live audience.

“Proxibid’s embedded solution is exactly what the market has been asking for,” said auctioneer, John  Schultz.  “The business implications of this are huge. Seamless integration means bidders can participate in an auction without leaving our Web sites, allowing us to create better relationships with our online bidders, while also significantly enhancing the services available to our sellers.”

Proxibid’s embedded solution was developed using an in-line frame. The design is built to allow some customizations by auctioneers, to ensure Web site aesthetics are not compromised. For example, auctioneers will be able to choose the color scheme which best fits their Web site. The solution includes new features developed for Proxibid’s newly-designed Web site, which launched this morning, including the new multi-bid mode that allows bidders to place pre-bids and online-only bids for multiple items in the same auction catalog at the same time.

“Proxibid is committed to providing our auction house customers with the best technology solutions in the industry,” said Bruce Hoberman, Proxibid’s CEO. “Our embedded solution is the next logical step in bringing auctioneers online in a manner that allows them to feel as connected to the bidder in the virtual world as they do when that bidder is sitting in the live audience, and vice verse.”

image from liveauctioneers.com/blackberry

In July, Internet bidding provider LiveAuctioneers announced the release of an iPhone application that allows its users to view auction inventories as well as to participate in auctions by placing pre-auction Internet bids.

Yesterday, LiveAuctioneers announced the release of an application for BlackBerry devices that has similar functionality but, unlike the iPhone application, is free to download and use.

While some other auctioneers attempt to deliver their bidding pages  so that they render easily in mobile browsers, LiveAuctioneers is instead developing applications that run natively on the devices. This approach has the benefit of creating a more controlled user experience for the supported devices. Unfortunately, it only works for supported devices. We still haven’t seen any provider release an application for Windows Mobile or the Palm Pre, though we’re guessing someone’s working on it.

Here’s the BlackBerry release.

NEW YORK – Following closely on the heels of its revolutionary iPhone application (“app”) with auction-bidding capability, LiveAuctioneers App Technologies has announced the release of a similar product for Blackberry devices. The new Blackberry “app” has the capability to connect users with catalogs from any auction house utilizing LiveAuctioneers.com’s Internet-bidding services. Additionally, it is the first Blackberry app to enable absentee bidding through LiveAuctioneers. It also includes an auction archive search function for accessing prices achieved in past sales.

The app is compatible with all current Blackberry models – Bold, Storm, Curve, Pearl Tour and 8800 series – and supports all major Blackberry service providers.

“We fully expect that Blackberry users within the fine art and antiques community will embrace this innovative technology, which includes immediate access to any auction catalog listed on LiveAuctioneers and the ability to leave absentee bids through our Secure Bidder Network (SBN),” said LiveAuctioneers LLC’s CEO Julian R. Ellison “With SBN functionality, which is unique to LiveAuctioneers, your absentee bid is kept private and unknown to anyone until auction day, when it goes direct to the auction house.”

Ellison said he placed top-priority status on the development of the iPhone and Blackberry apps because he wanted both to be finalized and available for download in advance of the fall auction season.

“From conversations we’ve had with auctioneers who use our services, we believe the next quarter may be the busiest ever for LiveAuctioneers,” Ellison said. “Some very exciting sales are going to be announced, and now with the addition of our new apps, auction houses will see bids coming in from all directions. There’s no reason why anyone should miss out on bidding now that our app technology is so widely available.”

The LiveAuctioneers app for Blackberry devices is free of charge and can be downloaded by visiting http://www.liveauctioneers.com/Blackberry.

Have you tried either of the mobile bidding applications from LiveAuctioneers? Let us know it worked in the comments.

Proxibid's new website, launch expected in mid-September

Following last month’s announcement of an upcoming embedded bidding solution, Proxibid today announces that auctioneers can begin reserving this solution in mid-September. Also announced today is the preview of the new layout of the Proxibid website which looks like it sports a much cleaner appearance. Gone are the borders and tables, the auction calendar has been moved off of the front page, and a prominant graphic greets the user advocating different types of auctions.

Also in the press release are example screenshots of the upcoming embedded bidding solution. The example given is on the Miedema Auctioneering and Appraisals website and it appears to be a very seamless integration. You can view the screenshots.

Here’s the release.

As you already know, in just a few short weeks, auctioneers will have access to the auction industry’s most powerful embedded solution. Proxibid’s embedded solution will allow bidders to create an account, register to bid, launch the online bidding application and place bids through the auction catalog without leaving the auctioneer’s Web site. Our embedded solution will fit seamlessly into the auctioneer’s Web site, ensuring bidders have access to a full-service online auction experience. Auctioneers can begin reserving their embedded solutions in mid-September.

Because we’re full of surprises, we have another special announcement. In addition to the launch of our embedded solution, Proxibid’s Web site is soon to have a new look and feel. Our new Web site design will feature enhanced navigation and a much cleaner, faster-loading homepage. Advertising will move off the homepage and will be located on category-specific landing pages, providing auctioneers the opportunity to market directly to a captive audience, and enabling bidders to go right to the content in which they are most interested! While the Web site will have a new look and feel, the core of the site will remain familiar to the user, ensuring a smooth transition for everyone. Watch for Proxibid’s new and improved Web site design to make its debut in mid-September.

To see examples of the embedded solution and the new homepage, please visit www.proxibid.com/asp/reskin.asp .

Follow us on Twitter for updates on both of these exciting projects, as well as advanced notice for launch dates, at www.twitter.com/proxibid.

There is a device for your TV called a Slingbox. This device does what is called place-shifting, allowing you to watch your cable TV – that for which you’ve paid and normally watch at your home – on your mobile devices like your iPhone.

There is a device much more popular than the Slingbox – a device that has become so ubiquitous that its name has become a verb – called a TiVo. The TiVo, as we all know, does what is called time-shifting, allowing you to watch your programs on your schedule so that you’re not required to be in front of the TV when the show is initially aired.

There is a company in the Kansas City area called Public Auto Auction that is using a fairly unique Internet bidding model. It is essentially a real-time Internet only auction that is designed to emulate a live event. Their pre-auction bidding actually closes before the event and then bidders log in for a “lightning round” to establish the final price. Here’s the description of the mechanics from their website.

Each new bid will appear in the bid window. Click on one of the Set Bid Amount buttons to set your bid price, then click the Place Bid button. The High Bid button will turn green if you are the winner, and red if you have been outbid. When there are no bids for 5 seconds, the program will start a countdown. If there are new bids, the clock starts over.

Once the countdown reaches zero, a winner is declared, and the next vehicle is brought up for auction. These auctions continue as long as there is bid activity, so no one can place a bid at the last second.

Elsewhere on the site they write, “Place a prebid if you wish.” It’s clear that the majority of the activity is expected to occur during the lightning round. We have no firsthand knowledge of how successful this approach is, and we certainly aren’t criticizing such an interesting system, but we can’t help but notice the effort that went in to trying to simulate a live auction.

One of the biggest problems with a live auction is that someone is forced to pay attention at a specific time. All Internet bidding obviously takes care of place-shifting, so it doesn’t necessarily matter where you are, but for real-time Internet bidding it still matters when you are.

The specious defense often used is that pre-auction bidding is always available. However, buyers will understand that the real action occurs during a specific event like a live auction or a lightning round of bidding and won’t make their best bids until that time. We can never completely eliminate time from the equation, and the use of automatic extensions is a great way to ensure that time is less of a variable at the end of the auction, but Internet only auction that simply begins to end at a set time will reduce the perceived importance of an event and cause bidders to place greater trust – and greater bids – throughout the entire course of bidding.

This isn’t an article advocating Internet only auctions over live auctions. There are decisions we all must make based on the best interests of our sellers that will govern the choice between a live auction or an Internet only auction. However, when the selection has been made in favor of an Internet only event, we need to remember that our customers will get the benefits of both place-shifting AND time-shifting. When we try to create an artificial event to create excitement, we actually take away from the benefits of time-shifting and our bidders get fewer benefits and our sellers get less value.

Any system that forces or appears to force customer participation at a specific time will, in our opinion, ultimately lose out to systems that don’t offer an advantage based on the time of participation. Why is the TiVo much more popular than the Slingbox? Being at a specific place isn’t nearly as difficult as being somewhere at a specific time.

Our post on Wednesday described an announcement by Proxibid of their forthcoming embedding bidding service. This service will allow auctioneers to seamlessly embed Proxibid’s systems into the auctioneers’ web pages. In Wednesday’s post, we posed five questions we felt were important to ask of Proxibid and other providers who are looking to offer this type of service. Here’s a recap of the questions we posed.

• Pricing structure – will it cost more to use the embedded solution?
• Simultaneous exposure – will inventories exist on the portal and the auctioneers’ websites simultaneously?
• Branding – will the bidding experience be non-branded or simply embedded?
• Difficulty – how easy will it be for auctioneers to integrate the bidding system within websites?
• Customer pooling – what will the bidder registration process look like and how will buyer information be shared?

We were contacted by Tom Clark, Proxibid’s Chief Operating Officer, and in a phone call this morning he answered these questions.

Pricing structure
Proxibid will not alter its pricing structure for auctioneers who elect to use embedded bidding. “Everybody gets it,” said Clark.

Simultaneous exposure
Items listed on auctioneers’ websites will also benefit from the exposure on proxibid.com. This simultaneous exposure means an auctioneer’s bidders can place bids on xyzauction.com and Proxibid’s existing customer base can place bids on proxibid.com.

Branding and customer pooling
Clark made it clear that Proxibid’s goal was to provide a wholesale product that could be seamlessly integrated into an auctioneer’s website. The Proxibid logos, headers and footers will be removed, providing a user experience that feels congruent with the auctioneer’s site. Clark said that the goal was to remove the Proxibid branding from everywhere except where it would be required for legal reasons, such as upon registration where users must agree to Proxibid’s terms and conditions. Any existing Proxibid bidder will be able to participate in embedded bidding after meeting the requirements for the event set by the auctioneer without having to create a new account. Proxibid will be exploring allowing the ability for an auctioneer to further customize the pages with CSS and perhaps embed a logo into the bidding application, but those advanced customization options my not be available until future releases.

Difficulty
Clark said that Proxibid’s goal has been and will continue to be to “provide solutions that are economically viable and make sense.” With this regard, it is important that the embedded service be usable by the greatest number of Proxibid’s auctioneer clients. By using frames to include the inventory listings, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of website design will be able to easily utilize the service and users won’t be confused by changing domain names.

All in all, we think these are the answers auctioneers were hoping for and we look forward to reviewing this service, as well as those from other providers, in the months ahead.

proxibid

One of the most popular feature requests made of Internet bidding providers is that they offer a non-branded, embedded solution for auctioneers who want the ability to host bidding on their sites rather than having to push people to a third-party website.

Today, in an email to their auctioneer clients, Proxibid announced that they were working on such a solution and that it would be available soon. Here’s the official announcement.

Just when you thought it wasn’t possible for the world’s most popular live auction webcasting service to get any better…stay tuned for exciting news and information about Proxibid’s embedded online auction solution.  Our embedded solution will enable you to offer online bidding seamlessly on your Web site, making it easier than ever to provide your bidders with a full-service online auction experience.

We’re working overtime to ensure our embedded solution provides you with the leading-edge technology you’ve come to expect from Proxibid, and we’ll be ready to share the details in early September!

Allowing auctioneers the ability to completely brand their users’ experiences will be a very powerful tool. Jeff Johnstonbaugh announced in the most recent Auction Podcast that BidSpotter is working on a similar solution, and its realistic to expect that the other players in this space are working frantically on the same type of offering.

Competition is good, but it’s not quite accurate to say that the first one there wins. There are a lot of questions that will matter a great deal that have yet to be answered.

• Pricing structure – will it cost more to use the embedded solution?
• Simultaneous exposure – will inventories exist on the portal and the auctioneers’ websites simultaneously?
• Branding – will the bidding experience be non-branded or simply embedded?
• Difficulty – how easy will it be for auctioneers to integrate the bidding system within websites?
• Customer pooling – what will the bidder registration process look like and how will buyer information be shared?

This move will be a win-win for both Proxibid and their customers – both auctioneers and bidders – regardless of the details. We’re very excited about this announcement, and we look forward to learning more about the details of this next evolution in real-time Internet bidding methods.

Real-time Internet bidding is a process that allows an auctioneer to accept Internet bids during an auction. A bidder downloads client software, usually either Flash- or Java-based, and can hear the auctioneer and place bids until each individual item is declared sold. There are several prominent real-time bidding service providers competing in this space, each with its own software and feature set.

One of the important features of any real-time bidding provider is the way bids are accepted by the software. There are two ways bids can be handled and today we’re going to look at the good and the bad of each. The players in this discussion are the Internet bidder, the auctioneer, and the auction staff member who represents the Internet bids and conveys the auction action to the Internet bidder – known as the bid implementer. Also relevant is the client software used by the Internet bidder, and the auctioneer interface used by the bid implementer.

Automatic acceptance
Internet bids can be accepted automatically by the software. An Internet bidder places a bid and the software automatically updates the current price and winning bidder, with the expectation that the bid implementer will let the auctioneer know that the price has changed due to a placed bid.

Manual acceptance
With manual acceptance, the Internet bids wait in a queue until they’re specifically accepted by the bid implementer, presumably once the auctioneer has acknowledged the bid.

There are problems with both methods. With manual acceptance, the Internet bidders perceive a delay in the action or a problem with the software or auction staff when their bids aren’t immediately impacting the event. With automatic acceptance, an Internet bidder may believe he’s the current winning bidder because the software reflects this status, while in actuality the auctioneer is currently recognizing a live bidder at the same increment.

Automatic acceptance is better for newer auctioneers with less-established buyer bases. Because their starting pre-auction bids are lower, perhaps less than 50% of the final sales price, the chances are higher that a couple Internet bidders will create a bidding war between them that is faster than the auctioneer and bid implementer can accurately represent. Automatic acceptance removes the human limitation in the speed of the bidding. Internet bidders are able to immediately see the results of their bids and they feel like they are taking part directly in the auction. The problem for more experienced auctioneers with larger buyer bases and more realistic starting bids is that the real-time Internet bids are both fewer and closer to the final sales price, increasing the chance that an auctioneer will take a bid from the crowd at the same time an Internet bidder is placing a bid. The resulting price collision could result in legal action being taken against the auctioneer, especially if the item is sold before resolving the collision.

Manual acceptance is perhaps a more accurate representation of a live auction. At a live auction, many ringpersons can signal to the auctioneer that a bid has been placed, but only the auctioneer decides which one individual bid is accepted at any increment. In the case of bid collisions, only the bid recognized by the auctioneer is legally valid. The problem with manual acceptance for the auctioneer is that it requires much more vigilance on the part of the auction staff. Internet bidders can only bid as fast as the bid implementer can accept bids, and an inexperienced auctioneer or bid implementer may have a hard time running the system with such a high level of maintenance. The problem with manual acceptance for the bidder, as mentioned earlier, is that it’s easy to perceive a problem with the software or the auction system as a whole. When bids aren’t immediately accepted, the frustration can lead to complaints or even bidders who refuse to participate in auctions conducted by the auctioneer or the bidding platform.

We’re currently in a time that could be described as the wild west of Internet bidding. Real-time Internet bidding is but one of three ways auctioneers accept Internet bids. There are several providers who specialize in this service, and they all continue to innovate and iterate. It’s our belief that there is room for all kinds of bidding. As the industry and products mature, we’ll eventually see some standardized practices fall into place by themselves, unless patents or lawsuits force faster, more immediate changes to real-time Internet bidding.

In this episode, we’re going to cover the basics of Internet bidding including the different types of Internet bidding, or online bidding, and the different kinds of providers.

There are three main types of Internet bidding. Some Internet bidding providers allow some but not all of the types of auctions. I’ll cover some of the basics here, with future articles and podcasts building on these topics by discussing the combinations of the types of Internet bidding as well as going deeper into the benefits of certain types of auctions and providers.

Let’s begin by discussing the three main types of Internet bidding which are Internet only, pre-auction only Internet bidding, and real-time Internet bidding.

First, let’s address Internet only bidding. When the items sell based solely on the bids from the Internet, it’s an Internet only auction. Internet only auctions may have a bid caller and they may have a crowd, but when software is calculating the time remaining and the current and final bid prices, it’s an Internet only auction. Internet only bidding is sometimes referred to as an eBay-style or static auction, but those are horrific terms for it. Modern Internet only auctions have staggered endings and automatic extensions, more closely simulating a live auction. These modifications move the game so far away from eBay rules that there isn’t a legitimate comparison. The term static implies nothing changes. It’s very definition means fixed or motionless and the auction industry is doing itself an enormous disservice by using the word static to refer to this very active and exciting method of bidding. This method drastically lowers overhead, as well as provides a viable means of selling small groups of assets in multiple locations.

Second in our types of bidding is pre-auction bidding. Pre-auction bidding is the method of accepting Internet bids up to a point slightly before the auction begins to end and representing the Internet bids as absentee bids against the live crowd. This method offers the advantage of increased speed of the event as the auctioneer can see everyone who can possibly bid and doesn’t have to wait for an Internet bidder he can’t see. When the live crowd is done bidding he can sell the item and move on. It offers the convenience for buyers to place bids without having to attend the event or sit in front of a computer.

Finally, real-time bidding is probably the most common type of Internet bidding currently. The process involves an audio or perhaps video stream so that buyers can view the auction as it happens on their computers. They can place bids during the auction based on the audio and the display of the current bid price on their computers. This method has the advantage of allowing bids right up until the second the item closes, but forces users to wait in front of their computers until the items in which they’re interested sell. Many buyers no longer have that time available, or, when first seeing the auction, plan to sit in front of their computers during the event but forget by the time the auction starts to end.

Now let’s move on to the two classes of Internet bidding providers which are portal site solutions and integrated solutions.

When Internet bidding is offered but that bidding occurs on the website of a third party, that third party is a portal. That is, auctions from many auction firms are listed and the bidding is handled all within that site. This method offers the benefit of cross-promotion, where the customers driven to the site by one auctioneer may see the assets listed by another. The downside is that it makes brand-building very difficult and makes buyer retention next to impossible. This kind of solution is good for an auctioneer who needs results quickly. Examples of this kind of provider include Bidspotter, Proxibid, AuctionFLEX and NAA Live.

The concept of an integrated Internet bidding solution is less well-known in the industry. An integrated solution embeds the Internet bidding pages within the website of the auctioneer. The software may not reside physically on the auctioneers’ servers, but the website is built so that the buyer can’t tell the difference and never sees any logo or promotional materials of the provider. This method has the advantage of being excellent for brand building and buyer retention, but has the disadvantage of taking some time to build a buyer base. Examples of this kind of provider include JBS Software’s Maxanet and NextLot.

That’s it for episode six. I’m excited to announce that my friends Robert Mayo of Mayo Auction and Realty and Darron Meares of the Meares Auction Group have agreed to be the first two guests on the show, so look for those two interview episodes over the next two months.

You’ve been listening to the Auction Podcast from AuctioneerTech. If you have suggestions, questions or comments, or are interested in being a guest, please let me know by going to www.auctioneertech.com/feedback and leaving a message. You can also post public comments about this or any other episode, as well as find show transcripts, on the auction podcast page of auctioneertech.com.

Thank you for listening. Now go sell something.