Adding a new dimension to the realm of electronic auctions, Park Village Auctions yesterday unveiled SA's first live-streaming, interactive online vehicle auction platform.
According to Park Village Auctions director Roy Lazarus, the independent auctioneering company's new platform ensures a secure and transparent bidding environment for consumers, dealers, business and private buyers.
“This online vehicle bidding platform raises the bar in electronic auctions, which, until now, has been restricted to 'static' bids without the benefit of taking part in the action while it's happening.”
Lazarus says an added benefit of the Web-based platform is that it eliminates issues such as ghost bidding. “[This platform is a secure method of buying], with all the processes and procedures built in and with the obligatory registration fee that is required.”
National logistics
In anticipation of the demand for the new system, says Lazarus, Park Village has been building its logistics capacity countrywide.
He says the company is able to store more than 5 000 vehicles at any one time. “Park Village Auctions has also introduced a best-of-class, locally-developed vehicle auction logistics management system, which is currently used by many of the major banks and finance houses.
“Vehicle auctions constitute a growing share of the overall vehicle market, and our new system is a reflection of the sophistication of this market on the technology front.”
Bidder options
Lazarus says there are various options available to bidders who wish to participate in the online vehicle auctions.
“Online bidders have to pay a refundable deposit, which enables them to register and bid from their home or office. Online bids are submitted incrementally as bidding proceeds on the day.”
Bidders have the option of either viewing vehicles online, or at the warehouse, and then bidding online on auction day, while using the live-streaming Webcast to view proceedings as they unfold.
“There's also the option of using our proxy bidding service where the audio from the auction floor is relayed by telephone to an office or home while viewing the proceedings on a PC,” says Lazarus.
A third option, using a different portal on the same platform, is timed online auctions. There is no live-streaming and this is basically the same as a conventional, static online bidding system, similar to that already in use in the auction sector.
“Live online auctions are used with great success in the US and England, and we believe that our system will also draw a potentially vast new national audience. However, some bidders will probably still prefer live attendance at an auction as it allows them to kick the tyres, as it were,” concludes Lazarus.
Park Village Auctions will, in the near future, also roll-out the online platform to other industries such as property and mining.
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