April Inman Auctions inaugurates new building with Internet sales averaging 47% over two days

April 19, 2004

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Randy Inman Auctions debuted its new auction venue in Allentown, Pa., on April 16-17 with an 1,100-lot sale of antique advertising and coin-op machines. The turnout might have been moderate in the gallery, but online the bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com was firing from all directions. After the dust had settled, the statistics told the tale.

In the April 16 session, 17,159 unique visitors perused Inman’s catalog and ended up taking 49.2% of the lots. The next day, 34,769 unique visitors called up the catalog and left with 44.9% of the inventory. That averages out to more than 47% of the inventory being sold via the Internet, adding approximately $219,000 to Inman’s coffers, inclusive of buyer’s premium. Top lot sold via LiveAuctioneers was lot 547, a carved cigar store Indian, which brought $7,500.

After the hammer had come down for the last time, Inman told one reporter: “It’s amazing how effective Internet bidding has become. I couldn’t believe the numbers. This is only our second time to use LiveAuctioneers.com, and obviously bidders who tried it before came back this time, with many new users joining in, as well. I would not be surprised if, in our next sale, June 11-13, the Internet is responsible for more sales than all other methods combined.”