Auction Technology Group to complete acquisition of LiveAuctioneers

NEW YORK – LiveAuctioneers, one of North America’s favorite destinations for fine and decorative arts, antiques and luxury goods, is pleased to announce its acquisition by Auction Technology Group plc (LON:ATG). Following the receipt of final approvals required in order to proceed, ATG expects to complete the acquisition shortly. LiveAuctioneers is currently owned by Cove Hill Partners, a Boston-based, long-term oriented private equity firm that invests in consumer internet and technology businesses.

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Google designs and donates 49,000 health shields to local healthcare workers

Google developed the face shields in consultation with physicians and nurses at VMC Hospitals & Clinics.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Responding to a national shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers, the Valley Medical Center Foundation announced today a donation of 49,000 face shields designed and assembled by teams at Google. The shields will be deployed at hospitals, clinics, skilled nursing facilities, and other high-risk environments throughout Santa Clara County during the COVID-19 crisis.
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LiveAuctioneers & ARTA announce auction industry’s first integration for streamlined shipping

Photo Credit: Molly Messersmith/ARTA

NEW YORK – Today, LiveAuctioneers and ARTA announce a new partnership that redefines the experience of purchasing art, antiques and luxury items auctioned online. Innovative leaders in auction technology and logistics solutions, respectively, LiveAuctioneers and ARTA have joined forces to provide automated shipping solutions for auction houses and buyers on the world’s largest online auction marketplace for one-of-a-kind items. Leveraging ARTA’s API to streamline the logistical complications that come with selling high-value, oversized, or fragile goods online, LiveAuctioneers enables auction-house partners with the ability to offer buyers instant shipping quotes that can be booked during the checkout process. ARTA will also provide white-glove fulfillment on behalf of the auction houses under this partnership.

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3-D printing recreates ancient sculpture destroyed by ISIS

3-D printing has advanced to the point that it can be used in many industries and applications, including antiquities restoration. Shown here is an Audi RSQ film car that was 3D-printed by rapid prototyping industrial KUKA robots. Image by Eirik Newth, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

LONDON (AP) – A figure of a roaring lion, about the size of a loaf of bread, is the latest step in the fight to preserve culture from conflict.

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LiveAuctioneers partners with eBay, giving auctioneers new fixed-price option

The new partnership will bring exceptional art, antiques, vintage collectibles and other high-quality goods from LiveAuctioneers sellers to the eBay platform for fixed-price purchase. LiveAuctioneers image

NEW YORK and SAN JOSE, Calif. – LiveAuctioneers and eBay have jointly announced a new partnership that will expand selling opportunities for auction houses in a way that is unprecedented in the art and collectibles sector. The combined force of eBay’s incomparable presence in the online retail marketplace with LiveAuctioneers’ peerless technology and client database of more than 5,000 premier auction houses will form the infrastructure for a “Buy It Now” after-sale venue set to launch this spring.

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LiveAuctioneers partners with Fiverr to bring creative & digital services to auction houses

In collaboration with Fiverr, LiveAuctioneers will be able to refer its auction-house partners to carefully vetted professional talent across eight verticals. Image source: LiveAuctioneers

NEW YORK – Following several months of collaborative planning, industry-leading online-auction marketplace LiveAuctioneers has announced a new partnership with Fiverr, a marketplace that connects businesses with freelancers offering digital services across eight verticals, including graphic design, digital marketing, programming and tech; and video and animation. Under the terms of the partnership, LiveAuctioneers will offer its auction-house clients access to Fiverr Pro, a tier of hand-vetted, top-quality professionals who are trusted by some of the world’s leading brands. The new collaboration is unusual in that it innovatively unites a B2B marketplace (Fiverr) with a B2C marketplace (LiveAuctioneers). It also represents the first time Fiverr has ventured into the dynamic world of online auctions.

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LiveAuctioneers reports record-setting 2018 with 65% more traffic than competitors

LiveAuctioneers’ newly released 2018 Annual Report confirms the New York-based company is once again the clear leader amongst live online bidding platforms.

NEW YORK – LiveAuctioneers, the world’s leading online marketplace for exceptional fine art, antiques and vintage collectibles, has released its 2018 Annual Report indicating not only another year of record results that outperformed competitors, but also a continued year-over-year pattern of growth that remains unrivaled in the industry.

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Report: LiveAuctioneers leads industry in sales prices, sell-through rate, bidder traffic

NEW YORK – LiveAuctioneers, the world’s leading online marketplace for exceptional fine art, antiques and vintage collectibles, has released its Mid-Year 2018 Report confirming record results and a year-over-year pattern of growth unrivaled in the industry.

“In the first six months of 2018, LiveAuctioneers delivered winning bidders on more than 300,000 items and processed billions of dollars in winning bids and underbids,” said LiveAuctioneers CEO, Phil Michaelson. “We dramatically outperformed the competition, and our accelerating growth and Internet best practices continue to drive the highest-quality consignments to auction houses that are on the LiveAuctioneers platform. It has been a source of great pride for our team to be the lowest-cost provider of premium services and yet drive the best results in the industry.”

The first half of the year comparisons on a year-over-year basis include:

  • An increase of 37% more bids
  • An industry-leading average online sell-through rate of 24.7%
  • An increase of more than 50,000 new bidders, on average, every month
  • Web and mobile traffic of over 23 million visits, up 34%
  • Over 133,000 consignments directed, an increase of more than 27%
  • Record online-auction results for Lucio Fontana art ($210,000), blockchain art ($140,000), Atsuko Tanaka art ($88,000), Finn Juhl furniture ($60,000) and more

LiveAuctioneers has continued to invest in new solutions for growing its auction house partners’ sales and increasing the flow of their respective consignments. Customer-driven innovations like Custom Auction Software, Auction Previews, Timed Auctions, and payment by cryptocurrency are converting traditional ecommerce shoppers to live-auction winners through LiveAuctioneers. “We out-execute the competition, and auction houses on our platform are enjoying an increase of up to 40% in the number of items sold as compared to the first half of 2017,” Michaelson said. LiveAuctioneers’ free auction price results database, with over 21 million listings, is now faster to search and continues to be the leading resource for appraisers and consignors seeking auctioneers with whom to place consignments.

Click to view LiveAuctioneers’ 2018 mid-year results.

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