Auctions on the web, thanks to the confinement, are doing well in Rouen

Trend. If there are sectors that are mourning, the auction houses that have made the digital shift have taken advantage of the health situation.

An almost empty room and yet bids which go up, go up and go up again, as for this doll put on sale for a few tens of euros and which flies up to 1,580 €. Same fate for this pair of kerosene lamps whose sale price has more than increased tenfold compared to its initial estimate …

It is clear, the some 1,500 lots of the two sessions of the auction house of the Seine auctioneer Guillaume Cheroyan were torn off, but through virtual auctions. “It is true that the dematerialized side of digital auctions has eaten up the room a little, there are very few people, whereas today [mardi 5 janvier, NDLR], there were between 200 and 300 buyers connected to the site. The room has become a simple back-up force and it is hoped that the public will return in greater numbers after the health crisis. It’s still nicer to come and see the objects, to feel them ”, like this Chinese buyer, lost from his Paris region, who, come for a walk, absolutely wanted to weigh a teapot before bidding and winning it. But these cases are rare now.

Rising prices

As a result of confinement, these long hours spent in the spring in front of the screens, more and more Internet users want to feel the thrill of auctions and prices go up. “On average, although it’s difficult to assess, prices have climbed around 20 to 30%. »Example? A batch of two model train locomotives left for € 1,600 on Tuesday. This is the effect of a clientele less made up of second-hand dealers, antique dealers and other professionals and made up of enlightened amateurs or not. “It has become a sort of distraction and it’s all the easier because customers can place buy orders, not follow the sale at all and wait for the outcome of the auction. “

On the side of the room, the arrival of these newcomers is not only happy. If the sellers are in heaven, the regulars complain. “It’s hellish, we can no longer buy anything, we can no longer afford lots”, angered a lady who has just seen the price of a rare nutcracker go from 70 to 750 € in two clicks from anonymous Internet users. Even Guillaume Cheroyan is surprised by certain prices: “It is not possible, these lamps are plated in gold. There is real recovery ”, he is surprised, attributing a prize which has continued to climb.

The success is such that the auctioneer is repeatedly obliged to remind the digital bidders to order, which he can do since the sale is broadcast live: “Don’t forget to come and collect your lots quickly or to have them delivered to you by carrier. ”Without this, the auction house would not be able to accommodate other goods for sale.

2021 should be a good year

Is the trend observed at the Seine Auction House general? Yes, according to the first results of a survey carried out by the Louis Harris Institute at the request of the Voluntary Sales Council (the regulator of the sector). “Containment is accelerating the underlying trend in the development of digital auctions. Many operators have been able to take advantage of this to develop their activity and gain new customers (…) With the Covid-19 epidemic, public auctions on the net remain dynamic and attract a new audience. ”

Already in 2020, with a turnover of more than 3 billion euros, the sector had grown by 12%. 2021 should be, according to the Voluntary Sales Council, of the same ilk and could even progress.

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