eBay Premier Features Art, Antiques & Collectibles

Art Business News, March, 2001

SAN JOSE, Calif.--eBay Inc. (www.ebay.com), a leading online trading community, has announced a new showcase for premium art, antiques and rare collectibles called eBay Premier, available at www.ebaypremier.com. The specialty site on eBay expands and improves upon the previously existing eBay Great Collections site and is a result of the company's close collaboration with its many partners in the art world, including auction houses, galleries, dealers and collectors.

"We've made strides, but there is still much work to be done in bridging the art world and the Internet," said Geoff Iddison, general manager of eBay Premier. "The new eBay Premier site has evolved from the feedback we've received since launching eBay Great Collections in October 1999. We've taken that feedback to create eBay Premier, a new and expanded destination for buying and selling fine works of art online."

With the launch of eBay Premier, the company plans to introduce new value-added services for art enthusiasts, including a comprehensive art database which will provide one-stop access to historical data of millions of artworks, new, category-specific content and scheduled theme sales. Other new features of eBay Premier include a user-friendly, easy-to-navigate interface, enhanced help menus and a new "Premier Guarantee" program in which eBay, together with reputable international sellers, will stand behind and guarantee the authenticity of every item on eBay Premier.

With the recently launched Live Auctions tool, eBay Premier also provides live, real-time online bidding on items being sold on the sales floors of auction houses around the world. The new feature empowers traditional auctioneers to extend their sales beyond the auction show room and reach millions of potential buyers online through eBay's proprietary Live Auctions technology, according to the company.

eBay Premier also enhances its offering with new partners. At launch, new partners included Guild.com and Latinarte.com, which will each utilize eBay Premier to list property for sale in the auction format. Both will have featured areas on eBay Premier that will link to co-branded versions of their sites.

Finally, eBay Premier institutes a "buyer's premium," which is a 10 percent additional fee traditionally charged by auction houses on the sale of fine goods. The buyer's premium encourages auction houses and dealers to list the high-quality merchandise that would normally only be available in showrooms and galleries on the site. It also gives buyers value-added services, such as authenticity guarantees, provenance research, ongoing customer support and professional shipping and handling.

"eBay has dearly revolutionized the way people buy and sell practical and collectible items online. With eBay Premier, we hope to do the same for works of art," said Iddison. "We've added new features and services we believe will create the right mix for attracting sellers of high-quality art while giving buyers access to world-class art and expertise."