The Seller’s Trade-Off

Despite the increasing success of online platforms, there have been many claims that the Internet is not right for selling high-end artworks. Our research empirically analyzes the difference between selling an artwork in a brick-and-mortar auction house and in an only-online auction house. Using a data set of over 1631 hammer prices and estimate observations collected over a period of 12 months, we compare pricing and estimate behavior between Dorotheum and Auctionata. Furthermore, the differences in sale rates and transaction costs are highlighted. We find that sale rates and hammer prices on the online Auctionata are lower than the ones reached by the brick-and-mortar Dorotheum. Furthermore, the higher the estimated value, the wider the estimation window seems to appear and thus the more likely the artwork will be sold on a brick-and-mortar auction house. We conclude that online auctions have not reached yet their full potential in comparison to already established traditional auction houses. However, online newcomers do not have to be necessarily seen as an alternative for the sellers to traditional auction houses, but more as an additional channel.