 |
|
14th August 2009: Television joined the internet last night at Bidsonline’s wine auction……
Television joined the internet last night at Bidsonline’s wine auction. Viewers and bidders watched Lisa Johnston auction 250 cases of wine – live on the internet. Lisa tasted some of the wines and described others; each lot started with the wine’s retail price and gradually reduced until all cases were sold or the reserve was reached.
“Everybody pays the lowest price at this auction” said Paul Taylor, Director of Bidsonline. “Steve Reynard from Camden bid for a case of French sparkling wine when the price was $120. The price dropped a further $30 to entice more bidders, so Steve only paid $90.”
Lot 3, a Cabernet Merlot from Margaret River, had 30 cases on offer. As each bidder bid for a case the quantity remaining reduced. This you could see without refreshing or re-loading the page - ‘real time’ bidding just like a traditional auction.
The wine and prices
The recession in Britain has seen Australia’s wine exports shrink. What happens to these cancelled export orders? Some of that wine ended up on Bidsonline’s wine auction last night. Export labels such as Leasingham Magnus Merlot, Hardy’s Crest Shiraz and Bankside Chardonnay all sold for less than $60 a case.
“ A dutch auction can clear large quantities quickly. A wine auction on ebay is usually for 1 case, that’s 64 auctions just to clear a pallet of wine. For this reason dutch auctions are used in many produce markets: fish and flowers for example”
“An advantage of our dutch auction is that we set reserves, many wineries are cautious about sending wines to auctions with no reserves as it can undermine their price in the retail market” said Paul Taylor.
Technology
“A live dutch auction on the internet is probably a first for Australia” said Paul Taylor. “It’s the culmination of over 2 year’s development that began with the simulcast of live car auctions.
The Bidsonline simulcast bidding system enables car dealers to bid live over the internet at car auctions. 1,000 cars a week are now listed on Bidsonline’s web site and about 5% are sold to internet bidders.
Bidsonline
Trading as Hunter Valley Wine Auctions, Bidsonline auctions wine live at www.bidsonline.tv.
Lisa Johnston
Lisa is a wine reviewer and educator. Returning from the U.K after 7 years in marketing in the wine industry, Lisa joined Bidsonline as their wine presenter in June 2009.
Paul Taylor Bidsonline Pty. Ltd. Unit 43, 8 Avenue of Americas Newington NSW 2127 Tel: 02 9395 1100
|
|
|
 |
|
January 2009: Carnet Auctions - Chullora installs simulcast bidding system. Two lanes running simultaneously!
The Motor Auction Belmore moved to their new premises in Chullora over the Christmas break. The auction now runs 2 car lanes simultaneously every Wednesday. Bidsonline's simulcast bidding system is used for both lanes. Car dealers can now bid over the internet during the auction on both lanes. One car dealer recently bid on cars in each lane at on the Brisbane Motor Auctions simulcast auction which was running at the same time!
|
|
|
 |
|
October 2008: Alliance Motor Auctions start simulcast auctions
Alliance Motor Auctions installed Bidsonline's simulcast bidding system in October. "We are looking forward to expanding our dealer audience" said Kevin Abood, General Manager at Alliance.
Bidsonline broadcasts the auction live to the internet enabling motor dealers to bid in competition with bidders at the auction. Large plasma tvs show the auction room all the bidding activity. Alliance Motor Auctions simulcast their auction at 1.00pm every Tuesday.
|
|
|
 |
|
June 2008: First private customer buys a car inter-state.
Judy from Victoria successfully bid on an HSV listed by Alliance Motor Auctions, Sydney.
“I had been looking for an HSV for a while and couldn’t get a good deal through a dealership. I eventually found what I was looking for on Bidsonline and it was a much better price than I would have found elsewhere and without the heavy negotiations.”
“Buying a car on Bidsonline was very easy and it wasn’t confronting at all. I bought the car online on a Monday and by Friday morning it was delivered to my house. I would recommend it to anyone!”
“I had been on other online car auction sites but it was all too complicated. You had to jump through hoops just to get set up and then someone else had to do the bidding for you. On the Bidsonline website, I could do it all myself. It was really easy to get myself set-up – there were no restrictions and no one to bid on my behalf. And I now have the car I have been looking around for.” - Judy Kidd-Linehan, a proud HSV owner from Victoria.
|
|
|
 |
|
June 2008. Simulcast auctions start for Brisbane Motor Auctions.
After two weeks of trials Brisbane Motor Auctions have started simulcast auctions for the their Wednesday sale. Open to all licenced motor dealers, the simulcast auction lets country and inter-state dealers bid during an auction.
'Brisbane Motor Auctions have just been awarded the re-marketing contract for Hertz program cars in Queensland. We will be auctioning over 100 Hertz cars on the 19th June - the simulcast system will play a crucial role in selling these cars' said Mike Kennedy, manager at Brisbane Motor Auctions.
|
|
|
 |
|
May 2008: New 'dealer only' online tender launched'.
Brisbane-based A.P. Eagers Limited, publicly-listed pure automotive retail group with its main operations in the Brisbane metropolitan area of Queensland, will now be sending their trade-ins to Brisbane Motor Auctions. Quality trade-ins will be listed on Bidsonline's online tender.
Bidsonline designed and developed the online tender system which it hosts at it's datacentre. The tender system is fully integrated with the Carsplus auction system. Using a hand-held computer cars are scanned into a catalogue and automatically placed on the tender web site. Once the tender is closed the highest bids are downloaded to Carsplus and invoices automatically produced.
Bidsonline also runs the very successful 'dealer only' tender on behalf of Leaseplan and the public tender for end-of-lease vehicles for Capital Fleet Lease.
|
|
|
 |
|
April 2008: Independent Motor Auctions ran their first simulcast auction and sold 5 cars online.
In their first trial of the new simulcast auction system Independent Motor Auctions sold 5 cars out of the 25 listed. The online bidder was a dealer from Adelaide.
'The system worked very well and we were very pleased by the result' said Denis Byrne, manager at Independent, 'the dealer was able to see the auction through a live video stream and bid against the crowd'.
|
|
|
 |
|
March 2008: Bidsonline releases it's simulcast auction system for car auctions. Car Auctions Sydney, The Motor Auction - Belmore and Independent Motor Auctions have become the first customers to install the simulcast bidding system. They will be running trials over the next few weeks.
The simulcast bidding system designed and developed by Bidsonline broadcasts a live video of the auction and lets country and inter-state dealers bid during an auction. The system also allows dealers to enter their maximum bid before the auction starts - the simulcast bidding system will then bid automatically on their behalf!
|
|
|
 |
|
February 2008: Alliance Motor Auctions installs Carsplus.
Alliance Motor Auctions installed Bidsonline's Carsplus auction and financial system in February. Carsplus is Australia's leading car auction software covering all operational and financial requirements of a car auction:
Hand-held computers are used to inspect cars when they arrive at the auction, to catalogue cars for sale and scan the cars when they leave the auction site.
A photographic booth automatically takes six photographs of a car after it has been prepared for sale and places them on the internet.
The online reporting system, AutoFleet lets leasing and finance companies set reserves and release vehicles for sale.
A fully integrated financial system gives the auction company complete control over it's operation.
Click here to learn more about Bidsonline technology
|
|
|
 |
|
November 2007: LIVE bidding launched.
After 18th months of development Bidsonline launched it's LIVE bidding system for it's internet car auctions. 'When we held a prestige online car auction in 2005 we discovered that bidders were still trying to place bids after the closing time. This meant that the owner of the car missed out on the extra price the car could have made. In a tradional auction the auctioneer continues to accept bids until there are no more - so why shouldn't an internet auction?' said Paul Taylor, director of Bidsonline. 'We then decided to develop the LIVE bidding system.'
Instead of closing at a fixed time, the LIVE bidding starts with Lot 1 and lets bidders bid against each other until there are no more bids. LIVE bidding then moves on to the next lot'.
'It's very quick', said Paul Taylor, 'if you can't be at a computer for the LIVE bidding then you can enter your maximum bid before hand and the system will bid for you.'
'At the end of the auction an email is sent to the winning bidder. We ask you to pay a $500 deposit and the balance when you collect the car. If the car is not as described we will refund your deposit promptly. All cars have reserves, so whilst you are the highest bidder your bid may not be above the reserve in which case we will send you an email inviting you to buy the car at the reserve price. Of course you are under no obligation to buy the car if your bid was below the reserve.'
|
|
|
 |
|
October 2007: Bidsonline moves it's web servers to Global Switch
The latest and greatest data centres! With 2 electricity mains supply, backup power generators and 24/7 security Global Switch's data centre in Ultimo offers one of the best data centres in Sydney. Bidsonline has 2 100Mb internet lines to it's web and database servers at Global Switch and a private ADSL network to it's auction clients.
|
|
|
 |
|
January 2007: Capital Fleet Lease awards Bidsonline contract for ex-lease tender
A new division of Capital Finance, Capital Fleet Lease signed a services agreement with Bidsonline to host their on-line tender of ex-lease vehicles. Whilst only a few vehicles will be placed on the tender, it is expected that this will grow in the next couple of years as Capital Fleet Lease expands it's fleet. 'We are delighted that Capital Fleet Lease has entrusted us with the running of this tender, it's open to the dealers and the public' said Paul Taylor, director of Bidsonline.
|
|
|
 |
|
September 2006: Leaseplan launch online tender
Leaseplan, Australia's leading car leasing company signed a contract with Bidsonline to develop and host their online tender for their end-of-lease cars. A dealer only tender, the system sells over 100 cars a week. 'We are very pleased with the result' said Marti Crane, re-marketing manager with Leaseplan. 'Previously we had tenders faxed to us and we had to load the bids manually to find the winning bidder. We have saved staff time and we are now attracting country and inter-state dealers to the tender'.
'Integrity of the bidding system is very important to Leaseplan who arguably run the best tender in Australia - we are regularly audited by their internal audit team to ensure the integrity and probity of the system' said Paul Taylor, director of Bidsonline.
|
|
|
 |
|
August 2006: Bidsonline rolls out photo booth
Bidsonline completes it's roll out of the photo booth system for Car Auctions Sydney, The Motor Auction Belmore, Independent Motor Auctions and Brisbane Motor Auctions.
The car is driven into the photo bay. The driver enters the stock number into CarsplusPics software and clicks a button. The software tells the cameras in each corner to take a photograph. The driver then opens the bonnet and the driver’s door, returns to the PC and clicks the button again. The software then tells the overhead camera and the camera opposite the driver’s door to take a photograph.
The software retrieves all 6 photographs from the cameras, renames them with the stock number and transfers the photograph to the auctions web site, carnet.com.au, carsales.com.au and drive.com.au
The driver can zoom the cameras in or out from the software for small and large cars or buses.
|
|
|