Probably, many have to deal with a situation when they need to sell something. If we are talking about some wardrobe item or other ordinary things, then you can use the services of one of the stores of the second-hand chain - everything is simple and familiar. Well, what if you need to sell a work of art, for example, a painting inherited by inheritance? For this, there is an auction of paintings. How to use its services, we will try to understand this article.
Factors Affecting a Good Deal
Any sale, and even more so a work of art, requires from the person who produces it, certain knowledge in this area. The amount of revenue will depend on many reasons. Those who have come across this know that the main ones are: to which trading house conducting the auction of paintings the seller turned to, how good a moment he chose, what starting price (estimate) he set, and finally, how many potential buyers participated in This day is in the auction.
First of all, when choosing an auction house, it makes no sense to be guided by the stereotypes developed during the years of Soviet power, that is, try to find one where there would be acquaintances. In this case, their presence or absence will not affect the result of the bidding, because the picture will still be accepted if it is worth it, and the buyers will be not familiar employees, but those who come to the auction.
Nevertheless, preliminary preparation is necessary, but it is different. In order to successfully sell a painting through an auction, it is recommended to contact the intended trading house in advance, approximately 2-3 months before the established bid date. There are several reasons for this.
Preliminary bidding
It is customary for auction organizers to arrange preliminary displays of future lots, and it is very important that the picture intended for sale participate in such an exhibition (so it will draw attention to itself in advance). In addition, a catalog of what will be put up for sale is compiled and printed 1.5-2 months before the auction. Putting a picture or other thing at auction, it should be borne in mind that how attractively it will be presented in the catalog is of great importance for the implementation.
In addition to the photograph of the lot, it is customary to put a brief accompanying article in it, but since there are a lot of things for sale, the auction organizers are not able to pay enough attention to each of them. Therefore, it makes sense to the owner of the lot to provide the administration with a small, but quite informative accompanying material.
Pricing Issues
Before putting a picture up for auction, each owner must clearly determine what the initial price he intends to set. This is one of the most important issues that affects the outcome of an entire case. The most common mistake is its unreasonable overestimation. The fact is that every thing, including the picture, has its market price, and it will probably be known to the potential buyer. If you declare it as a starting one, then further bidding, always going upward, should force the buyer to offer a price higher than the market price. It can just scare him away and the lot will remain unsold.
On the contrary, a somewhat understated estimate can attract buyers who are interested in the best deal.From the experience of bidding it is known: in order to successfully sell a painting at auction, it is recommended that the starting price be set at 20-30% below its market price. In the event that this lot will cause interest among buyers, the result may be the most unexpected. It is very likely that in the competition those who wish to purchase a painting will significantly raise its price.
The Importance of Choosing the Right Point of Sale
When choosing an auction house, the owner of the painting should first of all take into account that each of them has its own specialization and direction. If picturesque canvases are well realized somewhere, this does not mean that porcelain or bronze can be successfully sold there. Thus, the time spent on figuring out the profile of an auction house will not be wasted.
Having become acquainted with the specialization of auction houses and choosing among them the one where the paintings of the category of interest are most successfully sold, the owner of the lot must personally attend the auction and observe how the participants present in the hall behave. This will help to make the right conclusion - is there any point in exhibiting your thing here, or is it worth continuing to search for a more suitable place.
Prestige of a particular auction
When choosing an auction house, it should be borne in mind that in each of them auctions of different levels are held. There are more prestigious ones, held, as a rule, at the height of the business season, and attracting more respectable buyers, and there are less prestigious ones, which are more difficult to sell at, and the final price will be much lower. Of course, we must try to ensure that the thing was accepted at the auction of paintings, where its implementation will bring the greatest profit.
Experienced bidders recommend paying attention to exactly where the bidding is scheduled. It is advisable that they organize there for more than a year, and potential buyers knew this. In extreme cases, if this place is “without experience”, then advertising will help to some extent, but it’s better not to contact it.
Auction house service fee
And one more thing: everyone who intends to put their lot up for auction of paintings is strongly recommended to carefully study the rules and conditions of bidding for this auction house. It should be noted that, in addition to the generally accepted tax levied on the buyer, the administration is given the right to withhold a certain percentage of the value of the item sold. Therefore, before rejoicing in the successful implementation of things and calculating profits, you need to consider that you may have to give 10-30% to the organizers of the auction.
The owner of the lot must take into account one important detail - even if the sale does not take place, you still have to pay for placing a picture or any other thing in the catalog. No matter what the result of the bidding turned out to be, the auction organizers did the work, and their work should be paid. This amount is usually equal to 200 dollars.
Selling paintings on the Internet
However, if you could not sell the work of art through an ordinary auction house, you should not despair, since there is an online auction of paintings in this case, and it is quite possible that it will help to achieve the desired result. This form of trade that appeared only in recent decades allows you to sell, in addition to paintings, all kinds of antiques, books, jewelry, and much more.
Features of online bidding
There are a lot of such resources on the Internet. Despite the fact that each of them has its own specifics and features, in general, they have much in common. As a rule, such a picture shop (online auction) puts up for sale a very significant number of things, among which each potential buyer can find what interests him.
It is characteristic that in the absence of a suitable picture or other thing, it is possible to leave an application for it, in which the requirements will be set out in detail. This is exactly what sellers need.They have the opportunity to get acquainted with the list of applications filed in a particular online store, and put their thing there with the hope of success.
An online auction (painting store) has another undeniable advantage. Having paid a certain amount and placing his thing on the page, the seller, analyzing the statistics of visits, gets the opportunity to gain an idea of the popularity of his lot on this resource. We should not forget that the site administration is interested in the successful sale of the lot and for its part does everything necessary to provide the seller with all the tools for the best presentation and sale of its goods.
