Welcome to Livebid.cz
We are an online auction platform for selling, buying and raising the status of art and historical exhibits. We connect auction houses and commercial and independent institutions with collectors across the country. We facilitate online auctions and create online extensions of real-time auction rooms. With Livebid, you can participate in your chosen hall auction with an internet connection wherever you are.
About us
The first hall auction on the online platform Livebid took place in 2013 and started a rapid growth of interest from auction houses and collectors themselves. We currently focus on the sale of twelve thematically related categories, mainly art, numismatics, antiques and philately. Our services are currently used by over fifty auction houses and twenty thousand active users. In 2021 alone, almost 40,000 lots were sold in 175 auctions on Livebid, including 11,000 works of art, which together totalled more than 285 million crowns, and the numbers are still growing significantly.
We provide services tailored to the needs and requirements of auction houses, institutions and collectors themselves. What can we offer you?
For auction houses:
- Comprehensive service for online and live auctions
- Mediation of online auctions
- Real-time connection of hall auctions to the online environment
- Increase active participation in hall auctions
- Expansion of the permanent customer base
- Expert consultations with external experts
- Digitisation of catalogues and creation of auction archives
- Notification of collectors of scheduled auctions
- Detailed reporting of collectors' interest
- Audiovisual recording
For collectors and art lovers:
- A wide selection of works offered by more than fifty auction houses in the Czech Republic
- Wide price range of items
- Ability to watch bids in real time
- Participate in hall auctions anytime, anywhere
- Tracking the price increase of specific works
- Ability to bid across many auction houses through one personal account
- Getting individual alerts according to your own preferences
- Access to the results of hundreds of auctions
Do you represent a gallery, antique shop, numismatics, or have your own art collection? Together we will figure out how best to support your project. Contact us at info@livebid.cz
Guide to basic Livebid functions
Limiting
Whether the auction takes place online or physically in the auction room, limiting or preauctioning simplifies the bidding process for bidders because they can express interest in the work before the auction itself. Before the auction, the bidder can set their own limit (i.e. the maximum amount they are willing to invest in the purchase of the item) for the selected item, which means that they no longer have to actively participate in the auction itself and then just check whether someone else has bid a higher amount for the work. The minimum limit is the starting price of the work and the set limit always remains hidden from other bidders (each bidder can only see his own set limits). If the bids during the live auction for a given item go above the maximum set limit, the highest bid wins. A bidder who has set a lower limit does not win the item, but if they are watching the live auction they can bid and continue to compete with other bidders.
eAuction
An online internet auction or eAuction is an auction carried out without the physical participation of users and takes place only online. It is always launched at a certain time and day and usually starts with the first item in the catalogue. The online auction is based on limiting. A time is set for each item, which is counted down directly on the screen below the auctioned piece so that bidders know how much time is left to bid. As soon as a bidder makes a new bid, the time countdown starts again. If the countdown ends, the lot is knocked off and is won by the bidder who placed the last highest bid. If no bidders bid in the eAuction, the lot is marked as unsold and the next lot follows.
Hall auction from anywhere
The connection of the hall auction with the possibility to participate online is realised by combining a classic hall auction with limiting and an online internet auction. Bidders can register online on the Livebid platform or in person at the physical auction venue. The hall auction process is enhanced by a projection of the currently auctioned item with the current price and basic information about the item. The live auction is conducted by the auctioneer as in a normal English auction. The auctioneer is captured by a camera and microphone, and the image and sound is transmitted live to the bidders on the internet.
Along with the auctioneer, another person (the auctioneer operator connecting the physical auction with the online participants) is present on the floor. When a bid is placed in the hall, the auction operator records the price increase and updates it for the bidders on the Internet. The auctioneers in the room compete for the lot with the online bidders in the same way as if they were all in the room together. Each time a bid is placed on an auctioned item, the countdown time resets and starts from the beginning. Bidding on an item is completed when no bidders have bid by the time the time limit expires. Unlike an internet auction, where there is a precise time per item, in an indoor auction the auctioneer can speed up the bidding and end the item after the third warning. The item is awarded to the highest bidder, whether physically present or online.
The auction bidder is provided by the auction company itself, the auction operator is an employee of Livebid and his services are part of the service package for the combined auction, as is the use of the necessary equipment (camera and microphones).
Other links: Terms of personal data processing and Terms of service
