Kristina Storey's Blog: Why Traditional Industrial Auctions Are Giving Way to Online Auctions

The industrial marketplace has unhinged itself from traditional auction practices and is now placing itself firmly on the Internet. In other words, buyers can now bid on and purchase industrial equipment, heavy machinery, lab apparatus, test and measurement devices, woodworking tools, and even complete plants at online auctions.

Moreover, their purchases are often as easy as adding their intended purchase to the cart and proceeding to checkout.

E-commerce has given rise to significant benefits for both buyer and seller. Think convenience, availability, competitive prices, and a wider target audience.

Online Auctions Offer Improved Communication Channels

In traditional auctions, buyers had to wait for the exact auction day to know what was up for sale. However, online auctions have made this process far less time-consuming. For example, these sites have established virtual channels for inquiries, along with chat features that are available around the clock.

These improved customer interactions help buyers make informed decisions. That’s because sellers can now answer buyers’ questions promptly on their websites.

Buyers Gain Access to a Wealth of Information

Before the advent of online auctions in the industrial marketplace, buyers had to depend on face-to-face interactions with sales executives. Their alternatives, such as there were, were company brochures and information pamphlets.

Today, however, search engines answer most users’ questions. Aside from the product descriptions offered by online auction sites, consumers can also find manufacturers’ guidelines and even installation guides for most technical equipment online.

Moreover, sellers’ websites now provide online interactions after the sale. For example, customers can leave feedback about how the equipment they purchased is operating. Interested buyers review this information. What’s more, they will shun online sites that offer only poor information or none at all.

What works best are well-written descriptions accompanied by engaging photographs. This is a combination that provides buyers with information about the current status of the equipment they’re interested in. Moreover, it helps them make a more informed purchase.

Additional photos displaying different angles for the machinery can also be helpful for buyers. In this way, buyers who cannot physically assess the equipment can get a better idea of what to expect.

Online Auctions Have Multiple Features

Websites for online auctions provide sellers with various features for relaying an array of information. For example, buyers can learn there when the live auction starts as well as the time remaining before the auction is due to close. They can also find out the amounts of the reserved bid and the starting price.

The information they glean from the website helps to make the whole process go more smoothly for both buyer and seller.

For instance, most buyers at online auctions understand that the duration of an auction forecasts its outcome. The longer an auction takes, for example, the higher the seller’s chances of closing high-value clients. Additionally, this situation also equally increases the seller’s revenue and may well provide more buyer memberships.

The buy-now feature also has an important part to play in the final bid. Customers use this feature as a reference price when placing bids. Likewise, auctioneers correctly assume that the higher the reference price, the higher the winning bid.

The option for auctioneers to select the ending rule also helps to determine the outcome of the bid. For example, in an auction with a hard ending, the auction reaches its maximum bid when the set time has elapsed.

On the other hand, in an online auction with a soft ending, the auction ends when there is a winner for the bid. This method helps to filter out late bidders and limits the number of active participants.

The Demand and Supply Factor Affects Industrial Online Auctions

Sellers can set the pricing of industrial goods to be automated and customized depending on the variations of demand and supply. In this situation, sellers don’t directly determine the final price. That’s because the final price is decided by the highest bidder. Meanwhile, the auctioneer merely facilitates the process.

The reference prices can also vary, depending on the current market valuations of the product. For example, when the supply for a particular item is high and different bids are closing at almost the same price, buyers have more leverage for bargaining.

Finally, when companies in the industrial marketplace upgrade to online auction sites they give themselves a great tool to beat out the competition. In short, with online auctions for industrial equipment, everybody wins.