Old 2001 AAC news - Now 450 - 500 auction houses I believe.
eBay Premier has signed up about 250 auction houses to date, who use the site to profile lots from their offline auctions. The alliance with icollector will more than double that number. Registered users of both icollector and eBay can place bids at auction over the internet in real time; a 10 percent buyer's premium will be imposed.
The alliance brings icollector in touch with eBay's 22 million registered users. EBay will also have access to a searchable database containing millions of art prices and thousands of catalogues, available on the icollector site. This means prospective buyers can compare values before they buy. Under the terms of the contract, icollector will also provide training, assistance in cataloguing items, and digital photo guidance to any auction houses that want to use eBay's Live Auctions technology. EBay and icollector will split any revenues from the auctions evenly, which will include an average $1,000 up front fee as well as a percentage of final sales commissions.
