Date: Fri 08-May-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAB

Quick Words:

Hammer-Cyber

Full Text:

Ehammer-Cyber Contenders throw their Hats in the Ring

w/2 cuts

BY LAURA BEACH

STAMFORD, CONN. -- Biff! Pow! The Roy Lichtenstein-inspired graphics say it

all. Type in the website address of the newest online auction, eHammer, and up

comes a Pop Art rendition of an auctioneer's gavel exploding into the world of

e-commerce.

Americana dealers Fred Giampietro and James Harley are the latest cyber

contenders. The dealers have developed an online auction that will be active

by July and fully operational by August. eHammer (http://www.ehammer.com) lets

dealers and collectors buy and sell at minimum expense. It also allows

auctioneers to host sales under their own banners at the same site.

Two phenomena have contributed to the recent growth of online antiques

auctions. eBay, the giant online auction service headquartered in San Jose,

Calif., pioneered the auction model, while Chubb's Antiques Roadshow is

stimulating grass-roots interest in collecting.

"E-commerce is the way of the future for many areas of the antiques business.

It's easy and it allows people access to many marketplaces that they otherwise

can't reach," said Giampietro, a New Haven, Conn., dealer who held his first

traditional auction last fall. "I saw how labor intensive it was," he said of

the on-site sale of the Zipkin collection, organized in partnership with

Woodbridge, Conn., dealer Allan Katz.

Giampietro engaged Harley to create web pages for his gallery and for the

Zipkin sale. "Fred kept asking me, `Can't we do this auction online?'" recalls

Harley, a Shaker specialist who has a side business designing computer

software. The owner of Yellow House Antiques in Reading, Vt., has created

websites for individual dealers, the Vermont Antiques Dealers Association

(VADA), and major corporations.

eHammer resembles eBay in its general structure. Both charge the seller a

listing fee, roughly 25 cents to $2, and a percentage of the selling price of

each item, five percent on the first $25 and 2.5 percent above that. Both

services take a credit card number up front from the seller to insure that

auction costs are covered.

eBay has gotten so big and, in the opinion of some, so unwieldy, that for an

additional $9.95 it will list an item at the top of a collecting category. For

a flat fee of $49.95, eBay will display items where every visitor is likely to

see them. eHammer will also offer a "featured category listing" for $8.50.

Each service has roughly 500 categories. On eBay, not all are art and antiques

related. If the seller wishes to illustrate his consignments, eBay requires

that he post his own pictures. This involves scanning equipment and knowledge

of coding. For a fee, eHammer will post photographs for sellers if they wish.

Otherwise, sellers may post photos themselves.

eBay lists each item for a specified three-, five-, or seven-day interval.

eHammer consignors may elect sales of three to 30 days in length. eHammer

sales held under another auctioneer's banner, what the Giampietro-Harley team

calls "single-owner auctions," will be three, five, seven or 14 days.

"The beauty of the concept is that the buyer and the seller have instant

contact. Once the bidder can see the object, he can e-mail the seller. Then

the bidder can make an arrangement to see the object if he wishes," says

Harley.

When bidding closes, the online services have finished their job. It remains

for buyer and seller to work out the details of payment, shipping, and

insurance. Self-policed, eBay allows users to post comments about their

transactions. Disreputable buyers and sellers are soon found out. eHammer

plans to post even more detailed information about abusive customers,

Giampietro says.

eHammer improves on eBay in several ways, its founders say. At the bidder's

request, eHammer will automatically alert buyers when items of personal

interest come up for sale. eHammer will also offer cross-categorization, so

that consignors may list objects in multiple locations; commission-free

classified advertising; and, in the case of single-owner auctions, the option

of viewing material on site at the auctioneer's request.

Another online service, Auction Universe, charges 25 cents per listing and a

flat 2.5 percent of the selling price. Auction Universe maintains 1,000

categories, antiques and collectibles as well as general classified

advertising.

"We are radically different in our distribution model," says Larry Schwartz,

president and chief executive officer of Auction Universe. "We have a have a

national site, Auction Universe (http://www.auctionuniverse.com), then we

partner with local newspapers to create websites that are locally branded to

the newspaper."

Owned by the Times Mirror Company, Auction Universe has so far launched sites

for The Hartford Courant, The Los Angeles Times, The Minneapolis Star Tribune,

The St Louis Post Dispatch, and others. Within a month, the company that

debuted in January expects to unveil sites for 25 specialty publications.

"We believe that larger pieces sell better in local markets. Goods that are

easily transportable by UPS are suitable for the national market. We also

believe that it is very important to have a print component, that's why we

team up with print publications," said Schwartz.

For technical expertise, eHammer turned to T3 Technologies. The Stamford,

Conn., firm will receive royalties for its part in writing the software. "We

went with T3 because we want to be able to change quickly, as the industry

does," says Harley, noting the possibility of eventually taking e-Hammer

public or cross-licensing the product."

A fourth partner is also a possibility. "We've been contacted by a major

newspaper who wants to buy a percentage," Giampietro said in a follow-up

interview. "A deal is likely. It would give us a major push and credibility to

the masses."

Online auctions are not difficult to set up, just expensive. Giampietro and

Harley are investing well into the six figures of their own money to develop

the software, which relies on a powerful search engine, the ability to handle

many bids simultaneously, and the ability to create pages dynamically as

buyers and sellers interact. Ongoing administrative expenses will include

staff salaries for two employees.

"We are targeting a broad international market," says Giampietro, who predicts

that, at least initially, eHammer may be most useful to small-scale consignors

and for smaller specialty auctioneers. "They know that they are going to be

out of business if they don't deal online," says Giampietro. "They are

charging 20 percent on one end, 15 percent on the other. eBay is doing the job

for 2.5 percent." He worries that the Americana market may be the "toughest

nut to crack because of picker mentality. You know -- see, touch, feel."

Auctioneers and dealers who have signed up with eHammer include Behold, the

vintage photography specialist; HC Auctions; RJG Decoys; Cowboy Connection;

America Hurrah; and the The Mill. In July, eHammer will preview its own sale

of stage memorabilia from the collection of Mildred Dunnock. The auction will

start a month later.

So far, online auctions have gotten mixed reviews. "I've looked into eBay, but

I haven't bought," says Eric J. Maffei, an Americana collector who never

misses a Sotheby's or Christie's sale. Maffei, who is editor-in-chief of

Microsoft News and Microsoft Interactive Developer, said online sales lack the

vitality and clarity of live events. "There will have to be a lot of

improvements in the technologies for viewing for me to be interested. I've yet

to see a really good use of technology in the antiques field. Surround video

that would let you walk around a highboy or see a painting under black light

would help."

Washington, D.C., collector Louis Santucci, on the other hand, has found

online sales to be an easy way to buy and sell. "In the last two months I've

listed 70 items and 35 of them have sold. My only caveat is that you have to

be vigilant, conscientious, and organized. You have to follow up with your

buyers, hassle back and forth with the money, ship the goods, and keep good

records."

"At first it's a little confusing," admits Fran Kramer, an upstate New York

collector who bought her first Shaker box online several weeks ago. "But my

overall impression is that it's a good place to buy if you know the material,

what it's worth, and are willing to check listings consistently. It's a

particularly good place to find peripheral people who don't do shows, don't

get the trade papers, but have an eye and pick up a thing or two."

Online auctions are clearly here to stay. Both eHammer and Auction Universe

are well positioned to capture a part of the market that may have grown too

large for one enterprise, eBay, to handle well. While experts predict that

more niche suppliers will emerge offering services to specialized groups,

price competition remains fierce.

"There are still people who want to see and feel and touch the items," says

Santucci. "But online buyers and sellers are a different breed of animal. They

are attracted by low commissions. They want convenience, efficiency, and

speed. They are the man on the street. They are afraid of dealers and

auctioneers. The internet is for the invisible person."

Giampietro, who recently bought a Norton stoneware crock online for $10,100,

and, Harley, who says 60 percent of the Shaker artifacts he sells have been

exposed on his website, are convinced that internet auctions are only in their

infancy.

"My kids and your kids will know Brimfield existed, just like people have

heard of Russell Carrell and the rural flea market. But the reality is that

the market has changed. It will change again, and technology will play a part

in it," says Giampietro.