Heritage Auction Galleries has just announced a new online feature – HERITAGE Live!TM Budget Bidding – that will afford budget-conscious buyers greater control over their spending while participating via Heritage’s real-time proprietary internet bidding platform. The budget feature activates after Internet bidding for an auction has closed and the HERITAGE Live!TM interface has commenced.
“No matter what level they’re buying at, everyone is conspicuously aware of how much they’re spending and what they’re spending it on,” said Paul Minshull, Chief Operating Officer Heritage. “This will give anyone who wants it a way to set a budget and stick to it.”
The budget function will monitor all the money spent through HERITAGE Live!TM and – depending on the pre-determined auction specific limits – adjusts LiveProxy bids, lowering or cancelling them if it would mean going over budget. As a reminder, on the auction page, there will be a block of information right above the bid buttons showing how much remaining budget a bidder has left.
“We also understand that half the fun is sometimes just simply going for an item no matter the cost. The budget function respects that, too,” said Minshull. “By clicking the live ‘Bid’ button during an auction, you can bid bypass the budget. And, if the bidder changes his mind during the auction about how much he wants to spend, he can adjust the budget at any time.”
The budget feature will come in especially handy to bidders that set a spending limit on a per-auction basis and then place LiveProxy bids – proxy bids that are placed through HERITAGE Live!TM before the lot goes on the block. LiveProxy bids are secret and compete against the floor when the lot comes up for auction. The budget feature will automatically let the bidder win lots up to, but not beyond, their budget.
This feature will go live on the Heritage Auction Galleries Website, www.HA.com/Live.
