Dear Giovanni,

I fully agree that the experience that you have described here with Catawiki is not encouraging, to say the least.

In regular, real-time auction rooms, the standard practice, as you have noted, is to register bids incrementally (as eBay also does). Occasionally, I have come across real-time auction rooms which will take bids in the manner you have described for Catawiki. Here's an example. I had the experience once of leaving an absentee bid of €200 on an item, thinking that I wouldn't be able to bid in person, but as it unexpectedly turned out, I was able to follow the auction bidding live online later that day. Watching how the bids were going, I saw that the bidding in the room on my item stopped at around €60, but then the auctioneer brought in my absentee bid of €200, and the item jumped in one bound from 60 to 200, and was knocked down to me.

I was angry at the auction room's practice in this respect, and it's directly comparable to Catawiki's, as you've described it. Personally, I consider this dodgy dealing. It certainly does the bidder no favours whatsoever. So, whatever Catawiki's merits may be, and they've been loudly sung on this site by some, this isn't one of them.

Other criticisms of Catawiki apart from this have been posted on the internet by people who've used it. Indeed, in an earlier post on this Forum and in a different context, I advised Forum members to check these criticisms out before dashing into Catawiki's open arms.

I don't think I'll be bothering with Catawiki myself either. Good luck to those who do. Each to their own.

Best wishes,

Alan

Dear Alan,

thank you for understanding my concerns. Again, it has been my mistake technically speaking, but in no way they should “explain” the obvious, i.e. the standard automatic bidding, and not explain what is highly unusual.

And the fact that they did not answer to my accusation confirms that they know that they are not acting in a clear way.

Giovanni

Hi Giovanni, 

some weeks ago I fell into the same trap that you describe. Being used from Ebay to place a high bid in the last seconds, I was shocked to see my bid was valid from the start. Fortunately someone overbid me. 

Also did you know that the bidding time is extended for one minute after each bid to give everyone the chance to outbid you?

It‘s not possible to win auctions by clever bidding like on Ebay. Instead Catawiki seems to draw as much money out of the buyer as they can.

I quite like catawiki, it is like a middle ground between eBay and auctions. I do like anything that puts pressure on the big auction houses, they are way too comfortable as it is, charging fees all over the place. There needs to be a place where people with lots of money but little knowledge can have confidence in what they are buying other than the big auction houses.

Also I have seen at auctions people jumping up their bid purposefully, for example the bidding might be at £500,000 and then someone bids £2,000,000. Perhaps it is supposed to be tactical.

Hi Giovanni. I had exactly the same experience as you. About a year ago I bid on a nice paktong opium pipe. With 30 seconds of the auction to go, I put in my highest bid (£470). The auction ended and I had won. Great! Except I'd won it for £470 and the next highest bid was £110. So instead of winning it for £120 I'd paid £350 more. Not great! I couldn't understand what had happened so I emailed Catawiki and they explained to me that I'd used the "bid directly" function. I replied saying that I didn't know what that was and that it wasn't at all clear on the auction page which bid button did what. I refused to pay. They banned me and still send me a letter every month from a solicitor here in the UK demanding the money. I can't believe they still haven't changed the design of the bid buttons. Here's a screenshot.

James

Dear Shinigami, you are confirming what I said, they are getting money from that trap that they purposely made.

Thegoldentoad, (sorry I feel myself a bit silly in calling people with nicknames, but I don’t know your name) I strongly suggest you to buy what you know, or relay on people which reliability you know.

Catawiki is showing to be mainly interested in making money, more than ebay. What said by Shinigami, that they allow one minute after the last bidding, is a real shame. I think that it should even be loyally punishable. Hammer price is hammer price in ALL the World!! Where in the Hell do exist something like that? Incredible.

Also, what they get from each sale, 12.5 plus 9%, is not far from what is taken by the major Auction houses, and that is really crazy! It is a LOT of money, investing much less of what is invested by the major Auction houses and having everyday sales!

Do you really think that such kind of people could be interested in assuring you a guaranteed purchase? Come on.

Last week, when I did my biddings, my only day that I looked at their auction, I have spotted a couple of things wrongly described.

I can’t show them now being already finish, but I remember for example a couple of late 19^th C. Fujian dishes listed as Ming. A big difference, don’t you think so?

If you buy something from me and I have been wrong in dating it, I will respond of that, and the same does other reliable sellers. Do you think that you could tell Catawiki, after having purchased a wrong piece, that they did make a mistake? I seriously doubt that, because they will tell you that they have experts, and which titles have you to contest them? Of course I am speaking in their place, what I think they will tell you. You may be more expert than their experts, but that is not recognized unless you are a well known one.

Giovanni

Dear James,

I am so sorry for what happened, but you confirm my convincement: they are a scam company! Catawiki, please sue me, I am publicy accusing you to be a scam company.

Shame on you.

Giovanni

To whom think Catawiki is a relaible place, please read this well made investigation:

https://josbertlonnee2.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/catawiki-swindle/

Giovanni

I do agree that the bid directly button needs to be made more clear, also that they do make mistakes in their descriptions. But places such as Bonhams for example make mistakes also to be fair. As you say, it is important as a buyer to have your own knowledge, but there is a market for wealthy people that just want to throw their money at stuff that has been vetted. I haven't actually used catawiki but I like anything new that puts pressure on the big auction houses to charge more reasonable fees (you have to keep in mind auctions charge all other sorts of fees apart from the 25% buyers premium and 10%-15% sellers fees such as image fees, listing, insurance etc, it all adds up to quite a lot, especially on low-middle level items).

Be sure that who has a piece of the level suited for being on sale at Bonhams or Christies will not put it on sale at Catawiki.

They make no pressure at all on the big Auction houses, it is a different market.

But they are asking a really outrageous amount of fees: they do not have the expenses that has the major auction houses, like personnel of higher level, many travels worldwide for the expertise days, printed catalogs, pictures, and so on.

Giovanni

Dear thegoldentoad,

you have a point there. Catawiki is for rich buyers who want to buy with a certain degree of security.  I guess most of the items are correctly described. Catawiki definitely is not for treasure hunters, they better keep with Ebay. Ebay can be fine to make a bargain now and then if you have a bit of knowledge and a clever bidding strategy.

In my opinion, Catawiki would do better if they had a fixed price marketplace like trocadero.com instead of auctions that make nobody really happy. The problem with Trocadero is that there is no control, so there are a lot of fakes offered. Catawiki could make a difference by assessing every article by experts before setting a fixed price.

Dear Giovanni, Shinigami and all,

Yes I think that is the market they are trying to fulfil. Speaking for myself I really like eBay, the only problems I encounter are items arriving smashed to pieces or with damage that wasn't described in the listing from more novice sellers. But with eBay you really can buy treasure by using some discernment. I am in general happy that catawiki is out there, apart from the points already mentioned it also serves as a bit of an insurance policy if my eBay account were to ever encounter issues or if they were to do something like charge a lot more fees. Competition for eBay is good too in my opinion.

I would have to disagree about whether they put pressure on the big auction houses or not. I think that any online venue (eBay especially) that can serve as a cheaper and more convenient platform for selling items puts at least some pressure on them. Prices at Bonhams for example can also be very mediocre compared to on online platforms (see image):

I do think that as we move forward with the internet, places such as Sotheby's, Bonhams and Christie's will have to face more competition which can only be a good thing. If you notice you will see that these auctions are starting to have a fair amount of online-type sales. Just imagine what it was like in the past when you pretty much had to go through the big auction houses unless you had a shop.

Best wishes.

Dear Shinigami,

you said that “Catawiki is for rich buyers who want to buy with a certain degree of security”. After reading that, just to be sure I went back to Catawiki to see what is on sale.

I do not know to what you were referring at, but if we are talking about ceramics (I do not comment on what I have no experience, like jade, bronzes, paintings) I have not found a piece which has a value higher than 500 euro. The large majority are quite far from there.

I have only seen one piece which is more valuable, a monochrome blue Qianlong dish. But there is a detail, and is that it is not Qianlong, it is much later.

Also, I have found a lidded b&w ovoid vase that is listed as Guangxu but most probably is Kangxi, which is worst for the seller. I am not really sure, it should be handled or at least have better pictures, but most probably it is Kangxi.

Although very rarely today, good pieces can rather be found on ebay occasionally. And more frequently at the few good sellers there.

For what I have seen, Catawiki is for beginners that are looking for a safe purchase (although as we have seen not always safe). I do not like also the size of the pictures allowed there. Too small!

Giovanni