The use of social networking to make auctions more effective.

Background:

If people want to sell their art on an auction or if a young artist wants to find the right buyer for their creation they mostly go to an auction house or a gallery to sell their art. These auction houses and galleries have a broad network of people but it does not mean that they always find the right buyer for the art. That's why sometimes you’re able to do real bargains on an auction.

Online auction houses such as eBay have the same problem. They have some people who are offering products of high quality or high value but they can’t find the right buyer for that piece.

Objective:

The objective is to use social networking to find the right buyer for the product that is offered on the auction. By using the network of the auction houses the seller will be able to target the right buyer.

Central question:

Could Social Networking lead to a more effective way of selling art both online and offline?

Research methodology:

This research can be done on every auction house in the world. The key of this analysis lies, like every social networking analysis, in the attributes you collect. You need to have good connections with an auction house so they are willing to give you the right information you need or maybe collect extra information that is required to do the analysis. You need to show and convince them that this could lead to higher profits for both their clients (the seller) and them (as the auction house).

attributes:

- the kind of art the buyer is interested in (very specific)

- the amount spent on that specific kind of art.

- their connections (within the art and auction world and their preferences)

- their income (to show what they're able to spend)

- their education

- if they're linked to other auction houses

- their age

- the time they spent looking for this kind of art

Conclusion:

It would be interesting for an auction house both online and offline to participate in this study, but the most interesting would be if all the auction houses would collaborate to develop one big database with all the potential buyers so every seller will be able to find the best buyer who offers the best price for their piece. But it will take a long time to achieve this because the information needed to develop this network can be considered as very personal. If an auction house wants to collect this information they will need to show that the buyer will benefit of this.