eBay and Skype can work
Published June 11th, 2006
eBay will undoubtedly be pleased to hear about the recent experiences of Austrian art dealer Alexander Zacke, who has sold antiques on the site since 1998. Zacke is one of the few eBay sellers who have combined their auctions with the free Internet telephone service Skype, which eBay bought last summer for $2.6 billion. In February, Zacke listed his Skype user name on an auction of 120 pieces of rare Chinese art, and invited potential bidders to call and talk to a Mandarin-speaking art expert. Suddenly, his remote, impersonal digital store carried the promise of a warm human voice. Those who spoke to the expert on average bid higher than those who did not, and the entire collection sold for $150,000, close to Zacke’s eBay record for Asian art. “It’s the sort of service that won’t necessarily help you sell simple $10 items, but can really help with high-end, complicated sales,” he says.
