Arqana is launching an online bidding platform offering the same guarantees as the physical sales held by the sales agency in Deauville and Saint-Cloud, the company announced Monday.
Arqanaonline.com is being billed as a “secure, user-friendly platform to sell high-profile horses,” according to the French sales company.
The site is accessible online from any PC, laptop or tablet, and there will be no pre-established sales calendar or catalogue, according to the release, which said arqanaonline.com is conceived as a tool to sell one particular horse at a particular moment, whether it be a horse in training, broodmare, stallion or stallion share, allowing buyers a liquidity that a rigid sales calendar does not. Sales will typically take place over a 48-hour period.
Arqana president Eric Hoyeau said that the popularity of the wild card format at recent sales led to the idea.
“Arqanaonline.com is a rather natural extension of our core business, as it preserves the traditional rules of auction sales while taking advantage of the web's potentialities. It is not the first online auction service in the industry but the 'one horse = one sale' principle is new and was inspired to us by the success of the Wild Card system, which has highlighted the importance of timing for certain profiles–horses in training but also broodmares, etc. From a vendor's point of view, this innovative tool has two major advantages: being able to choose the most appropriate moment to sell a horse, and to take advantage of the maximum exposure offered by the combination of an online tool with Arqana's powerful communication network.”
The site will have information including including photos, videos, and extended pedigree for the horses on offer, and, for a period of seven days before the sale, the horse will be available for inspection on the premises where it is kept (racing stable, stud farm), along with its veterinary file which may also be accessed by registered professionals via an online 'vet box'.
“As regards buyers,” Hoyeau said, “Arqanaonline.com will provide them with additional opportunities of which they may not have been aware. And if they are not able to travel to France within the inspection period, they can call upon a local professional to carry out the due diligence on their behalf, while the vet file can be accessed online.”
The bidding platform is accessible by people who have previously registered with Arqana for the sale in question, with a single-use access code allowing them to bid securely and anonymously.
As soon as a potential buyer has placed a bid, he or she will be informed of all overbids in real time, by email and text message. The website guarantees that all bidders are given a minimum of 20 minutes to bid. If a bid is placed 5 minutes before the end of the sale, the closing time is pushed back by 15 minutes for all bidders.
The same conditions of sale apply to the online sales as Arqana's physical sales.
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