Between sun-baked, triple-digit scorchers and the sky teeming with sleet and 7-degree temperatures, it’s hard for Bill Rackley to forget the days when auctions were the literal definition of rain, sleet, or snow.
This particular story dates many, many years when Dakil Auctioneers, Inc. held an auction in Norman. Equipped with masks and hoods, Rackley, a longtime auctioneer, appraiser, and consultant with Dakil, juggled his duties as auctioneer and personal sleet remover, stopping every 20 minutes to break the ice off his jacket and coveralls.
The days of flirting with hypothermia just to sell products are over. Face-to-face auctions are still going strong — Dakil has the luxury of conducting in-house auctions at their spacious 28,000-square-foot facility — but a movement to online auctions has changed the industry. And we can thank the internet’s growth for that.
“Back in the day, you came, you bought it, and you hauled it. You had to be on site because we didn’t have the electronic technology we do now. It’s phenomenal,” Rackley said.
“Used to be that all you’d do is get the customers in your circle standing right in front of you. Your audience has grown from hundreds to millions with the availability.”
Online auctions are hardly new. In fact, eBay, the most popular website for online auction transactions, recently passed the two-decade threshold as a public company. The shift of brick-and-mortar auction houses incorporating e-commerce into their business plans came last decade.
By the late 2000s, Louis Dakil, who founded Dakil Auctioneers, Inc., with his wife, Susan, knew he had to jump on board with the internet craze. As opposed to some business owners who are resistant to change, Louis was receptive to the upside of online auctions and quickly jumped on board.
“You become a dinosaur if you don’t change with the times,” Louis said.
Time is a precious commodity. With more consumers living in the moment, convenient real-time purchasing power is coveted.
At the advent of the internet, computers crawled when transmitting data. Now you receive information in a split second. Thanks to the growth, businesses such as Dakil were able to expand their footprint.
Dakil now features world-wide live online bidding, specialized customer contact databases, computerized custom auction software, and an informational website.
“It really expanded our business to where we can sell anything in the world right from our facility,” Louis said.
“Right now, we incorporate it with everything we do because we do the best of both worlds. People still want to touch it, feel it, smell it, but it’s increasing with the technology and what you can do.”
That meant a change in marketing, too. A world full of direct mail and newspaper advertising to inform the public has gone digital.
“The internet does things where conventional media and marketing can’t,” Louis said. “If you go worldwide, it may take a month to get a letter to Africa. Through Facebook and other media, I can contact millions of people with the snap of a finger.”
The internet has even made a believer out of old-school auctioneers like Rackley. He sums up the industry as a change from pencil and paper to computers. Rackley, 67, now conducts business on an iPhone.
“Online bidding is a phenomenal thing. You can be in Hawaii, Bangladesh, China, the United Kingdom and click right on this little rascal and buy anything,” said Rackley, pointing to his phone.
Even with the internet explosion, there’s still a market for a traditional live setting. Dakil’s facility includes a 7,000-square-foot auction gallery and customer service center. The gallery can set up 500 bidders and it provides a climate-controlled environment. The amenities cater to bidders who prefer to experience the real thing.
Louis estimated registration for Dakil auctions is a 50-50 split between internet and live bidding. He said the majority of online bidders are under the age of 49, while in-house bidders are 60 and older. It’s about a 50-50 split between the ages of 50 and 60. A smaller percentage of younger buyers attend auctions since the majority handle business online.
“They don’t even need to be at the auction. I know people who do auctions for a living. They will do five to 15 to 25 auctions in one day because they are on different lines where they let the computer bid for them,” Louis said. “We never even see the buyers. Some of our biggest buyers we’ve never even seen personally.”
The communication is strictly verbal. Some buyers won’t even touch the item until it arrives on their doorstep or at their warehouse. They contact a shipper to handle the packaging and delivery.
Dakil auctions now result in purchases that are shipped all over the world. Rackley regularly receives calls from online buyers interested in having their products moved. More recently, an auction held for St. Gregory’s University led to shipments across the state, including schools and universities.
Louis has even seen the internet’s impact on real estate auctions. He believes the multiple listing service (MLS), used by real estate brokers as a database of home listings, is a thing of the past. Why? Instead of interested buyers getting a printout of houses for sale from their real estate agent, it’s easier to pick up your phone and visit a website such as Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, or Trulia to search for your dream home.
“They can punch in an area or a home and everything comes up. It’s right there. You don’t even need to call anybody,” Louis said.
Dakil’s real estate listings include a property description and photos — sometimes dozens of them — to give buyers as many details as possible without having to drive miles and miles to view it.
Since the internet is in almost every aspect of our society, Louis expects the growth to continue. By 2030, he predicts 70 to 90% of sales, even in the auction business, will come online.
“If people are really getting into the industry, they need to look at internet bidding. That’s where it’s going to be in the next five to 10 years,” said Louis, referring to advice he’d give to up-and-coming auctioneers. “I have a situation where people can bring stuff to me. I have the yard and a warehouse. If I was starting again and didn’t have the capital, I would just go online.”
Dakil has tools that make bidding from anywhere — yes, anywhere — possible. We use Proxibid, an online auction service, to list and detail auction items so customers can bid in seconds.
There’s no reason to miss out on an auction. Proxibid allows you to bid on your phone, making the auction process easier than ever. Here’s a refresher on what you need to know about online bidding at Dakil.
The pre-bid process is one of the biggest benefits. Flexibility to view items eliminates the need to drive to a location and inspect the items. The tracking process is more efficient and streamlined. You can “watch” and receive email notifications on items that interest you. The website alerts you when the auction is starting and ending. You can also receive notifications if another customer places a higher bid.
“What the internet brings is immediate exposure where you don’t have to come look at it. We can put it online one week to a month in advance,” Louis said. “Actually, the auctions start immediately when you put it online. They are bidding on it or they can have the computer bid for them with a minimum and a maximum.”
Now that you’re familiar with the growth of online auctions, check out our listings for an auction near you. If you are considering selling items yourself and want to learn more about what Dakil has to offer, contact us today or call directly at (405) 751-6179.
