Watch Sword Art Online Alicization Episode 8

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Long gone are the days when the only way to buy a great piece of art was by raising a paddle at an auction or meeting a dealer in a gallery's back office. Galleries, auction houses, and entrepreneurs have been steadily catering to buyers who crave the convenience (and, for some, the anonymity) of online buying, and there are more opportunities to click and bid in an auction or buy than ever. "There's been a precipitous rise in online bidding," says Nicholas D. Lowry, president of Swann Auction Galleries in New York. "People are more and more used to one-click shopping, and that's what they want."

From Old Master drawings and blue-chip postwar prints to sculptural installations by up-and-coming contemporary artists, collectible art of all kinds is now at your fingertips. But snagging a $10,000 text-based print by Ed Ruscha or a $32,000 balloon sculpture by Jeff Koons with a click is clearly a bolder move than putting a pair of shoes or a sofa in your cart. The value of art is determined by factors that aren't always so easy for collectors—especially less experienced ones—to suss out, from authenticity and condition to rarity and past market performance.

The good news is that it's never been easier to buy art online wisely. The major auction houses have had online bidding platforms for years, but they are all aiming to take a bigger piece of that pie. Last year Christie's ramped up "online-only" auctions, where certain lots are placed exclusively in two-week-long Web auctions, timed to coincide with relevant live auctions at the house. Sotheby's, meanwhile, announced this summer that it would be partnering with eBay to live-stream many of its New York auctions online.

The auction market, in particular, is full of competitors looking to make e-commerce transactions as painless as possible, whether by laptop, phone, or tablet. Several companies now aggregate auction houses under one virtual roof, enabling instant access to collectibles all over the world, from small family-run auction houses to larger metropolitan players.

On that note, take care when it comes to deals that might be too good to be true, cautions Lowry. "If you are buying art online, you should be buying what you like, what you appreciate, and what you think is a good investment. If something is a great bargain, there is probably something wrong with it." That's not to say there aren't deals to be had. Just because there isn't a feeding frenzy over something doesn't mean it's not desirable, and sometimes you can snag lots for below estimate. Some auction houses, like Rago Arts and Auctions in Lambertville, New Jersey, offer occasional "no reserve" sales, meaning that the consignor hasn't set a minimum price, so the opening bid can be quite low.

Like buying anything else of substance, it's crucial to do your due diligence when shopping around for art. "Just like in the off-line world, you wouldn't just walk into a gallery and buy something without first having done some investigating," says Peter Loughrey of Los Angeles Modern Auctions. The better sites have teams of experienced specialists who are easy to access and happy to chat about value, authenticity, artists' careers, or anything else that might come up.

But even if you're buying from a trustworthy source, there are some crucial points to remember. To start, since much of the art you'll come across online is secondary-market material—or "pre-owned"—it's important to know as much as possible about its condition. Often those details are included in the lot or item descriptions. If you need more details, request a condition report or ask to speak with a specialist. Also pay close attention to dimensions. Be sure to pull out your tape measure. Looking at a small image on your screen, it's not always easy to imagine exactly what 91" x 32" looks like. And don't forget to assess all the extra fees before clicking the buy or bid button. In online auctions, the buyer's premium—a fee the auction house charges the buyer—can be anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of the final bid. Shipping and taxes can also jack up the final cost. A drawing with a final bid of $5,000 can quickly cost you $7,000. Finally, always check on a site's return or bid-retraction policy, just in case.

Click for a guide to the top sites for buying art online.

Watch Sword Art Online Alicization Episode 8

Source: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/how-to-buy-art-online-article