Sotheby's and eBay Team Up to Auction Historic New York Memorabilia

Online auction giant eBay already sells millions of items to customers all over the world every day, but a new initiative launching today will help them reach a whole new target market. The company is launching a new section of its website in partnership with storied luxury item auction house Sotheby’s that will provide a unique buying option to the global art and collectible community. The section will house a live video stream of Sotheby’s New York art sales to prospective buyers, who can participate in the auctions in real-time online, with items ranging from $1,000 to $50,000. Sotheby’s has done something similar on its own site before, but by partnering with eBay they can reach its 155 million monthly users, which is a huge pool of potential new customers for the auction house. It’s a lucrative pairing for both companies: eBay is currently splitting from PayPal and has seen slowed growth in recent years, and Sotheby’s remains in stiff competition with rival Christie’s, who is investing more money in its Internet-only auctions as of late.