Find The Best Art Auctions Online

Art auctions can be so pretentious, can't they? If you'd rather not deal with the dressing up, the parking, the traveling, the embarrassment of being outbid, or the hype, then art auctions online are your cure-all! It's easy to get started when you know where to look. Obviously, one can bid at auctions on eBay anytime, but live auctions online are a quick and easy method towards owning a new piece of artwork, as an art investment.

Experience the sights and sounds of an art auction online, without ever leaving your home! Hear the auctioneer, place your bids using a credit card and get the best selection of contemporary art for sale. Whether you choose to go through Ebay, Christie's or another site, art auctions online are a great way for beginners to get used to the bidding process - or for busy professionals to quickly snag that perfect painting for sale to compliment their offices.

Art auctions online are gaining widespread popularity because it's easy to browse and buy original art. Some people may enjoy the activity, but others can relax in the comfort of their own home, while joining the bidding war and experiencing the auction from their computer screens. It's a happy medium between going to the art auction house and impersonally phoning in a bid on watercolor art, an oil painting or sculpture, to name a few.

A great place to start bidding is iCollector.com, one of the first trading companies on the internet, with over ten years of experience. This attractive site lists all of eBay's live art auctions online with an easy-to-read calendar of events in North America. You can view catalogs online and sign up to bid in no time at all. Auctioneers at the site will have a computer screen to see your online bids, as you place them.

If you're not sure how to maneuver auctions on eBay, then try a more user-friendly site like iCollector.com for art auctions online. At iCollector, you'll be able to see a comprehensive listing of all the upcoming eBay online auctions. After signing up to bid, you can then view all of the auctions you've decided upon under "my account," while "my agent" searches auctions online for your specific interests, view your items won, or even make consignments and sell fine art yourself!

To begin bidding in art auctions online, one can try a site like Proxibid.com. Browse auction days, times and specialties. Sign up to bid on items from American glass and Boehm King Tuts to Oriental furniture and antique jewelry. Police and government auctions can be found here, which guarantee great deals on art or collectibles! By clicking on the "info" tab next to each auction listing, you'll see auction locations and phone numbers, what sort of commissions you're paying, what the sales tax is, how the item's shipped, when you can preview the collection and bidding instructions. Proxibid, like eBay or iCollector, gives you easy access to hundreds of rare items right from the comfort of your own home. It's a great service for beginners and professionals alike!

World-renowned auctioneer Christie's (Christies.com/LiveBidding/AboutLiveBidding.asp) is another worthwhile place to find an art auction online. The process is easy. You create an account, download bidding software, register for a particular live auction, enter the virtual salesroom and start bidding! Generally, there are multiple live auctions online every single day and bidders may choose from places like Geneva, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris or Amsterdam! Each auction will list the specialization, for example: look for Impressionist and Modern Art in New York City, sporting art, wildlife, dogs in London or sculptures in Amsterdam. When it comes to software, you'll want to download a day before your scheduled auction, be sure your firewalls are temporarily turned off in your computer's control panel and be sure you have a reliable internet connection.

Christie's Live software works best with the Windows OS (or Macs booted up in Windows) and a cable or DSL connection. Working with Christie's is a great way to find and track items, as you can set an online search to notify you when items you're looking for will be appearing in auctions. You can also place absentee bids 24 hours before the sale begins. With businesses in over 43 countries, $3.25 billion in sales within the first six months of 2007, and prices ranging from $200 to $80 million, bidders will have an excellent selection.

Like Christie's, Canadian auctioneer Heffel.com offers live auctions online as well. The easy "browse" menu lets you search auctions by artist (Need an Emily Carr? Paul Peel? Alfred Pellan? No problem!), by subject (such as coastal scene, figure in landscape, abstract, portrait, etc), by category (Canadian or International), and by location (Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver). Since Canadian art is generally undervalued in the marketplace right now, you can find some tremendous deals on masterpieces done by Canadian artists! As the industry grows - which it has every year for the past decade or so - your art investment will be worth more than you paid for it.

Art auctions online may not necessarily save you money, but they will undoubtedly save you time… and time is money, is it not? Fine art can create an ambiance and give your home a personal touch. Turn your home into your own personal art gallery and show it off to your friends! While you can't realistically fly all over the world buying art, it can at least look like you have with a collection purchased from fine art auctions!

Remember what it was like the first time you strolled through the MOMA or Metropolitan Museum of Art? Maybe you were fortunate enough to visit the Louvre in France or The National Gallery in London. The magical feeling one gets while gazing upon works of art, is one that should be captured, taken into the home and appreciated daily. Art auctions online provide easy access to a wide selection of masterpieces for you to cherish, and the art investment can even be passed down to future generations.

Why not find your next treasure at art auctions online? It's a great way for first time bidders to get their feet wet and decide if art collecting will be a lifetime hobby or a passing fancy. Who knows, perhaps you'll be flying to The Louvre in France or The National Gallery in London in the future. Or perhaps you can create your own Museum Of Modern Art in your living room - with walls that will dazzle any guest and perhaps even become long-lasting, high taste gifts for friends and family.