Online Property Auction

Online property auction - they have increasingly attracted consumers’ interest over the past few years, particularly among those who are internet savvy. Today, almost everything can be bid for online - from old books, ornaments and cosmetics to second-hand furniture.

According to website operators, who are mainly banks and real estate brokers, online house auctions offer an interesting channel as it provides users with considerable convenience.

Pornpipat Ratrimchong, vice-president of the property brokerage firm Harrison Plc, said that an online property auction offered a more convenient channel for prospective home-buyers who did not want to physically go to an auction house. They can do extensive research and either shop online ir bid via the internet.

However, although online auctions have flourished in the United States and other developed countries, they have yet to catch on in Thailand, Mr Pornipat said.

“Though a portal can help cut some traditional processes and the need to travel, many prospective biddders are still unfamiliar with it and prefer the traditional way of face-to-face bidding,” he said.

The company holds convential property auctions twice a month, mainly by joining with banks. Last November, it held the first online auction with the back-office system provided by the e-commerce specialist company Biz-Dimension.

The first lot of products consisted of 30 second-hand condominium units with prices ranging from two to ten million baht…

Registered bidders were allowed to take a look at the properties for the whole of November. On the 30th, they were required to send in their bids for the units they were interested in.The starting bidding prices were set at 70% to 80% of regular prices. There were also some discounted units for which bids started as low as 50% of the prices…

According to Mr Pornipat, only six to seven units were sold in the online auction for a toal of 40 million baht. “The thing that most potential buyers like to negotiate the prices right away after seeing the real sites. They don’t want to wait until the bidding date.”

After a bid is won, the winner must sign the contract within 15 days with a deposit of 5,000 baht for assets priced below 500,000 baht, 10,000 baht for those priced at 500,000 to 1,000,000 and 20,000 baht for those priced 2,000,000 or more. The balance must then be sttled within 30 to 45 days.

“Customers still prefer to walk in and talk with sales staff whom they can ask for whatever information they need rather than sitting behind a computer and checking out the website,” Mr Chalit, head of information and asset statistics of the Government Housing Bank, said.