The followiing recent article by The Economist blew my mind once again. The fact that you are opening your specific piece of art to thousands of bidders at the same time all around the world has profound economic impacts on the auctioneer side as well as on the bidder side. Major auction firms are evaluating the profitability of this option against other concerns such as brand management and psychology of the bidders. It seems like some of them already chose to go online.
Article shows that online auctioning proved to be profitable for Christie's within 1 year. Christie's is probably charging an admission fee for online bidders. In addition, it is selling the items to higher prices because of the differences in the reservation prices of bidders globally. Say, a painting might have a reservation price of ten thousand dollars to a bidder in Russia while it might be only five thousand dollars for a bidder in the United States.
Other important factor is the psychology of bidders in the bidder room. In-room bidders may have a better idea of where the auction is heading and when it might end because of their physical presence in the room.
http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14941237
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