Auction World.tv

Last updated

Auction World.tv
Auction World tv.jpg
History
Launched1 November 2001
Closed19 November 2004

Auction World.tv was a British television channel which auctioned a variety of products by telephone bidding.

Contents

The channel claimed to sell high-quality products at very low prices and promised reliable delivery, however doubt was cast over these claims after investigations reported by papers and television programmes such as the Daily Mirror and Watchdog. These reports led to an investigation by Ofcom who handed the company a £450,000 fine, forcing it under administration and out of business.

History

Auction World.tv sold a variety of household and leisure products, using the television as the way of advertising to/engaging the viewing audience, selling apparently high-quality products with guide prices of up to £20,000.

An auctioneer presenter would describe the product, and then provide a guide price as to how much the item would sell for "on the high street", stating that the guide price was an average of a minimum of three high street retailer prices. There would be a defined number of units of the product available. Both this and the guide price were shown on the TV screen, together with a traffic-light clock normally set at three minutes - but could be stopped by the auctioneer/presenter.

The auction would then start, using a rising format - the price would rise from a minimum start price, normally well below the guide price - this is the auction price. Viewers would bid on the item at a price they choose, which needed to be above the auction price. The auction closes when the auctioneer presenter decides to close it.

Auction World was popular and apparently successful, and began expanding with further channels. AuctionWorld Reserve sold higher guide priced items, and Chase-it.tv used a similar presenter/guide price/clock format, but the price would rise and fall randomly between the guide price and a (supposedly) unknown lower figure. Viewers would therefore pay the price shown on the screen when they dialled, which was not as in the other formats guaranteed to be the price every other viewer paid. However, because of the time delay in transmitting and receiving the viewing signal at home; the channel was often many seconds behind the studio's "real" time. This often meant the price listed on-screen wouldn't necessarily be the price listed in the studio and led to many buyers ending up paying a (usually) higher price than they had expected to.

Auction World itself expanded, particularly selling gemstones in various formats - globes, as well as unset but finished diamonds. Most of these items were sold with a validation certificate.

Downfall

Auction World.tv's downfall came about because of two reasons - the setting and validity of the guide price, and the ability to deliver items in a timely manner. The disappointment for buyers was the ineffectual ability of the regulatory authorities to either take action on complaints, or piece together the scale of the failure of the company to trade honestly or provide what they sold.

Guide price

The High Street locations where the guide price was taken from were never quoted, either during the auction or via any other format. Hence, the viewer was asked to believe Auction World's honesty in creating a guide price. However, buyers questioned this. One example quoted was that of a globe made of precious stones and metals: Auction World were selling this item for £1,280 with no official valuation certificate, whereas a very similar item (slightly larger and classified as being a higher quality) was given an official valuation and a guide price of £930 on bid-up.tv.

Towards the end of Auction World's operations, guide prices got so far "adjusted" that the auctioneer presenters questioned the guide price. Viewers began to question the validation of the guide price, which reduced sales and hence Auction World's cash flow.

Delivery

Delivery time scales were never excellent, but as sales began to fall the company's ability to pay fixed outgoings to channel distributors like BSkyB and NTL were limited, and so delivery time scales to buyers were increased to cover the shortfalls. This created a series of complaints from buyers to both regulatory bodies (i.e. - the ITC and Trading Standards), as well as consumer focused champions (i.e. - BBC Watchdog and the Daily Mirror).[ citation needed ]

Regulation

The ITC, which had previously made claims disputing the quality of Auction World, later merged with several other broadcasting regulators to form Ofcom. During this merger it seems previous claims were disregarded. Considered to be guilty of only minor offences at first, Auction World claimed they would improve their service. It was only once Ofcom had carried out its own investigation that punishments were handed out to the channel.

The investigation led to a variety of consequences:

Closure

Auction World.tv ceased broadcasting in November 2004, as did Auctionworld Reserve and Chase-it.tv. Barnes Trust Media, owners of Teddington Studios, were owed many thousands of pounds in back rent.

Short-lived successor

In April 2005, falling-price auction channel iBuy was created, and launched by Andy Sheldon & Adam Freeman, continuing to 2007. The channel used the same management, production and floor team, products, contacts and channel layout that were almost identical to Auction World. Also, initially, iBuy's production offices & warehouse, were the very same ones at Teddington, in which were used by Auction World.

Notable former presenters

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Digital</span> Former British subscription-based digital terrestrial TV service

ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners of two franchises of the ITV network. Starting as ONdigital in 1998, the service was re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auction</span> Process of offering goods or services up for bids

An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exist and are described in the section about different types. The branch of economic theory dealing with auction types and participants' behavior in auctions is called auction theory.

<i>Bargain Hunt</i> British television series

Bargain Hunt is a British television programme in which two pairs of contestants are challenged to buy antiques from shops or a fair and then sell them in an auction for a profit. It has aired on BBC One since 13 March 2000 in a daytime version, and from 22 August 2002 to 13 November 2004 in a primetime version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GMTV</span> Former UK breakfast television franchisee

GMTV, now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online auction</span> Auction held over the internet

An online auction is an auction held over the internet and accessed by internet connected devices. Similar to in-person auctions, online auctions come in a variety of types, with different bidding and selling rules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English auction</span> Type of dynamic auction

An English auction is an open-outcry ascending dynamic auction. It proceeds as follows.

<i>Watchdog</i> (TV programme) British TV series or program

Watchdog was a British consumer investigative journalism programme, broadcast on BBC One from 1985 to 2019. The programme focused on investigating complaints and concerns made by viewers and consumers over problematic experiences with traders, retailers and other companies around the UK, over customer services, products, security, and possible fraudulent/criminal behaviour. Since it first began, the programme had achieved great success in changing the awareness consumers have of their purchasing rights, as well as pushing forward for changes in company policies and consumer laws, and in some cases helping to close down businesses whose practices have left many people dissatisfied and out of pocket. The show's longstanding slogan was "the programme you cannot afford to miss".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price Drop</span> Television channel

Price Drop is a British television shopping channel based in the UK, that ran daily live reverse auctions. It was the first reverse auction channel of its kind in the world. The channel was owned by Bid Shopping.

Shop at Bid was a British television shopping channel that ran daily auctions and later fixed price demonstrations. It was the world's first channel of its kind. It launched as Bid-Up.tv. The channel was owned by Bid Shopping.

Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom encompasses over 100 television, radio and interactive services broadcast via the United Kingdom's terrestrial television network and receivable with a standard television set. The majority of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services, including the five former analogue channels, are broadcast free-to-air, and a further selection of encrypted pay TV services are also available.

A bidding fee auction, also called a penny auction, is a type of all-pay auction in which all participants must pay a non-refundable fee to place each small incremental bid. The auction is extended each time a new bid is placed, typically by 10 to 20 seconds. Once time expires without a new bid being placed, the last bidder wins the auction and pays the amount of that bid. The auctioneer profits from both the fees charged to place bids and the payment for the winning bid; these combined revenues frequently total more than the value of the item being sold. Empirical evidence suggests that revenues from these auctions exceeds theoretical predictions for rational agents. This has been credited to the sunk cost fallacy. Such auctions are typically held over the Internet, rather than in person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bid Plus</span> Television channel

Bid Plus was a British television shopping channel owned by Bid Shopping. The channel ceased broadcast on 1 July 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Double auction</span>

A double auction is a process of buying and selling goods with multiple sellers and multiple buyers. Potential buyers submit their bids and potential sellers submit their ask prices to the market institution, and then the market institution chooses some price p that clears the market: all the sellers who asked less than p sell and all buyers who bid more than p buy at this price p. Buyers and sellers that bid or ask for exactly p are also included. A common example of a double auction is stock exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auction theory</span> Branch of applied economics regarding the behavior of bidders in auctions

Auction theory is an applied branch of economics which deals with how bidders act in auction markets and researches how the features of auction markets incentivise predictable outcomes. Auction theory is a tool used to inform the design of real-world auctions. Sellers use auction theory to raise higher revenues while allowing buyers to procure at a lower cost. The conference of the price between the buyer and seller is an economic equilibrium. Auction theorists design rules for auctions to address issues which can lead to market failure. The design of these rulesets encourages optimal bidding strategies among a variety of informational settings. The 2020 Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.”

iBuy British home shopping channel

iBuy was a British satellite-based home shopping channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TJC (TV channel)</span> British home shopping channel and retailer

TJC is a British home shopping channel and online retailer specialising in jewellery, home, beauty, fashion, gemstones and other lifestyle accessories. It is one of the main TV shopping channels in the UK. The channel launched on 4 April 2006, and currently broadcasts 24 hours a day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ideal World</span> British free-to-view shopping channel

Ideal World is a British TV shopping channel, broadcasting on Freeview, Satellite, Cable and online, with transactional websites, broadcast from studios in Peterborough.

eBay has experienced controversy, including cases of fraud, its policy requiring sellers to use PayPal, and concerns over forgeries and intellectual property violations in auction items.

The British media company Sky UK has incurred criticism over the years, much of it centred on overcharging, anti-competitive practices, and the business practices and undue political influence of its one-time majority owner News Corporation.

Storage Wars is an American reality television competition series that airs on the A&E network. It initially aired for twelve seasons, from December 1, 2010, to January 30, 2019. A 13th season premiered in April 2021.

References