Everyone wants a piece of the online auction pie and there are just too many players … failures are bound to happen. As for Auctionata, I am sure this did not help them: struggles may at least partially originate from an investigation by an independent accounting firm into former CEO Alexander Zacke and his wife’s alleged use of pseudonyms to bid in auctions run by Auctionata. Such a practice would breach auction house rules in Germany. I think this breaches rules in many countries.
What really amazes me is that according to the article: Auctionata, for its part, said it will continue auctions for now and assures consignors that merchandise is held in “a warehouse in a separate estate” where they maintain ownership and that any proceeds from forthcoming sales will go into escrow.
The people I feel really bad for are all the employees who lost their jobs. As for Paddle8, can they make a comeback and who is their ‘unnamed’ investor? Guess we will soon find out.
Source: Auctionata Files for Insolvency, Paddle8 to Be Spun Off With Help of Unnamed Investor