posted on July 6, 2001 05:33:11 AM
hers a story i saw this A.M , it concerns AW and a new site added to thier search, seems this one is different in the aspect that it will pay a commission to Aw for referals...................................................................................
GoAntiques allies with auction site
By CHRIS GAUTREAU
Advocate business writer
GoAntiques, the burgeoning, Baton Rouge-based online antiques company, said Thursday it had signed on with an auction information Web site.
AuctionWatch.com scans Internet auctions, such as those on eBay.com or Yahoo.com, for specific items.
"They’ve got about 3 million unique customers a month that are going to the site specifically to buy products," said Ken Buhler, chief executive officer of GoAntiques, which links inventories of a network of antiques dealers across the globe. "We hope this drives additional traffic to us."
Buhler said terms of the AuctionWatch alliance was based on shared revenue. GoAntiques will share its commission on a sale when the buyer goes through AuctionWatch.
"We don’t lay out any money unless we make the sale," he said. "They (AuctionWatch) typically don’t do that, but because of the quantity and quality of our inventory, they felt confident they could generate sales."
Buhler, a veteran antiques dealer, raised $3 million in investor financing last year and launched GoAntiques in October.
In February, he bought a similar venture, Antique Networking Inc., in a stock deal valued at $4.5 million and has watched the combined site grow.
Buhler said GoAntiques has 5,000 affiliated dealers and more than $80 million of inventory. The site attracted 800,000 visits, or "hits," last month, he said.
Through the February acquisition, GoAntiques also gained an overseas presence with several dealers in Great Britain.
Buhler said overseas sales have been increasing; GoAntiques has sold products in 10 foreign countries.
Though they haven’t yet bought American items, GoAntiques’ British dealers have sold items to their American counterparts, he said.
"It’s growing tremendously," Buhler said of the site. "We’re doing a second round of financing through the Stanford Group … to continue developing our operations."
Though the site is not yet profitable, Buhler said, that could change as early as March.
"What’s exciting is that we’ve made it through the ‘tech wreck.’ Everybody believes now that it’s only going to grow," he said.
Though he declined to offer specifics, Buhler hinted that more acquisitions are in the works.
