Order auction
Contract auctions or handicraft auctions , depending on the type also service auctions , are usually an internet-based form of award . On appropriate order exchanges, the initiative comes from the buyer instead of the seller or provider. The award procedure used is a reverse auction , in which a maximum price is usually specified and the bids may only be below this value. In contrast to the conventional submission process , the bidders know the amount of the existing bids and can therefore reduce their bids .
procedure
The client enters his requirements in input masks on an order exchange, as well as his maximum price and uploads additional documents. The service providers then submit their bids. Then the client can partially (depending on the award procedure) decide which contractor he would like to select or the cheapest contractor will automatically be awarded the contract. This is where the characteristic features of the auction and the invitation to tender are mixed . After a successfully completed transaction, both contracting parties are mutually valued.
Advantages of order exchanges
The bundling of order data within the order exchanges reduces transaction costs for both the contractor and the client. Because a lengthy search for service providers or orders is no longer necessary. In addition, the consolidation of the order data increases the competitive situation and thus ensures a transparent pricing process for clients and contractors. Since both the client and the contractor only establish contact via an order exchange, the necessary contacts are massively reduced. In addition, the contractors no longer have to submit unnecessary offers if, for example, the price expectations of the client deviate significantly from the realistic costs for the order. The corresponding advantages are realized taking into account the network effects , so they can only be realized with a high number of users in the respective order exchanges.
Since services are usually only paid after the service has been performed, an escrow service is not necessary as is the case with ebay and the risk from a financial point of view is therefore lower than when shopping on the Internet.
Criticism of order exchanges
Since the cheapest provider always wins on some service auction sites, this is often heavily criticized by service providers. Some of the service providers say that the prices are falling so far that this can only be explained with the hope of receiving follow-up orders. On the other hand, prior price agreements between the client and the contractor could also be an explanation. Both agree on a price before the end of the offer period and the contractor offers extremely low prices in order to lower the fees to the provider for the contractor and also to receive the contract due to the procurement process. Some providers have already reacted to this fact and no longer charge any commission on the auctioned works. In addition, the argument of undeclared work in the field of order exchanges is often cited as a point of criticism. However, most websites of this type require registration with a trade license, and the market leaders now charge a monthly fee for all service providers, which means the end of private casual workers.
Situation in Germany
The first online auction house for handicrafts and services in Germany to go online with this business concept was Yellout in April 2000 (insolvent 2001). Undertool followed in October 2003, smartorder, LetsWorkIt, Jobdoo and blauarbeit in 2004. My-Hammer followed suit in May 2005 with great financial outlay. My-Hammer is the market leader among the auction exchanges for crafts and services, followed by Blauarbeit, PROFIS (discontinued February 14, 2008), Quotatis (formerly LetsWorkIt), WORK5 and Jobdoo (as of August 2007). Reason for this may u. a. be the advertising appearance of My-Hammer on German television. However, this also shows how high the potential of this type of auction is assessed by the companies involved.
There have been several changes in the majority holdings of the leading companies and the corresponding managements of the companies. This can be interpreted as an interest of the capital market in this business model. In spring 2006 it became known that the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group (Handelsblatt, Wirtschaftswoche etc.) had acquired a 31.25% stake in My-Hammer. The French market leader Quotatis has completely taken over the company Letsworkit and plans to serve the European market with its portals in this segment. Likewise, in March 2007, the Yellow Pages Verlag - Euro Serve Media invested in blauarbeit with a seven-digit investment in order to accelerate strategic growth in this booming market. The US online marketplace HomeAdvisor, a subsidiary of the US group IAC, took over all shares in Holtzbrinck Digital, the previous majority owner of MyHammer, as well as from Rocket fund Global Founders Capital in 2016.
Situation in Austria
The market in Austria only seems to have developed since 2007. In Austria there was an Austrian provider since the beginning of 2007 who operated the domain www.edagobert.com under the name edagobert until at least December 2014. In addition, the auction numbers at www.my-hammer.at have been developing dynamically since the beginning of 2008. In addition, from June 2008 until at least November 2010 there was another provider called Internet Tender & Auction Service who offered order auctions on its domain www.i-tas.at in addition to normal auctions and a social network.
Situation in Switzerland
In Switzerland, the idea was first picked up in 2003 by the jobwin.ch platform, which is still online but no longer has any noteworthy activities. The platform my-works.ch, which has since been discontinued, followed in 2005.
The renovero.ch platform was launched in April 2007, with the range of services being limited to the trades and, according to the company, adapting the offer options and awarding modalities to the framework conditions of the Swiss market. Renovero is now part of the Tamedia group .
At the end of 2007 the platform gango.ch started which, according to its own description, offers a geo-localized, global market place for local services.
Another provider is Expertado.ch, which, according to its own information, has been offering all services and handicrafts for tendering since 2007. In fact, almost all published orders belong to the categories of craft, relocation or cleaning.
With ofri.ch, a new tendering platform was launched in 2009 that, like its competitors, focuses on the areas of craft, moving and cleaning.
The provider bobit.ch also started again in 2009. Here, too, a platform for tenders is offered for various craft and service categories.
Another platform was launched in 2011 with swissoffer.ch. It differs from the other platforms in that the number of providers is limited so that the price war is kept within limits. The platform is active in the service sector as well as in the craft sector.
See also
Web links
- Stiftung Warentest : Online auction: Craftsmen under the hammer test, 10/2005
Individual evidence
- ↑ Clemens von Frentz: burst financing round: Yellout . In: Manager Magazin , October 5, 2001. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
- ↑ UnderTool.de - Probably the 1st artisan auction house celebrates its 4th anniversary , UnderTool.de. October 3, 2007. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
- ↑ https://www.gruenderszene.de/allgemein/myhammer-verkauf-exit?interstitial (accessed July 10, 2020); https://www.vc-magazin.de/blog/2016/10/10/homeadvisor-uebernnahm-myhammer/?pdfex_dl=39925 (accessed July 10, 2020)
- ↑ edagobert.at (via web.archive.org) - Professional craftsmanship and services cheaper | Save up to 40% on craft orders and services! December 19, 2014, accessed August 8, 2019 .
- ↑ http://www.i-tas.at/ (via web.archive.org). November 10, 2010, accessed August 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Brands. Tamedia AG, accessed on January 1, 2020 .