Following eBay’s recent announcement that it will exit the live online auction business, Artfact announced the launch of Artfact Live!, including an online bidding platform and audio/video broadcast services.

Artfact Live! is a next-generation online marketplace connecting the world’s 1,000 leading auction houses with the six million most active collectors and dealers of art, antiques, and fine collectibles.

Artfact Live! integrates RFC Systems, Artfact’s leading auction management software developed over the last 20 years, with its proven live online bidding technology, so that premier auction house partners - such as Artcurial, Charlton Hall, Doyle New York, Eldred’s, Gorringes, Galerie Koller, I.M. Chait, Leslie Hindman, Lyon & Turnbull, Spink, Swann Galleries, Tajan, Weschler’s and others - may offer live online auctions to the Artfact.com and Invaluable.com communities of avid collectors and dealers.

Rod Funston, President of Artfact, creator of its RFC auction management software and long-time IT advisor to the auction house industry said,

eBay demonstrated the potential of a live online bidding platform to auction houses. However, many traditional auction houses are disillusioned with eBay’s lack of focus on their specific needs. For years, quite a few of our top-tier auction house partners have been asking us to help them establish their own global marketplace, engineered to their unique needs. So, in many ways I feel we have been preparing for this day for 20 years.

In the first quarter of 2008, Artfact.com and Invaluable.com listed over 1,000,000 lots for sale at upcoming auctions. Today alone, Artfact lists more than 120,000 such lots to be sold at auction within the next three weeks, with a total estimated value exceeding $500 million.