University of Glamorgan

The aim of this report is to answer the question if real estate internet auctions have a future. In order to achieve this, the role of internet auctioning in relation to selling and buying real property must be examined. This will be achieved by investigating the emergence and development of the online property auctions in the United Kingdom.
As it is a newly adopted approach, the research will concentrate on the attitudes of the contemporary auctioneers toward the utilization of internet auctions. By investigating various attitudes from auctioneers it will be discovered what major concerns are of internet bidding.
The use of internet auctions will be ascertained by showing some examples from surveying firms who have already adopted this form of sale.
The role of Royal Institutions of Chartered Surveyors will be established by introducing their newly added provisions on internet auctions in Guidance Notes.

The auctions market in the UK faces mammoth upheaval with the advent of internet bidding. At 10 February 1999, Allsop & Co became the first property auction house to bring real time internet bidding to the market at its residential sale (Jenkins 1999a, p.). Since then, internet bidding has become a divisive, perhaps even the definitive, issue facing the industry. ¡®¡¯The elephant has tentatively stepped down from its stool, but it has gone for counselling to overcome its phobia.¡¯¡¯ (Hamson et al. 2000) These years have been testing the success or failure of the auctions world¡¯s ability to come to terms with the mouse. The author will look at how auction houses are embracing this new technology and where the internet auctions are heading for.