Going... Going.... Signed
By : Roseanne Gerin
Domestic internet firm Onet.pl and UK online auctioneer QXL signed a conditional million-dollar agreement last Monday allowing QXL to advertise on and link its Polish auction service to the country's most popular portal.
The deal will promote Poland's QXL-operated Allegro auction service (www.allegro.pl or http://aukcje.onet.pl) on Onet.pl's portal (www.onet.pl) to attract more buyers and sellers to the auction site. In return, Onet.pl will receive $1 million from QXL at the end of 12 months if Allegro obtains a certain number of users. The companies did not say how many users Allegro requires before QXL would hand over the $1 million to Onet. The deal is the largest promotion of its kind in Poland, the companies said.
QXL, which operates online sites in eight other European countries, has been in Poland since March. Its headquarters are in Poznan. Unlike the other five Polish online auction sites that offer mainly computer hardware and software, Allegro allows users to bid on a variety of merchandise, including antiques, electronics, household appliances, furniture, collectibles, toys, books, travel-related items and sports equipment.
Allegro permits customer-to-customer and business-to-customer auctions. Participation in the auction is free of charge for both buyers and sellers. So far, Allegro said its site offers more than 11,000 objects with 1,500 new offerings each day. It is the largest of the six internet auction sites that operate in Poland, according to Dorota Ubysz, a Warsaw-based IT analyst for SG Securities (London).
Onet.pl, the subsidiary of computer Polish hardware and software manufacturer Optimus, operates the Onet portal, the country's most popular horizontal portal. According to Onet, its portal is visited regularly by 60% of users and receives 115 million page views a month. However, Ubysz said Onet has "a strong tendency to overestimate its page views."
On Allegro, sellers enter descriptions of their items, the opening prices and the deadlines for the auctions. Buyers place their purchase proposals and when the auctions are closed, both the sellers and buyers receive e-mail messages providing contact information and the agreed-to price.
Ubysz said the deal was good for both companies, but that Allegro needed to improve its service if it expected to get more users. For example, she said the site does not provide photographs of all items as the U.S. online auction site eBay does.
