Goodman launched Fine Art Bourse (F.A.B.) to target industry leaders with a flat 5% deal to both buyers and sellers as he believes that the industry dominated for over 200 years by a duopoly is ripe for a challenge given the huge charges they levy on their clients, anything from 20% to sellers and 25% to buyers plus a plethora of additional costs.
Indirect sales taxes — as well as copyright and resale royalty charges, both of which directly benefit artists — will also not apply because the hammer will fall on a Hong Kong server.
Goodman says: ''Digital technology has disrupted many industries. Now, it is about to happen again – this time in the artworld. The High street art galleries are on the nose with the artists they represent. The traditional auction industry dominated by a duopoly is vulnerable, their fees spiralling out of control whilst their profits go south - and all this during an unprecedented art market boom. Something has to give. For decades now the traditional auction industry’s costs have risen far quicker than revenues like in many other industries. Auctioneers have understandably raised their charges. However, for a seller today paying up to 50% fees (including buyer's premium) this is ridiculous and simply unsustainable.''
Goodman has 40 years experience in the fine art auctioneering world, in 2011 he sold all his auction houses to management buy outs with the idea to start up a new digital alternative to auctioneering. It took Goodman three years to arse the money,yincorporate the global business structure and most importantly, build the technology for the launch of F.A.B in 2014.
The auction house has been conceived with sustainability and environmentally issues at the heart of the business, ''We have no bricks & mortar or fossil fuel powered trucks and aeroplanes delivering thousands of tons of paper catalogues made from the world's diminishing forests. We outsource our specialists.
We have started a journey to share our discoveries and change the way people do business in the art world,'' explained Goodman.
''Our mission is to democratize the secondary art market. To make more art more accessible to more people. The traditional auction business model is no longer sustainable,'' says Goodman. The auctioneer is a big believer in the digital revolution in the art world, as the world unremittingly grows more dependent on mobile devices, Goodman believes it only makes sense for art to join the ranks of industries disrupted by digital technology.
Goodman believes that in the coming years, the process of buying art online has the potential to grow exponentially with a deeper and more robust secondary art market outcome. With each coming generation, the leap to purchasing art online gets smaller and smaller, with portals like Instagram changing the dialogue by providing a platform for a new generation of younger people to admire influencers, source artists, and purchase art without third-party intervention.
Rather than having the massive cost of immobile human resources providing for hundreds or thousands of full time staff, F.A.B. relies on a small team of financial and database administrators. In addition to this core staff, F.A.B. engages specialists from around the world for specific projects. From consignments to condition reports, FAB outsources the very best people in and outside the industry, providing a highly professional international service to both the seller and the buyer.
The first sale will be held on 11th September, 2017, and will be sure to make waves around the art world as the auction will be exclusively on Erotic, Fetish and Queer art.
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But it's not just Down Under that Goodman is searching for Erotic art, ''We are looking to source erotic art in the UK which has been home to some of the greatest collections of erotic art for years,'' said the auctioneer. Last year, Sotheby's London erotic art sale was a roaring success, and this year, The Tate's Queer British Art 1861-1967 exhibition has been drawing in the crowds.
Watch this space for more exciting things to come from this new online venture!
