Should I Sell My Horse With Equivend During The Coronavirus Crisis?
Welcome to the very first blog from Equivend’s Racing Matters page which is devoted to bringing you news from the industry along with advice and tips on selling your racehorse.
Today we are tackling the question; Should you advertise your racehorse for sale online through the new Equivend platform during the Coronavirus pandemic?
In the UK and Ireland we have always been quite traditional in our approach to buying racehorses. Most believe you need to see a horse in person to get a real feel of what you’re buying. With social distancing measures in place this is going to prove difficult for the foreseeable future.
The new Equivend platform can provide high quality video, detailed pedigree analysis and vet certificates for potential purchases alleviating the need for a physical viewing.
With ever increasing quality of video it’s possible to produce a 360 degree profile of horses in high definition. Add to that a recording of the horse walking and trotting up. You can even upload an endoscopic video to confirm the horse’s laryngeal health!
With room to publish as much information as needed on Equivend, what more can be found out in the flesh?
Let’s look at some of the advantages to buying and selling racehorses online
- Time
- Cost
- Control
- Transparency
- Health
Time
Time is a major factor for our industry at the moment. In the present circumstances, we can’t be sure of when a suitable auction for our racehorses will take place, so you could have to hold onto your horse for a lot longer than expected, running up further costs.
With sales being postponed due to the current crisis, industry leaders have had to rethink the way they do business. Leading European auction houses Arqana and Goffs are planning to host a joint breeze up sale on 29th & 30th June. The plan would be to film the two year olds breezing at Naas Racecourse before selling them in an online auction a couple of days later.
However, this plan relies on the resumption of racing and a slackening of travel restrictions. Most scheduled sales are being pushed back over a month or even more but the need for trainers to make purchases and educate their new horses before the season gets underway in earnest has not changed.
The Equivend platform facilitates selling racehorses 365 days a year and allows vendors and buyers to adapt to the changes in travel restrictions and social distancing far quicker.
Cost
Taking your racehorse to auction can run up significant costs once you factor in travelling expenses, entry fees, and then sales premiums of up to 7.5% on top if your horse sells.
The cost of advertising your horse on Equivend is minimal by comparison. The fee is set up front from £49 for a 3 month listing. There’s no commission or premiums when you sell either.
If you’re a regular seller on Equivend you can subscribe to a Pro account for a small monthly fee and bring the costs down to as little as £29 per ad. Ads can run for as long as needed too, which gives everyone a chance to see what you’re selling.
Control
Equivend can offer you control of the sale. Usually once bidding begins the sale is out of your hands. If you gauge your reserve price wrong and it isn’t met then you’re leaving without a sale and you’re back to square one. And yes you can let the auctioneer sell at a lower price but do you want to rush that decision in the heat of the moment? Maybe the right audience for your horse wasn’t there?
Selling racehorses on Equivend gives you the opportunity to edit your ad as many times as you want. You can drop the price, or add more evidence to justify your price. You can ask us for feedback on how your ad is performing compared to others.
We’ll work with you, letting you take control and achieve the best possible sale.
Transparency
We have no vested interest in the buying or selling of any of the racehorses advertised on our website. Equivend simply provides a place for buying and selling racehorses fair and square.
Health
By trading through Equivend you are reducing unnecessary travel to a large public gathering at the sales. As well as protecting your own health, selling racehorses on Equivend could also benefit your horse’s health.
Not needing to travel to a sale reduces stress for your horse and the chance of cross-infection with so many racehorses going to and from the sales.
After covering the main advantages of using Equivend to sell your racehorse, its time to cover the big question…
Is selling racehorses online rather than through a physical auction actually feasible?
Our counterparts in the southern hemisphere certainly think so. Whilst the sales industry has shuddered to a halt in the UK, Ireland and France, online sales in Australia and New Zealand have thrived.
The online racehorse auction site Gavelhouse.com actually set a new world record for the price paid for a horse at online auction in March. Hasahalo, a Group 1 winner in New Zealand, was purchased for $670,000 (over £340,000) by China Horse Club. You can read more about the success of online auctions on news section of gavelhouse.com
It seems our peers down under are embracing this technology far quicker than us Europeans. New Zealand Bloodstock’s Managing Director, Andrew Seabrook, highlights his faith in online sales saying,“Online bloodstock sales are here to stay so we want to be at the forefront of their progression.”
In the UK and Ireland we’ve taken pride in having a racing industry that has led the way for others around the world. Now’s not the time to get left behind.
If there is anything for racing to gain from the Covid-19 crisis, it’s shown us that we can adapt as an industry to overcome the restraints that it has put on our sales practices.
Look to the future with Equivend.
