Swan Hill saleyards: Online auction platform mooted

PRELIMINARY discussions have been held for the introduction of an online auction platform at the Swan Hill saleyards.

PRELIMINARY discussions have been held for the introduction of an online auction platform at the Swan Hill saleyards.

Swan Hill saleyards advisory committee member Leonard Vallance said offsite bidding formed part of the future of saleyards, reducing the travel costs of meat processors, who need to have buyers attend physical auctions.

“For the likes of Swan Hill, which doesn’t yard a lot of cull cattle, it’ll open the opportunity for companies to bid while not on site,” he said.

A Swan Hill council spokeswoman confirmed “it is something that (management) will certainly be looking to in the future and something that the committee had discussed, but nothing is planned at present”.

Mr Vallance said the system could initially be used in store sales, with time allowed for buyers to get used to the system and to iron out any glitches, before it was rolled out to other sales.

“It’ll remove the need for commission buyers too, in time; where a buyer now relies on one person buying for six people, they’ll be able to buy directly.”

Dairy Livestock Services has implemented online bidding at several of its sales in the past few years as a way of broadening competition by allowing people to bid from home.

“It has worked quite well, particularly when there is livestock suited to other regions,” managing director Scott Lord said.

“When there is distance for people to travel we’ve found it a very good tool when we have had sales interstate and we know there is strong interest in people from Victoria.

“By interfacing (the sale) with an online medium it has created greater competition.

“An online platform probably creates even greater opportunity in beef and sheep transactions than dairy, as we find in dairy a lot of purchasers tend to want to view the individual animal as variance in type is an issue.”

Mr Lord said while buyers must be educated on how to use the platforms, there was now a large base of people who understood the technology and were “well versed” at using it.