Michael Alighieri
Founder, Bidia
Michael Alighieri founded Bidia, the auction platform behind bidia.ai and behind independent auction houses' own branded websites. Each house sells on its own domain, under its own name, on the same software that runs this marketplace.
Why I built Bidia
It started with eBay. I was doing high-volume, fast-turnover sales, and eBay took about 15% of every sale. By the time everything else was paid, that 15% was eating roughly 30% of my profit, and it came with heavy scrutiny of everything I sold. I'm sure I'm not the only seller who has done that math.
The auction marketplaces weren't much better. Over and over I ran into the same things: customer service that wasn't there, high commissions, my brand blurred into theirs, and very little freedom to control my own branding or go after my own customers. LiveAuctioneers, Bidsquare and others offered auction houses their own pages, but in my experience those pages were poorly branded and came without the back office or analytics an auctioneer needs to actually grow.
I think the internet is breaking into smaller, independent nodes connected by a few central hubs: part centralized, part decentralized. Bidia is built for that. bidia.ai is the hub. Its job is to bring bidders in, and every bidder it brings can find and bid on our houses' lots, so the hub only does well when the houses do. Each auction house is its own node, with its own website, its own name, its own marketing and its own sales. Everyone eats what they catch. That's the balance I think the big platforms never struck.
So I built what I believe is the most complete auction software on the market, and I think this model can be an eBay killer. AI is about to give individual business owners far more independence from big platforms like eBay and LiveAuctioneers. Bidia is how auction houses take that power back.
— Michael Alighieri, Founder
What an auction house gets
Here is what an auction house can do on its own Bidia-powered website today.
Your own website
- Your own domain, with your name, logo and colors. We build it for you.
- Every lot gets its own page that Google can index, with sitemaps and rich search data.
- Your old web addresses redirect to the new site.
- A blog, FAQ and glossary under your brand.
Every way to sell
- Timed auctions where lots close one after another, and the clock extends when late bids come in.
- Live video auctions: a fast “spotlight” style, or a traditional sale run from a clerk console with floor and phone bids. Rehearse first with a practice sale.
- Absentee and maximum bids, with automatic proxy bidding.
- Reserve prices, with time to accept the high bid, pick another bidder, or pass when bidding falls short.
- Buy-it-now private sales with a cart, or send a client an invoice with a pay-now link.
- Estate sale pages with photo galleries, RSVPs and day-of reminders.
Getting paid
- Bidders need a card on file to bid.
- Winners under a limit you set are charged automatically; larger orders pay by bank debit, bank transfer or wire.
- Money goes into your own Stripe account.
- You set the buyer’s premium and sales tax rate for each auction.
- Print every invoice from a sale as one PDF.
- Unpaid buyers get automatic reminders at 24, 48 and 72 hours.
- Refunds, recharging a saved card, and billing a buyer for shipping you arranged, all from your dashboard.
Shipping
- Live carrier rates, insured shipping labels and tracking emails.
- Or offer local pickup instead.
Marketing
- An email campaign builder with templates and scheduling.
- Contact lists and groups, with spreadsheet import and export.
- Automatic emails that bring bidders back (new auctions, closing today, last call, outbid, ending soon, you won), each with its own on/off switch.
- Text alerts and text or picture-message campaigns, once your number is approved by the carriers.
- Store-credit rewards for sign-ups, first bids and referrals.
Back office
- Consignor records, each with their own commission.
- Consignment contracts signed online.
- A consignor sales report showing gross, commission and net.
- Staff logins limited to the parts of the dashboard you choose, with an activity log.
- Fast cataloging: duplicate or relist lots, bulk actions, drag-to-reorder photos, and iPhone photos accepted.
- Contact-form messages and buyer conversations in one inbox.
Knowing what works
- Sale reports: sell-through, hammer totals, bid timing, top bidders and the full bid log.
- How many bids came from your own site and how many from bidia.ai.
- Site analytics: where visitors come from, what devices they use, and who signed up.
The bidia.ai marketplace
- Your lots also appear on bidia.ai, in search, browse and the “Auctions Near You” map, where its shoppers can bid.
- The sale stays yours, and you can switch this off for any auction.
An auction house of our own
Michael also owns Alighieri's Auction House, which sells fine jewelry, luxury watches, designer handbags and estate collections. Alighieri's was the first house to run its own website on Bidia, and it still does. So when you see Alighieri's mentioned on bidia.ai, that is why: it is our own house, not a customer.
Alighieri’s Auction HouseLuxury jewelry & handbagsalighieris.comThe other houses on Bidia
Every other auction house running a site on Bidia is an independent business and a customer, trading under its own name. None of them is part of Alighieri's.
See what launching your own site involves
The name
Michael was not born an Alighieri. The name is a tribute to the poet Dante Alighieri, not a family connection. The story is told on alighieris.com, alongside Michael's full profile.
Talk to us
Running an auction house and thinking about a site of your own? Book a demo, or send a message through our contact page.