Case Study: How Charles McCarthy Estate Agents ran an online auction with only 7 days notice with the help of Offr

Charles McCarthy is a respected estate agency operating since 1956 in picturesque West Cork, with a speciality for spectacular coastal properties. On 20 August 2020, they suddenly faced a major problem. An auction of a popular seaside property was scheduled to take place in the local hotel in just a few days. However, the government announced an immediate tightening of COVID restrictions, ruling out gatherings of more than six people. How were they to not let down their buyers, not lose the momentum gained from the extensive marketing campaign, while at the same time ensuring a sale and best price for their client, the vendor?

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The solution was Offr! The Offr process allowed the agent to swiftly move the auction online while maintaining trust with their buyers. The Offr button sat neatly in the bottom right corner of their website. On the day, 6 people were vetted and approved to participate in the online auction. 4 bidders participated, placing 36 bids throughout the 62-minute auction. The first bid was placed 41 seconds into the auction which hit the reserve price, meaning the property was officially on the market to sell. This was a solid strategy by the agent because the property only needed the one bid to sell. Towards the later stages of the auction, bidding continued, which activated the bid extension 14 times, giving everyone plenty of time to place a counter bid. The auction came to an end at 12:02 and contracts were executed immediately via Docusign.

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