http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/arts/design/with-ebay-partnership-sothebys-extends-potential-reach-by-145-million.html?ref=technology&_r=0

This is a fairly troubling development, though one that was neither hard to predict nor hard to understand.  The art market has, in fits and starts, lurched towards a mature online presence.  As indicated in the article, Sotheby's is on its second go around with an online auction system after a decade plus retrenchment.  The first big wave of technology that changed the art market was the move from old school transparencies as the gold standard for image and color reproduction when selling art to the gradual acceptance of both digital files and high end inkjet prints.  Both were initially met with extremely fierce resistance, but were eventually accepted due to practicality and demand. 

This is the logical outgrowth of the market, albeit one that is fraught with trouble.  The sale of art is meant, in a general sense, to be a marker of its uniqueness and a certain degree of "specialness", for lack of a better description.  The injection of massive amounts of capital into the process has markedly shifted certain segments of the market towards one that almost mirrors that of a commodity.  It is hard to imagine that an online auction presence won't further devalue the idea of the object as one of singular significance.  Sotheby's will likely make a large amount of money on the system, though the cost for aesthetes will likely be a high one.