CHRIS: This can also include a verification of funds or even using a reserve or an escrow type of model to even participate. There can be a fee that is refundable just to participate in the online auction itself, and then that goes toward the auction purchase price. There can also be a model where the actual buyer, the winner on the eAuction software is going to deposit the funds into an escrow. Then the seller is accountable for making sure that the items are fulfilled properly and that they're meeting the expectations of the buyer.
These are all really standard, generic forms. Then, whenever you get into specific industries, it gets a lot more granular, doesn't it? And I think it would make sense if you wanted to talk about some of those specific scenarios, like jewelry or real estate, for example.
RON: Well, if you think about it, it would be very easy for me, if I was a jeweler, to go get a rating of a diamond. But then I could take that rating certificate, take a picture of it, put it up on the online auction website, and use that for 100 stones, even if those other stones aren't that rating.
So if you think about buying a property, one of the first things you do when you buy a property and your bid is accepted, is put in the earnest money, right? Typically, with that earnest money, you get a window where you can go have your own inspection done. Every single property. That's the way we’ve always done it. And so then the inspector goes out, the inspector comes back and says, “Yep, everything's good.” Great, I buy the house. If it comes back and says, “No, it's not good,” then I've got the option of either backing out of the deal, or I've got the option of going back to the seller and saying, “Hey, the inspection unearthed a bunch of different things here. I'd like you to address those things.” Then it becomes a negotiation, you go back and forth.
For example, in the WordPerfect option there, we buy an entire business that goes out. We bought all of their cubicles, right? Well, maybe it's in a different city and I've got to send a semi-truck to go pick it up, right? A long-haul carrier. But as soon as I win that bid on the eAuction platform, maybe they offer me a three-day window for me to send an inspector out, somebody to inspect all the equipment, count all the equipment and make sure it's all there, and it is in the condition that it was listed it, as a third party set of eyes. And they come back and certify that, yes, it is and maybe even they're the ones that give me an estimate of what it's worth so I can insure that with the carrier.
Those are some of those independent things, specific around an eAuction for jewelry. Maybe you want somebody to be able to—if I buy that diamond from New York here in Texas, maybe I want somebody in New York that I choose to drive over there, see the diamond, assess the diamond, make sure that it is exactly the one that they claim that the rating is for. And then maybe they're the one that takes the diamond to the carrier, then ship it to me, and so they can verify. So, yeah, there has to be some of those very important things.
This last thing we're going to touch on, we're going to move pretty quickly through a bunch of different features for online auction platforms. We'll just talk briefly about each one of them.