Dive Brief:

• Auctions at Sotheby’s New York will be streamed on eBay worldwide beginning in the fall, the companies announced Monday.

• The plan is to eventually expand that beyond New York. The two auction companies have tried this before; a 2002 partnership to provide live auctions online ended within a year.

• The move comes amid criticism from an activist shareholder of Sotheby’s that the auction house must improve its online sales strategy. The auction house says that its eBay partnership will do that by attracting new and different customers.

Dive Insight:

There is no doubt that e-commerce has changed in the 12 years that eBay and Sotheby’s last tried a partnership, and both companies say that this time, the time is right.

Fine art sales, for which Sotheby’s is perhaps most famous, have seen very few sales online, but that is already changing slowly. If designed right, this partnership, plus activity by Sotheby’s rival, the more e-commerce savvy Christie's, could change all that.