Whether you are a bidder looking for the excitement of a "live" auction experience online, or an auctioneer looking to add an Internet bidding component to your real-life auctions, Proxibid may be your answer. And with eBay closing its Live Auctions platform at the end of the year, there may be quite a few buyers and sellers looking for alternative venues.

From Barbi dolls to coins, and real estate to construction equipment, Proxibid plays host to an enormous variety of items, hosting an average of 450 auctions per month. Over 1,100 auction companies host catalogs on Proxibid.com (http://www.proxibid.com), which works as you would expect. Upcoming auctions are showcased in rotation at the top of the home page, and beneath that is a list of auctions in order by date, with the current day's auctions showing first. You can use the drop-down box to filter the auctions by category.

Each auction lists the auction house, date and time of auction, type of auction and geographic location, and a short description. Clicking on a particular auction brings up more information along with the catalog. Clicking on a lot brings up details about the item.

In addition to browsing auctions, visitors may also search for particular items. For example, a search for Fenton glass brought back 29 results from a number of different auctions on different dates. You can then further refine your search by limiting it to auctions in progress.

The auctions listed on the home page each have tabs. One reads, "Now Accepting Bids." If the auction is in progress, the tab will read, "Enter Live Webcast." By entering the live webcast, you'll have a choice of entering as a bidder (click the "Bid Live" button) or as an observer (click the "View Only" button).

I watched several Proxibid-hosted auctions last week - most of the ones I clicked on had an audio-video feed along with the viewing applet. The most entertaining auction was a Theriault's doll auction held on April 18th. Theriault's President Stuart Holbrook was the auctioneer and joked with the on-site bidders as he conducted the sale.

The camerawork was well done, making me feel I was watching the event on TV. It also made me wonder why it's been so long since I've attended a real-life auction!

Conversely, another auction I watched never showed the auctioneer, who was barely audible, and didn't show off the lots to full advantage. In addition, I could hear the cameraman chatting with the handlers in a conversation they may not have realized was being broadcast.

In both cases, it was pretty entertaining, even if you weren't interested in bidding on any items!

Meanwhile, the auction applet showed the bidding progress so I knew the bid price and asking price of the lots in real-time.

I generally don't think of Proxibid as hosting art, antiques and collectibles auctions (it does), which is a branding challenge the company recognizes. Proxibid President Bruce Hoberman said the site has plans to segregate auctions into broad categories, such as real estate, industrial and collectibles, to make it less confusing for visitors. He also said the company's developers are at work on an improved search engine. He called Proxibid a "well kept secret," and said he plans to change that and attract new bidders through marketing and advertising.

Hoberman said he appreciated eBay Live Auctions and embraced competition, as it has driven Proxibid to provide an unparalleled level of customer service. "It takes all of us to promote this new industry," he added.

Auction houses pay Proxibid $375 to host an auction, capped at $750/month. Training is included. The company also charges a Buyers Premium of between 2 - 5 percent, depending on the vertical. (The auction house are free to charge winning bidders a Buyers Premium as well.) Proxibid provides the auction house with a manned call center one hour before, during, and one hour after the auction to handle technology issues bidders may have.

Watching Proxibid live auctions requires Java 5.0 on your computer. I received a "Bidder Application Fails to Launch" message when I went to view a live auction webcast, so I called Proxibid's toll-free number to make sure that was the problem.

I got a representative right away and asked him how I would check to see what version of Java I had. If you click on the Help tab on any page on the Proxibid website and scroll down, there's something in the middle of the page that says, "Java test." If there is a big red X, you don't have the right version. I easily upgraded the version of Java on my computer, and was then able to enter the live auctions with no further problems.

There are other live-auction bidding platforms in addition to Proxibid and eBay. NAAlive.com comes to mind, and both Artfact and LiveAuctioneers, which currently work with eBay Live Auctions, issued statements last week announcing they will launch their own platforms.

If you are itching to put your virtual paddle to use, or if you just want the entertainment of watching some real-life auctions without having to leave the house, I recommend trying out Proxibid.com.