ARTCAPITAL is a marketplace for art and antiques: paintings, sculpture and collectibles from galleries and private sellers. ANIART built a platform where three sales models coexist — fixed price, auction and private sale — each with its own logic and audience.
Context: e-commerce on the edge of the auction business
ARTCAPITAL is not an ordinary store. Every lot here is unique: a specific work by a specific artist, often with a history and provenance. The sellers are galleries and private collectors; the buyers are people who purchase not "a product" but a value. It's a product at the intersection of e-commerce and an auction house, and the standard mechanics of a "goods-with-stock" catalog simply don't apply.
Three ways to buy one item
The same work can be sold in different ways: listed at a fixed price, put up for auction with bids, or negotiated privately. The platform had to support all three models at once — and do it so the buyer doesn't get confused and the seller gets the most out of every lot.
The challenge: the uniqueness of every lot
In classic e-commerce, goods are mass-produced: there's a card, a stock level, a price. In an art marketplace every lot exists as a single copy, has its own history, and its sales method can change. This required a flexible data model and three different purchase scenarios on top of one catalog.
| Sales model | Mechanics |
|---|---|
| Fixed price | Instant purchase, like classic e-commerce |
| Auction | Bids, a lot timer, notifications to bidders |
| Private sale | An inquiry and agreement outside public bidding |
Approach: a flexible lot model
We started from uniqueness: a lot isn't a catalog position with a stock count, it's a distinct object with its own description, provenance and chosen sales method. Around this model we built the three purchase scenarios and account areas for galleries and private sellers.
- Designed a unique-lot model with description and provenance.
- Implemented three sales methods: fixed price, auction, private sale.
- Added an auction module: bids, lot timers, notifications to participants.
- Created account areas for galleries and private sellers.
- Connected online payments via LiqPay and GA4 analytics.
What we built
Catalog of unique lots
Detailed descriptions, provenance and presentation worthy of art objects.
Auction module
Bids, timers and notifications — full-fledged online bidding.
Private sales
A format for deals outside public bidding.
Seller accounts
Galleries and private sellers manage their collections themselves.
Architecture and technology
The platform runs on a PHP and MySQL stack with online payments via LiqPay and GA4 analytics. At its core is a flexible lot model able to serve fixed price, auction and private sale on top of one catalog, with separate account areas for sellers.
Result
The art market got a digital venue where a collector can buy at a fixed price, fight for a lot at auction or negotiate privately, while galleries and sellers manage their collections on their own. We support and develop the platform after launch.
Planning a marketplace with complex sales logic — auctions, unique items, several deal models? Browse our other projects or get in touch.
