eBay delivered another blow to bricks-and-mortar auction houses this week when it was announced that paintings by Damien Hirst were to be sold online by the charity, War Child, set up in 1993 to help children affected by conflict.

The pieces were created by Hirst for the very purpose of bankrolling War Child if it encountered any financial strife. The charity is now facing a deficit and the directors have taken the decision to sell the pieces on eBay.  

Some art commentators have been taken aback by the decision to sell works by respected artists online, especially since the same charity sold another piece by Hirst online last year for £4500 and a few months later sold a similar piece in an Italian auction house for £20,000. Making art available to a wider audience seems insignificant if  there’s a £15,000 drop involved. 

If an independent auction room in Italy can command that kind of sales, why isn’t the charity turning to Sotheby's or Christies to help them raise the money? After all, London is the home of Hirst, it’s rich in Hedge Fund bankers keen to bolster their collections with good art that holds its price and wont be affected by an economic downturn.  

The difference in commission rates could be one reason for the charity turning their back on the auction houses. It seems that the rates – even the special charity commission rates offered by Sotheby's and Christies – pale compared to the low percentage that eBay will take for a charity auction. We won’t even get into the percentage that is lumped onto the sale price that the buyers have to pay…25% in the case of Sotheby's.

Some argue that the marketing expertise flouted by the large auction houses would attract far more buyers than eBay could ever muster and that a dedicated team could have the most important collectors rushing for their Oyster card just by mentioning “Brit Art”. But they forget about the massive amount of forums, blogs and chat rooms dedicated to eBay; an army of marketers working for free. 

It could be that War Child want to open up the art market to everyone, stop the rich from snapping up all of these one-off pieces in dusty, exclusive auction houses and give the global public the opportunity to own a piece of modern fine art. Personally, I think they may have seen the piece by Banksy sold on eBay a few months ago for over £200,000….  

Sometimes auctions speak louder than words.