Farmers who view or bid on livestock in online sales at some marts are set to be hit with a new monthly payment fee from September 1, 2024.
LSL Auctions has confirmed in a notice on its app that it “will introduce a ‘Bid and View Membership’ of €10/month and ‘View Only Membership’ of €5/month”.
The notice confirmed that these fees will apply from September 1, 2024.
In a statement to Agriland, LSL Auctions CEO Brendan Hannigan said:
“LSL is introducing a nominal membership fee of €5/month to ‘View Only’ or €10/month to ‘Bid and View’ commencing on September 1, 2024. Users can pay on a monthly basis for either of the two membership options.”
The membership to LSL allows access to all marts, auctions and sales on the LSL platform.
“Users can pay on a monthly basis for either of the two membership options,” Hannigan added.
“A discounted annual membership of €50 per year (two months free) is available for ‘View Only’, while the annual membership for ‘Bid and View’ is €100 per year (two months free).”
Any membership fees paid now will only take effect from September 1, 2024 according to the company.
The CEO’s statement added: “LSL is committed to all its users and clients and the introduction of the membership will allow LSL to continue to offer the very best service into the future.
“Membership access for all users is required from September 1, 2024. Users may pay their membership on or before September 1, 2024 to ensure uninterrupted access to the LSL live broadcasts and bidding from September 1, 2024.”
The monthly subscription payment to view the live auctions will allow the user access for a period of 30 days.
The CEO statement continued: “LSL was the first innovative online platform for the livestock marts in Ireland introduced in April 2020, during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Since its introduction the audience and bidding on LSL has dramatically increased.
“Due to increasing energy and overhead costs of running and broadcasting on the LSL platform it is now necessary to introduce this membership to ensure the continuing development and services offered on the LSL platform and its sustainability into the future.
“LSL is the only platform in the sector offering a (zero latency) no delay live video broadcast.”
While LSL Auctions is set to introduce the subscription fee, Agriland enquired with other online-bidding platforms to see if they would be making a similar move.
In a statement to Agriland, Jamie Nolan from MartEye confirmed that online bidding platform MartEye “has no plans” to introduce a monthly subscription payment.
Watching marts online
The news of a monthly subscription fee for farmers to both view and bid at livestock marts online will come as a surprise as farmers had enjoyed free access to the service since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The outbreak of Covid-19 resulted in marts across the country having to close to farmers and also saw the introduction of online bidding to marts across the country.
Since then, ringside bidding has returned but the use of online bidding has remained hugely popular at all types of livestock sales as some purchasers prefer purchasing their cattle through the online method.
As well as this, many farmers with livestock to sell opted not to attend the sale and instead view their cattle or sheep being sold online, where they can see the price they have received.