eBay has joined hands with Sotheby's, an auction house with 270 years of experience in the auction industry, to launch a new online auction platform - ebay.com/sothebys, bringing art and antiques to 155 million active users.

The platform will start its first auction on April 1, and part of the collection of legendary baseball player Reggie Jackson will also be auctioned.

Online art sales are not new, Sotheby's and Christie's have similar businesses. But by joining hands with eBay, Sotheby's is expected to expand its target customer range and promote sales.

In 2014, the scale of online art and antique transactions was about 3.3 billion euros, accounting for 6% of the global market. Online transaction prices are mainly concentrated in the range of US$1,000 to US$50,000.

In 2014, the transaction volume of online auctions increased by 25% compared with the previous year.

Most Sotheby's auctions in New York will be held simultaneously with the platform, but higher-priced contemporary, modern and impressionist artworks and some special collections are not included. Collectors can view detailed information about the auction items on the platform.

An eBay executive said that people are now more accepting of high-priced online transactions than a few years ago. The platform brings collections that could only be seen at auction sites to more people.