Live auction fees

[buyatari]

Is it standard for a seller to pay fees for selling an item at live auction. I was under the impression that the buyer paid the fees.

 

I have an item I was considering selling at live auction and was sent a contract to sign.

 

4. COMMISSION. You hereby irrevocably assign to us and shall pay to us pay us a selling commission on each lot of Property sold an amount equal to twenty percent (20%) of the hammer price without deductions or reductions of any kind. You hereby acknowledge and agree that we and/or the venue in which the Property is offered may assess a from third parties a separate, additional buyer’s fee or premium on any lot of the Property sold (the “Buyers Premium”) which Buyer’s Premium is and shall be the sole property of us and/or the venue of sale and expressly not part of the sale proceeds to you. We hereby expressly reserve the right to pay at our sole election a third party a fee or other consideration in connection with introducing property or clients to us or otherwise.

 

So they make TWENTY PERCENT from the seller AND a buyers premium from the buyer?

[WYLDCHYLD]

Yup...although different amounts are for different auction houses, but generally in a live auction both buyer and seller each pay a fee...

 

Ebay just charges the seller, not the buyer...

 

[artcollector9]

Who wants a 20% seller's fee?!

[bocaratondefense]

Buyers fees are generally negotiable and the 20% can be reduced to close to zero for the right consignments. Seller fees are sill a killer though.

 

Auction prices have not been particularly strong in the past year. So after subtracting the buyer fee and the seller fee, the consignor could be left with only a fraction of what he expected to net.

[buyatari]

Who wants a 20% seller's fee?!

 

Hello Adam,

 

There is always a commission paid by the consignor. Our standard commission

is 20%. I hope this helps.

 

Best,

 

Darren Julien

President/CEO

Julien's Auctions

www.juliensauctions.com

 

Just seems crazy high to me.

[comicartcom]

hey man.. 15 to 30% are standard consignment fees for any auction house.

 

Illustration House is relatively cheap at 10%

 

Unless you're letting Heritage sell some top material, with a low reserve.. you aren't getting it any cheaper there either.

 

[artcollector9]

If you are selling 1-2 $500-$1000 item, you can expect to pay 15-20%.

 

If you have 5K or more worth of material, you can pay 10% or even less--I do!

 

NEGOTIATE!

 

 

[buyatari]

If you are selling 1-2 $500-$1000 item, you can expect to pay 15-20%.

 

If you have 5K or more worth of material, you can pay 10% or even less--I do!

 

NEGOTIATE!

 

 

They set the estimate at 1-2k but said it could go as high as 8. sigh...

[artcollector9]

20% is too high for sure.

 

Call Heritage and ask for 10%.

[buyatari]

I might have to go with someone else. It is a rock and roll item not comic OA. Heritage doesn't have a rock n roll auction till next summer and Juliens is having one in the next couple of months.

 

The other thing that bother me is that Juliens wouldn't agree to a 1500 reserve which is what I paid in 1996 but Heritage seemed fine with it.

[AKA Rick]

With Heritage, how is it possible to negotiate the commission you pay as the buyer? Is it something you set up before bidding on any item so a reduced commission follows you as a bidder on any merchandise? I'd be interested to know how it's arranged. I factor in the buyer's premium (commission) on everything I purchase (just like I factor in taxes and S&H fees) as my "All In" out of pocket expense. It would help me as the buyer (and the seller as well, having another active bidder interested in their item) to get a lower commission so my bid is higher reflective of my "all in" tollerance. THANKS for the ADVICE !!!

[Bronty]

If you're the buyer I assume you're screwed... you really have no leverage. I would assume the reason you can negotiate away the seller's commission on say a 50k piece is because if you consign elsewhere else the house loses the 10k buyer's commission.

[artcollector9]

Seller's commission is negotiable depending on factors such as value and desirability of the item.

 

You have more leverage at 50K than 5K.

 

The buyer's commission is always fixed...the same for every buyer.

[Bronty]

With Heritage, how is it possible to negotiate the commission you pay as the buyer? Is it something you set up before bidding on any item so a reduced commission follows you as a bidder on any merchandise? I'd be interested to know how it's arranged. I factor in the buyer's premium (commission) on everything I purchase (just like I factor in taxes and S&H fees) as my "All In" out of pocket expense. It would help me as the buyer (and the seller as well, having another active bidder interested in their item) to get a lower commission so my bid is higher reflective of my "all in" tollerance. THANKS for the ADVICE !!!

 

I'm not someone that buys on heritage often (twice in my life) but on my most recent purchase I even got a coupon specifically reducing my seller's commission to 10% should I decide to resell the item with Heritage in the future. Didn't even have to ask for it or negotiate and this was an item of only moderate value [by Heritage's standards anyways, not mine ]. So I am sure you wouldn't even have to consign that crazy an amount of material to get the seller's commission waived altogether.

[comicartcom]

 

I'm not someone that buys on heritage often (twice in my life) but on my most recent purchase I even got a coupon specifically reducing my seller's commission to 10% should I decide to resell the item with Heritage in the future. Didn't even have to ask for it or negotiate and this was an item of only moderate value [by Heritage's standards anyways, not mine ]. So I am sure you wouldn't even have to consign that crazy an amount of material to get the seller's commission waived altogether.

 

Bronty

 

they only offer this service in the signature auctions (generally) or on more expensive items. The philosophy is they already made money on it once.. and it keeps buyers coming back. On consignments, they used to happily take your collection with no fee in the days when they were trying to capture the market. Now they are far less needing of consignments and there is little reason to accept no seller's fee situations unless they're getting really remarkable stuff. Also, the corporate heads have made other determinations recently (I can't talk about them due to confidentiality) that have mostly eliminated the ability to get waived fees.

 

If you want to consign an Action #1 -100.. you can get the fees waived I have no doubt.. in return for lowered reserves. It's give and take.

 

But if you want to consign Spiderman #50-200 in less than 9.0, I don't think you're going to get your fees waived no matter what the reserves

 

Rich

[bocaratondefense]

Now they are far less needing of consignments and there is little reason to accept no seller's fee situations unless they're getting really remarkable stuff. Also, the corporate heads have made other determinations recently (I can't talk about them due to confidentiality) that have mostly eliminated the ability to get waived fees.

 

Is the new policy the reason why many feel the August auction is very weak compared to previous auctions? Maybe this new policy for not negotiating fees will hurt them in the long run.

 

 

[Bronty]

 

I'm not someone that buys on heritage often (twice in my life) but on my most recent purchase I even got a coupon specifically reducing my seller's commission to 10% should I decide to resell the item with Heritage in the future. Didn't even have to ask for it or negotiate and this was an item of only moderate value [by Heritage's standards anyways, not mine ]. So I am sure you wouldn't even have to consign that crazy an amount of material to get the seller's commission waived altogether.

 

Bronty

 

they only offer this service in the signature auctions (generally) or on more expensive items. The philosophy is they already made money on it once.. and it keeps buyers coming back. On consignments, they used to happily take your collection with no fee in the days when they were trying to capture the market. Now they are far less needing of consignments and there is little reason to accept no seller's fee situations unless they're getting really remarkable stuff. Also, the corporate heads have made other determinations recently (I can't talk about them due to confidentiality) that have mostly eliminated the ability to get waived fees.

 

If you want to consign an Action #1 -100.. you can get the fees waived I have no doubt.. in return for lowered reserves. It's give and take.

 

But if you want to consign Spiderman #50-200 in less than 9.0, I don't think you're going to get your fees waived no matter what the reserves

 

Rich

 

Thanks for your comments Rich!

[comicartcom]

Now they are far less needing of consignments and there is little reason to accept no seller's fee situations unless they're getting really remarkable stuff. Also, the corporate heads have made other determinations recently (I can't talk about them due to confidentiality) that have mostly eliminated the ability to get waived fees.

 

Is the new policy the reason why many feel the August auction is very weak compared to previous auctions? Maybe this new policy for not negotiating fees will hurt them in the long run.

 

 

Maybe the auction is weaker because:

 

#1 Don's collection and others are finished or near finished

#2 fewer people will consign in a down market beacuse they may not get their money back

#3 everything ebbs and flows

 

and you are welcome Bronty.. always a pleasure

Rich