Did HA mislead you?

[JollyComics]

It was only and one time with Heritage Auction as the seller.

 

I knew I won't make the profit due to Buyer's Preminum but I never knew that they have 15% commission. Someone told me that was no commission and I checked the website to find if they have the seller commission. Nothing was found. Are they hiding something or misleading me?

 

It's only one time selling with them. They make 34.5% total commission per item (combination of Buyer's Preminum and Seller Commission)!

[cousin itt]

You mean they charge 15% ON TOP of the 20% they charge for buyer's premium? Wow... do clink or metro do that?

[chrisco37]

That's pretty much how it's always been. I know they will work with certain consigners to lower that commission (based on the material you give them).

 

Seller pays commission fees to Heritage

Buyer payers Buyer Premium to Heritage

 

It's always been a double dip for them.

[chrisco37]

You mean they charge 15% ON TOP of the 20% they charge for buyer's premium? Wow... do clink or metro do that?

 

Clink and Metro are (basically) a flat 10% commission off the sales price.

 

As a buyer, you still have to pay the shipping and credit card fees.

[ttfitz]

It was only and one time with Heritage Auction as the seller.

 

I knew I won't make the profit due to Buyer's Preminum but I never knew that they have 15% commission. Someone told me that was no commission and I checked the website to find if they have the seller commission. Nothing was found. Are they hiding something or misleading me?

 

It's only one time selling with them. They make 34.5% total commission per item (combination of Buyer's Preminum and Seller Commission)!

 

To be accurate, the total commission paid is 28.9%. Something that sells for $100 has a buyer's premium of 19.5%, for a total cost to the buyer of $119.50. The seller pays a 15% commission on the sales price, so he receives $85. That's a total of $34.50 to Heritage, which is 28.9% of $119.50.

 

Captain Math

 

[Bird]

at HA seller's fees are negotiable from what I understand. $20K consignment I think gets you no seller's fees...I think!

[valiantman]

It was only and one time with Heritage Auction as the seller.

 

I knew I won't make the profit due to Buyer's Preminum but I never knew that they have 15% commission. Someone told me that was no commission and I checked the website to find if they have the seller commission. Nothing was found. Are they hiding something or misleading me?

 

It's only one time selling with them. They make 34.5% total commission per item (combination of Buyer's Preminum and Seller Commission)!

 

To be accurate, the total commission paid is 28.9%. Something that sells for $100 has a buyer's premium of 19.5%, for a total cost to the buyer of $119.50. The seller pays a 15% commission on the sales price, so he receives $85. That's a total of $34.50 to Heritage, which is 28.9% of $119.50.

 

Captain Math

Captain Math,

 

The sale price is $100.

 

When Heritage gets to keep $34.50 for every $100 sale price, they're getting 34.5%.

 

Doctor Math

[namisgr]

It was only and one time with Heritage Auction as the seller.

 

I knew I won't make the profit due to Buyer's Preminum but I never knew that they have 15% commission. Someone told me that was no commission and I checked the website to find if they have the seller commission. Nothing was found. Are they hiding something or misleading me?

 

It's only one time selling with them. They make 34.5% total commission per item (combination of Buyer's Preminum and Seller Commission)!

 

To be accurate, the total commission paid is 28.9%. Something that sells for $100 has a buyer's premium of 19.5%, for a total cost to the buyer of $119.50. The seller pays a 15% commission on the sales price, so he receives $85. That's a total of $34.50 to Heritage, which is 28.9% of $119.50.

 

Captain Math

Captain Math,

 

The sale price is $100.

 

When Heritage gets to keep $34.50 for every $100 sale price, they're getting 34.5%.

 

Doctor Math

 

Except the sale price includes the buyers' premium, and in this case is $119.50. The seller gets 71% of the final sale price.

 

Any way one looks at the numbers, it's a big hit to a seller who doesn't qualify for a discount on the commission. I think it's why their strength lies in auctioning big books and big collections.

[valiantman]

It was only and one time with Heritage Auction as the seller.

 

I knew I won't make the profit due to Buyer's Preminum but I never knew that they have 15% commission. Someone told me that was no commission and I checked the website to find if they have the seller commission. Nothing was found. Are they hiding something or misleading me?

 

It's only one time selling with them. They make 34.5% total commission per item (combination of Buyer's Preminum and Seller Commission)!

 

To be accurate, the total commission paid is 28.9%. Something that sells for $100 has a buyer's premium of 19.5%, for a total cost to the buyer of $119.50. The seller pays a 15% commission on the sales price, so he receives $85. That's a total of $34.50 to Heritage, which is 28.9% of $119.50.

 

Captain Math

Captain Math,

 

The sale price is $100.

 

When Heritage gets to keep $34.50 for every $100 sale price, they're getting 34.5%.

 

Doctor Math

 

Except the sale price includes the buyers' premium, and in this case is $119.50. The seller gets 71% of the final sale price.

 

Any way one looks at the numbers, it's a big hit to a seller who doesn't qualify for a discount on the commission.

 

If the sale price includes the buyer's premium, then the seller receiving only $85 is wrong.

 

The seller should receive 85% of the $119.50... a check for $101.58.

 

The sale price is $100 if there is a 15% commission and a check for $85. Otherwise, the seller is paying 28.9% commission on the sale price.

[comixcroz]

That's pretty much how it's always been. I know they will work with certain consigners to lower that commission (based on the material you give them).

 

Seller pays commission fees to Heritage

Buyer payers Buyer Premium to Heritage

 

It's always been a double dip for them.

 

When a BP is that significant, it's not really the buyer paying the 19.5% in my opinion for two reasons. A) The sales that are reported to GPA or on their website include the BP. So Heritage is presenting the hammer plus BP as the result for the item. If it were truly only buyer paid, meaning the seller isn't negatively affected by the BP in any way. The hammer price would be the final price advertised. B) 19.5.% is a big chunk of change, enough so that if you you want to bid $1000 on an item, in HA you bid $800. Anywhere else you bid $1000. So it doesn't really hurt anyone's ability to buy it just takes money away from the seller. It's simply a marketing strategy to make the 34.5% or 28.9% pill easier to sell to consignors.

[Scrooge]

The seller is not "paying" 28.9% commission but it's essentially what they surrender by going with HA.

 

Assume that the book is "worth" $100, a rational buyer would bid 100 / 1.195 or $83.68. The 15% seller commission on that is $12.55. So the seller receives $71.13 for their $100 book. The buyer's commission (regardless of the name) is something extracted from the value to the seller via the auction process. Calling the buyer's commission a cost to the buyer is nonsensical. In a rational world, it is an additional cost to the seller.

[Scrooge]

So it doesn't really hurt anyone's ability to buy it just takes money away from the seller. It's simply a marketing strategy to make the 34.5% or 28.9% pill easier to sell to consignors.

 

+1. Exactly what I expressed above.

[Artboy99]

That's pretty much how it's always been. I know they will work with certain consigners to lower that commission (based on the material you give them).

 

Seller pays commission fees to Heritage

Buyer payers Buyer Premium to Heritage

 

It's always been a double dip for them.

 

it is way to high, and in my opinion they are pricing themselves out of the market. As a buyer I am going elsewhere.

[valiantman]

The seller is not "paying" 28.9% commission but it's essentially what they surrender by going with HA.

 

Assume that the book is "worth" $100, a rational buyer would bid 100 / 1.195 or $83.68. The 15% seller commission on that is $12.55. So the seller receives $71.13 for their $100 book. The buyer's commission (regardless of the name) is something extracted from the value to the seller via the auction process. Calling the buyer's commission a cost to the buyer is nonsensical. In a rational world, it is an additional cost to the seller.

 

Right --- the "correct" way to look at it is that the buyer is always paying the buyer premium, so they bid what they want to pay TOTAL.

 

Heritage takes the final sale price (including the buyer premium) and immediately takes 16.3% for themselves.

(They take $19.50 of the $119.50 final including buyer premium.)

 

Then Heritage takes the "sale price" of $100 and gets 15% of it as a seller's commission, which is another 12.6% of the total the buyer paid.

 

They're getting 28.9% of every dollar they receive from a buyer.

 

That means the seller isn't getting 85%. They're getting 71%.

 

My earlier arguments were from Heritage's side... the "sale price" is only $100, and Heritage keeps $34.50 of the "sale price", 34.5%.

If you argue it from the buyer's side, there's no buyer's premium at all, they get the book for the price they're willing to pay including the buyer's premium (if you just bid accordingly).

If you argue it from the seller's side, the commission is 28.9%, because they keep 71.1% of the money Heritage receives for their item.

[VintageComics]

That's pretty much how it's always been. I know they will work with certain consigners to lower that commission (based on the material you give them).

 

Seller pays commission fees to Heritage

Buyer payers Buyer Premium to Heritage

 

It's always been a double dip for them.

 

it is way to high, and in my opinion they are pricing themselves out of the market. As a buyer I am going elsewhere.

 

Your price as a buyer isn't affected. Just pay what you want to pay for the item (just factor in the buyer's premium into your bid - they do it automatically for you).

 

I know a lot of people have a beef with Heritage's double dip but it's clearly stated and many big ticket sellers prefer to use Heritage because they spend a lot on infrastructure and advertising.

 

 

[valiantman]

I know a lot of people have a beef with Heritage's double dip but it's clearly stated and many big ticket sellers prefer to use Heritage because they spend a lot on infrastructure and advertising.

 

Since Heritage is essentially taking 28.9%, is there any data that suggests Heritage gets 19% more per item than auction sites which take 10%?

[VintageComics]

Since Heritage is essentially taking 28.9%, is there any data that suggests Heritage gets 19% more per item than auction sites which take 10%?

 

Heritage takes 28.9 percent unless you negotiate a different rate.

 

And their exposure is huge as they deal in something like 20 or 30 different types of collectibles all over the world now. Everything from asteroid pieces, to dinosaur bones to comics to real estate historic artifacts.

 

If you're coming to market with something special and make a new market price with your item (or items) the 19% can be negligible, but that's up to the seller to decide. It's not all black and white.

 

 

 

[valiantman]

Since Heritage is essentially taking 28.9%, is there any data that suggests Heritage gets 19% more per item than auction sites which take 10%?

 

Heritage takes 28.9 percent unless you negotiate a different rate.

 

And their market share is huge as they deal in something like 20 or 30 different types of collectibles now. Everything from asteroid pieces, to dinosaur bones to comics to real estate historic artifacts.

 

If you're coming to market with something special and make a new market price with your item (or items) the 19% can be negligible, but that's up to the seller to decide. It's not all black and white.

Right, but I'm just interested in whether comics that are commonly sold on auction sites are getting a 19% bump at Heritage.

[valiantman]

Just doing the math real quick to make sure I should be asking whether Heritage books (with a net 28.9% cost to the seller) get a 19% bump vs. other auction sites that charge the seller 10%.

 

Seller gets $90 on a $100 item in a 10% auction site.

 

For a seller to get $91 on that same item at Heritage, it needs to sell for $128 including buyer's premium.

 

That means that the "Heritage bump" needs to be 28% to benefit the seller (not 19%), because they need a $100 item (on another auction site) to sell for $128 on Heritage.

 

Sure, a $100 item might sell for $128, but does the average $1,000 item sell for $1,280 at Heritage?

[wombat]

Just doing the math real quick to make sure I should be asking whether Heritage books (with a net 28.9% cost to the seller) get a 19% bump vs. other auction sites that charge the seller 10%.

 

Seller gets $90 on a $100 item in a 10% auction site.

 

For a seller to get $91 on that same item at Heritage, it needs to sell for $128 including buyer's premium.

 

That means that the "Heritage bump" needs to be 28% to benefit the seller (not 19%), because they need a $100 item (on another auction site) to sell for $128 on Heritage.

 

Sure, a $100 item might sell for $128, but does the average $1,000 item sell for $1,280 at Heritage?

 

Certainly a valid question anyone selling on HA should be asking themselves.