Couldn't believe the fee....

Recently, I consigned 77 coins for a client, as part of a consignment for which I paid a flat 7% commission rate to the auction house. His coins brought an average hammer price of $424.50. There were no Paypal or shipping charges, and the coins were on display in three different locations, as well as via catalog and on line. A number of them brought only mediocre prices, while others sold for strong sight-seen or PQ money.

I'm guessing that if a $424 item were sold on Ebay, the fees, including Paypal and postage, would be roughly $35 (or slightly over 8%)?

 

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Works great if you are in area that has regular coin shows, unfortunately that is not usually an option for me. The travel cost for me, to go to a coin show, usually equal to or exceeds the cost associated with using ebay.

 

You will find that e-bay and evil live in sister pay-pal will eat up any and all profits that
You would normally make as a seller i packed up and closed my e-bay store two
Years ago and have not looked back!! i now sell exclusively on e-bid.net after paying
A small one time seller lifetime account fee of $39.95 i can list for free and sell for
Free!! take that sleez-bay!!

 

Appreciated Specificity

Thanks for the general specifics. Without knowing the exact coin details, I also can only generalize, as you have.

A "collection" as you've described would be broken into "lots", having an average size of $2968. There wouldn't be listing fees as I'm allowed 100 free auctions. The initial required bid would be ~$2968. If the auction closed at the initial bid amount (a worst case uncommon scenario) my final fees paid to eBay would be $50, or ~1.7% of gavel price. Shipping fees would be paid by the buyer. PayPal fees would be 3% of forwarded buyers funds. The total fees would be appreciably less than 5%.

If an initial bid amount isn't realized, I've never left my desk, there was no need to negotiate with a third party, the consignor still has their coins, and there are no fees charged for the effort. Many consider the eBay experience refreshing relative to major auction consignment or "follow-up".

I'm not saying that my approach works for, or is suited to all, but it does work equally well for many. The aforedescribed process works without the convoluted hassle/ritual that I, and many associates have personally experienced as a consignor to major auction houses.

Funds are securely exchanged in a matter of days, rather than who knows how or when.

You may take exception to my generalities, as I yours, but I'd venture to bet that there are far more coins exchanged annually through eBay than major auction houses, both in volume and funds.

I may be incorrect, possibly misguided/uninformed, but as yours, the aforementioned are my general experiences.

Respectfully, Rich :bow:

 

The coins I consigned were all sold individually. And as a consignor, I wouldn't want to have my coins sold in group lots - I think that generally tends to result in noticeably lower prices (for other than generic and/or bullion items), which would easily offset the roughly 2% lower fee cited in your example.

Still, I can see how certain coins and sellers would benefit from your option. Thanks for the details.

Please remember, I initially posted, only in response to the "no auction house is ever going to allow you to sell that cheaply" remark. The "no" and "ever" parts were too much for me to let go, without commenting.

 

I trust you'll understand that it's my nature to be the "Devils' advocate", realizing that personal attack is unintended, only mental stimulation intended.

We're generally on the "same page", as I abhor, and have a tendency to challenge absolute false statements, when I optimistically perceive that the receiver has faculties to comprehend. Having said that, I practically realize that some are incorrigible, and the corrective "exercise" is generally frustrating/futile.

Respectfully, Rich :thumb:

 

the addition of sales tax on NYS purchases has ended my Heritage usage.

 

It's odd you say that , because I recently had a conversation with Heritage about that very Subject. I'm sorry to say , that after 34 years of doing business primarily with Heritage, almost from their inception , ( I lived in Dallas ) , I retired my Heritage Bidder button. Now I look for other venues to make my desired purchases, less the buyers premium, sales tax and over priced shipping fee's .

 

Heritage is the only venue I know of for coins that charges sales tax. I let both NYS and Heritage know

 

As a guy who collects mostly dimes but is working on a Morgan set right now, reasonable prices for PL and DMPL coins, after taxes, premiums and fees, just aren't attainable at the major auction houses. I don't know if it's too much competition, but they seem to constantly jump just over what I'd be willing to pay on them... And I'm not even talking about undergraded coins or anything, these coins are just plain ol' PCGS certified MS63's, some with a PL or DMPL designation.

I've had a lot better luck buying directly from dealers at shows and whatnot.

 

Stacks invoices for Sales tax . Any N.Y.S. Auction House's are required by Law to charge Sales Tax . Trust me, you don't want to do the mess a round with Sales Tax Authority.

 

I don't know whom else you deal with, but Stack's charges applicable sales tax, as does Bowers. I have no doubt that certain other firms do, too.

It depends upon where the auctioneer does its business, as well as where the lots are picked up/delivered or shipped. Taxes are (or should be) charged, based on state laws, not the whim of the sellers.

 

Must not know too many venues. Every auction house charges the local sales tax on those items delivered at the auction site, and the appropriate sales tax for lots delivered by mail to bidders in their home state and those states in which they have established a nexus. Heritage used to just be in Texas, then they opened an office in California and later in New York. So now they have to charge sales tax to lots delivered to those states. If you know someone you can trust in a neighboring state you can have the lots delivered there and then there is no sales tax. (I'll leave how you get the lots into your hands from there and how you handle the Use Tax up to you.)

And Mark you can get that 6 - 7% rate because of the size of your consignments. You said that 77 coin example as just part of a consignment, but if they figured them at $400 each that is still over $30,000. And that was just part of the consignment. Most people can't come up with consignments like that. Of course they could turn them over to people like you who can then make up the larger consignments to get the lower rates. But this brings up another point. Your consignor got the lower rate from the auction house, but what about your commission? I won't ask what it was, but I could see the consignors final commission rate still being in the 9% range. (Still better than he could get from the auction house on his own.)

 

Agree completely with Conder. If Heritage opened up locations in other states they would have to collect in those states even if the buyer never dealt with the new office. It is a risk to firms like Heritage to expand outside of one state.

Also, yes, of course the purchaser if s/he was not charged sales tax is legally responsible for paying any Use tax due, which you know EVERYONE does.

Chris

 

that is true, and I stopped buy from Stacks as well

I don't care.... I really could care less.

 

I never get charged sale tax. Even at the Numismatics show at the Waldoff. One guy wanted to charge and I killed the sale. Other than that, when I purchase on line, no sales tax. You know what, Let NY try to enforce the law across state lines. At the show in Ct they don't charge sales tax either.

I just want to be clear...I will not buy from any coin dealer that charges me sales tax.

 

CT is another story. New York is New York . I understand your position though .

 

I also don't go to Restaurants that charge "Service Fees"

 

How True !
Some auction houses have additional insertion fees, cataloge fees, THEN final value fees of 15% or more. And of course, selling to a dealer requires that person to buy low enough to make a profit. eBay is still the lowest cost venue I have seen for selling, or buying.