I Got a Surprise - Heritage Buyer's Fee

I didn't look it up because I thought I knew.
My bad.
On a $4800 bid I thought the Buyer's Fee was 20%.
But it appears to be 30%.

Try as I might, I cannot find the Heritage Buyer's Fee listing anywhere on their site.

 

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search for "Buyer's Premium"
it's on the column on the right .. I can't seem to post the link of the PDF document.
https://www.ha.com/c/contact-us.zx?ref=https%3a%2f%2fmovieposters.ha.com&topicId=35#answer

 

20% is correct. Are you sure the othe 10% isn’t coming from taxes?

This is from HA.

For US Animation Art, Comic, Currency, Movie Posters, Sports Collectibles, US Coin, and World & Ancient
Coin Auction lots the Buyer’s Premium is twenty percent (20%) subject to a minimum of $19 per lot, except
for Sports Collectibles lots which are subject to a minimum of $14 per lot;
• For Wine Auction lots the Buyer’s Premium is twenty-three percent (23%) subject to a minimum of $19 per
lot;

 

Buyers fee is 20%, plus the shipping and handling, plus potentially your states sales tax. If you have to pay sales tax your total fees could reach 30% of the hammer price. Be glad your not in Europe, shipping fees would be higher and there is the 17% vat tax, and you may have to pay customs duties. This could add up to 50%. even if there are no duties you are still looking at close to 40%.

From Heritage website terms and condition of sale (don't know if link will work) OK it works but it downloads a pdf of the terms. Buyers premium is the second section. OK the attached file shows that section, it didn't show up in the preview panel.
https://www.ha.com/c/ref/terms-and-conditions.zx?view=terms&ic2=altresult

 

Boy these auctioneers are truly making a killing without any risk at all.

 

Making a killing? More like making a living. It's simply a fee for a service provided; no different from your dentist or your plumber. Nobody works for free, Robert.

 

I didnt say anything about free. You surely didnt understand what I meant.

 

I understood perfectly what you meant. You feel like their fee is out of line. What math would you use to arrive at a fee structure that you feel is more reasonable?

 

30%, which is not the case here, would be an outlandish fee. 20% still double what a local auction house takes, but you get the pedigree and trust in their expertise, plus a clientele willing to bid spectacularly. Could be worth it.

 

Im not even talking about fees andit doesnt matter how much they charge. You still dont get it. Now get lost.

 

Then what ARE you talking about? This thread is about fees. If you're not talking about fees, then why post about how the auctioneers are making a killing?

Well, well . . . you're quite the class act, Robert.

 

Not with my money, they don't!

 

Right! Which is why nobody should get bent out of shape over auction house fees. We're all free to choose how and where we want to buy and sell coins.

 

There's going to be a cost whenever a coin is bought or sold. If you sell to a dealer, they will offer you less than they'll sell it for because they have to make a profit. At least the auction house is upfront about how much they charge.

Just about the only way to get around this is to sell directly from collector to collector. This is impractical for the vast majority of coin transactions.

 

Oops!
I checked listing again and found the Buyer's Fee to be only 20%.
Somehow I managed to use the wrong numbers the first time.

 

Rather buy in person than to subject myself to exorbitant fees.......But I do understand that certain coins aren't regularly available from 'locals'. If you can stand the price (fee's and all) then all is quite nice. I'm tired of getting 'skunked' by these folks so I haven't bid on anything in a long while.

 

The particular type of coin I'm bidding on has been at the top of my list for several years.
In the past some of the ones I looked at were too high a grade, hence too expensive.
Others were overpriced IMO.
And still others were too low a grade.
And finally there were those that were in DETAILS slabs.

I've been looking for something in the VF range.
Enough details to satisfy me without being too expensive,

 

I take the fee and shipping into account when I bid. doesent everyone???