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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;satootoko, post: 31794, member: 669&quot;]I suspect that most, if not all, of the people posting to this thread have never participated in an art, furniture, or other commercial auction.&nbsp; I have, many times over several decades.</p><p><br /></p><p>Buyer&#039;s premiums are commonplace at such auctions, and careful buyers determine their maximum bid by discounting for the premium.&nbsp; For example, the auction has a 15% buyer&#039;s premium, and the most I am willing to pay for Lot #X is $200.&nbsp; I divide 200 by 1.15 and get $173.91, so I stop bidding if the price goes over $174.&nbsp; (If there is sales tax to be paid, I discount my top bid for that too, so that any time I am high bidder, I&#039;m paying a price I&#039;m comfortable with.)</p><p><br /></p><p>How you describe the fees Is all window dressing anyhow.&nbsp; Economically it makes no difference whether the auctioneer <ul> <li>charges the seller 25% of the hammer price with no buyer&#039;s fee</li> <li>charges the buyer 25% of the hammer price with no fee to the seller, or</li> <li>charges each one 12.5% or some variation totalling 25%.</li> </ul><p>In each case the auctioneer gets 25¢ on the dollar, the seller gets 75¢ on the dollar, and if the buyer was paying attention, and discounted the bid when there is a buyer&#039;s fee, he/she pays 100¢ on the dollar.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you keep getting outbid when you factor in the charges, it just means that someone else wanted the item more than you did, so get a life.</p><p><br /></p><p>An auction where there are knowledgeable bidders is not a good place to buy for &quot;investment&quot; anyhow.&nbsp; You usually can&#039;t &quot;buy low&quot; when there are others who know the difference between &quot;low&quot; and &quot;high&quot; for the item on the block.</p><p><br /></p><p>When the buyer pays more, it&#039;s because he/she bought the &quot;sizzle&quot; instead of the &quot;meat&quot;.&nbsp; In the grip of auction fever, buyers will sometimes keep bidding as long as the hammer price is in their range, ignoring buyer&#039;s fees, sales tax, and even shipping on large items.&nbsp; That&#039;s just as stupid as ignoring excessive S/H when buying online.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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