Auction House Winning Bid Comission

CNG raised it to 20% for their standard auctions, 22.5% for the premium auctions.

They were my go to with one of the lowest, 18%.

Are all auction houses 20% and above now?

 

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Just my thoughts: As prices seem to be going up to keep in line with inflation, there should be no need for auction houses to increase commission rates.

 

Most auctions are at 20% to the buyer and a lot higher to the seller. At this point I feel any increase is just greed by the auction house or auctioneer.

 

I don't know about other auction houses, but I believe CNG charges 15% for sellers on lots over $100. For very valuable and expensive coins I'm sure the seller fee can be negotiated.

It does seem to be a little excessive at times. 20-25% from the buyer and almost as much from the seller. I understand that a lot of work goes into photographing and describing the coins, but still, it definitely puts a damper on my bidding enthusiasm.

 

Yeah, I've felt that way for a while. However, they are in the business to make money, and they'll continue to raise rates until sales suffer appreciably.

 

Agreed, similarly to how wait staff at restaurants shouldn't be getting a larger percentage of a larger bill. 25% now?! But maybe that's another topic.

 

I was very happy New Years day to pay only 10% fee (normaly 12.5%) At "Great Collections" auction last weekend. I don't care to pay 20%+ so I tend to avoid some of the bigger auction houses (not to mention I can't afford most of what they sell lol)

 

That is so correct.

 

CNG used to have one of the lower fees. I believe Berk's buy or bid sales have no buyers fees, but may be wrong. But difficulty is the fees obligated when shipping to EU (tax, e.g.) as a non US citizen.

European houses have high fees. For Eu buyers, e.g. Kunker charges 25% commission. Heritage Europe charges 25% as well as 2 EUR per lot won. I think some biddr houses have the lowest fees. Naumann charges 18.9%. Its a big difference, a fee of 25% or 18.9%... I saw an auction house with 30% commission, I think, but I cant find it anymore, so I may be wrong here, unless someone else knows.

Edit: higher fees may be because of higher costs, office, staff, paper, website, etc.etc. But also because of lower seller fees, to attract material. For the lower end stuff, auctioneers charge about 10% or 15 or 20 eur per lot, which is higher. For higher end stuff, a small fee, or no fee,.is charged.
NAC charges 22.5%, with an additional 1% if you bid via internet.

 

Yes, auction house fees have been spiraling up. There used to be a time, long, long ago, when there were no fees for buyers. This is the stuff of legend now. One auction house charges no buyer's fee, but they specialize in world coins.

Does Frank Robinson charge a buyer's fee? I've never participated in his auctions.

 

No I don't think so. There's the usual 3-4% if you use PayPal, but no buyer's fee.

 

that's logic Bing, and 20% of anything is still 20% no matter how big or small....

 

I’m still not following why I, as a buyer, would care. The increase in fee takes money out of a consignor’s pocket, yes, but if I see a coin in an auction and I am willing to pay x for it, I place a bid that would factor in the juice. I would bid y and that would equal y+y*fee=x. As the fee got higher, my bid would be smaller, still equalling the total price I am willing to pay with fees.

 

In theory, yes, this is how it should work. And I try to follow the same principle. But the reality is that higher buyer's fees rarely mean the bidding goes lower. It just means that buyers end up paying more, and if enough people are willing to pay more then that drives up the market price for everyone.

 

Well, what you are saying is true. If enough people are willing to pay more, that will drive up the market price. But, that is how a market functions. I don’t know how one would make a causal relationship between buyers fees rising and the market pricing a coin higher. If there was a causal relationship, imagine this. A certain coin sells for around $100. Buyers fees go up 5%. The assumption here is that the coin now sells for around $105. So, using that theory, if all buyer’s fees (let’s use 20%) were abolished, the coin would now sell for around $80. That’s not how a market works. The market prices the coin and will act accordingly.

 

I’m not disagreeing that every little “pinch” here and there ticks us ever higher, but, if we get a bad recession that lasts a good amount of time, buyer’s fees can be any number you want and it won’t affect the price in the least. In that scenario, buyer’s prices could be rising and coin prices falling.

 

As a bidder, I don't much care about fee percentages. I just decide how much I want to pay for a coin, scale the number to account for fees, and bid accordingly.

Whether they call the fees "Buyer's" or "Seller's", it's always the sellers that are actually paying the cost. I feel that "Buyer's Fees" are a pretty underhanded approach to monetization for these businesses.

 

I remember NFA charged 5 % back in 80s/ same with Tkalec. For people in Canada/ we get to pay those fees 18-25% then add conversion rates/ $1 Can. is valued at .69 most currencies+ add 13% customs if auction house sent via FEDEX/ UPS. Thankfully/ most send thru mail=0 fees.

 

If I’m willing to pay $100 for a coin and the auctioneer charges 20%, that means that coin will cost me $120. I always factor in the fees. The mailing costs are to high but low enough I can add in a couple of dollars and consider it okay.

 

@Collecting Nut

It’s funny that you mentioned the shipping costs. I probably think more about “service and handling” fees and the charge for using a credit card than I do about buyer’s fees.

One of the craziest things is that it probably costs more to ship something to @panzerman in Canada than to ship something across an ocean.