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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2074240, member: 19463&quot;]Once upon a time auctions were held and buyers were charged what they bid plus postage.&nbsp; Consignors then were paid a percentage of that realization with the rest going to the auction house to cover expenses like employees, catalog production, buildings and grounds, security etc. etc. etc.&nbsp; If you stop and think about it, there should be quite a bit of overhead in running a huge sale but consignors did not like seeing their coins selling for twice what they got after the sale and hesitated to consign coins.&nbsp; To make things look better, the idea arose to charge buyers an additional fee so part of the burden was shifted off the sellers who then could get a higher percentage of what their coin brought (so called &#039;hammer price&#039;).&nbsp; Of course this offended buyers who bid $100 but had to pay $150 to get the coin after all the add-ons were added on.&nbsp; Some auctions still are run the old way and a few smaller ones even sell only coins that belong to the auctioneer.&nbsp; These have no consignors to offend and no reason to play the game with the buyer&#039;s fee except as a way of raising the bid of people who can&#039;t do the math and bid more for the same coin in a 0% sale than they would in a 20% sale.&nbsp; Costs of doing business continue to rise and someone has to pay for the services like credit cards, glossy catalogs, three different online bid services, lawyers, a fancy hotel room with finger sandwiches at the sale and, I&#039;m sure, a dozen other things none of us can even imagine.&nbsp; In case you wonder who will have to pay in the end whichever way it is figured, look in the mirror.&nbsp; After all you are the one who wants to buy or sell the coins.&nbsp; The auction houses are, hopefully, profit making organizations.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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