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Valued Member
United States
57 Posts |
quote:
was checking out some Texas currency on ebay that looked interesting but there was a buyer's premium of 22.5% which, to me, sounds outrageous.
They are charging a buyers premeium on ebay? Is that even legal?!? Report them and see what ebay says, I don't think they can charge any more then what the auction closes at plus shipping there. Edited by Sagan
09/05/2007 01:28 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2703 Posts |
Yes, when the big auction houses list their lots on ebay live auctions, they still charge a buyer's premium. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1984 Posts |
22.5% is a bit over the top. If I were the consignor of the lot I would be quite unhappy with an auction house for taking 22.5% of the purchase price from the bidder and what, around 25% from me? 22.5% is quite a large BP.
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Valued Member
United States
411 Posts |
I agree that 22.5% is outrageous. No major auction house charges over 15% as far as I know. Also, I've seen Heritage auctions listed on ebay, and I don't really understand them - I guess the bonus of ebay is exposure. But Heritage has a great website, where you can find out about all their auctions, some of which are twice a week. Those auctions charge a premium. But they have coins for sale as well and there's no buyer's premium for them. Best, after their major auctions, which always coincide with major coin shows, they put their unsold lots on the website for very decent prices, and no premium. Also, if you bid in their auctions, you get their amazing catalogues which have taught me more about coins than anything except here. Oh, and I don't work for them. |
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Forum Dad
United States
24154 Posts |
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I agree that 22.5% is outrageous. No major auction house charges over 15% as far as I know.
I'd be willing to bet a nickel that the floor bidders pay less than the ebay bidders. They take bids from both at the same time. Oh, and just because ebay tells you you won..... doesn't mean you did. |
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Valued Member
United States
411 Posts |
<<I'd be willing to bet a nickel that the floor bidders pay less than the ebay bidders. They take bids from both at the same time.>> Last month I bid for the first time in a live auction online. It was aStack's auction. I won the coin  :   |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
quote:
I agree that 22.5% is outrageous. No major auction house charges over 15% as far as I know.
22.5% is high. The major houses do charge 15% if you buy in person, by mail, or phone, or online from their website. But if you bid on it through ebay you will pay 20% because of the ebay fees to them. quote:
I guess the bonus of ebay is exposure. But Heritage has a great website, where you can find out about all their auctions, some of which are twice a week. Those auctions charge a premium.
But those Major auctions that are run live at shows, on the website, an also on ebay will run live (although poorly) on ebay, but the bidding closes hours or even the day before on the auction houses website. So you pay a lower premium through the website, but you can bid closer to the end of the auction on ebay. |
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Forum Dad
United States
24154 Posts |
quote:
So you pay a lower premium through the website, but you can bid closer to the end of the auction on ebay.
But just because ebay told you you won doesn't mean you did. Floor bids overrule ebay bids always. If you look through the ebay negs for these auction houses you'll see it. It happens very often. If you want to make sure your bid counts, you need to not do it on ebay. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Actually floor bids do no always overrule ebay bis, but even though ebay tells you you bid was accepted, it often is slow passing the news to the floor and often the floor gets the bid before ebay notifies them. I that case the floor bid got there first and they are the high bid not ebay. Also the lot may lose before the ebay bid comes through in which case the floor gets the bid sometimes for less than what ebay tells you you won the coin for. As a general rule though you are right it is NOT a good idea to try and compete live through ebay. Proxy bidding is safer, but overloaded internet connections can still cause troubles. |
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Forum Dad
United States
24154 Posts |
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Actually floor bids do no always overrule ebay bis,
Straight from ebay Heritage auctions.... quote:
By bidding via ebay Live, you agree that Heritage may award the lot to another bidder at its sole discretion under the circumstances described above or any other reasonable circumstances. Since ebay bids are not shown to us until we open the lot on the floor, we treat those bids just like floor bids. In most cases the floor responds before the ebay bid is presented to us, due to Internet lag time, so for consistency we have made it a policy that floor bids are always considered first over tie ebay live bids.
All the others that I have seen are the same. ebay bids are dead last on the totem pole. |
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Valued Member
United States
411 Posts |
Yeah, for some reason, I didn't realize we were talking about "live" ebay auctions. The online bidding in which I won the above pictured coin was Stack's program, and the floor bidding/online bidding were simultaneous. I know this because I have attended two of the New York City auctions (they all used to be in NYC; since Stack's merged with American Numismatic Rarities, lots of things have changed. Only last year (2006), almost all coins offered in Stack's auctions were uncertified. Now almost all the coins they offer are in slabs. Zoot alors! What next? Credit Cards?) and there were two or three people monitoring the computers right next to the auctioneer, and they made floor bids based on the info they were getting. It seemed to me that there is an advantage, but not an insurmountable one, to bidding on the floor. Edited by Stephen420
09/07/2007 11:31 am
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
G'day, I've been interested in a few live auctions. I registered with Spinks. What a waste of time [they still write to me every three months by snail mail: no wonder they need to charge so much commission]. They don't include pics of many coins. And if you "contact us", they never reply, or give an irrelevant reply. For example, as I am on the other side of the world from the auction venue, the obvious question arises: how much for shipping or postage ? Their answer: ask a freight forwarder or the post office. If I were forced to sell any of the more valuable coins in my collection, I think ebay is vastly more efficient than any of the established auction houses. And, they just don't offer any service or marketing. If they're selling something you want: think about it carefully. Peter in Oz |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1283 Posts |
I think you're looking at the BP all wrong. First of all you're right, 22.5% is ridiculous. But that's bad for the SELLER, not the buyer. BP is just a way of saying "our commission" on items they sell. The buyer will always bid what they think is fair TOTAL, which includes the BP.
Frankly I think Heritage, Sacks, etc. should just sell coins with no BP. And then inform the sellers "we receive 15% commission on all sold items". IT'S THE SAME THING! It's almost like the BP is a way to hide this commission from the people consigning the coins.
Edited by USArmyParatrooper
09/09/2007 2:26 pm
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Valued Member
United States
54 Posts |
The buyers' premium covers the auction house's overhead and profit. As a bidder, I make sure I know what the premium is and factor it into my maximum bid.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
quote:
Frankly I think Heritage, Sacks, etc. should just sell coins with no BP. And then inform the sellers "we receive 15% commission on all sold items". IT'S THE SAME THING! It's almost like the BP is a way to hide this commission from the people consigning the coins.
You hit the nail on the head, that is exactly what it is. I have been in this long enough to remember when the auction house had no buyers commission, and the standard was 20% from the consignor. It made quite a ruckus when the first house went to a split fee 10% consignor/10% buyer. But they started sucking up the consignments so the other houses followed their lead. Later one briefly tried a 15%/15% split but that didn't last. Then the industry went to a 5% consignor/15% buyer and that is pretty much where they are today, but the consignors portion is negotiable and in some cases the consignor can even get as much as 105% of the hammer price. He actually collects some of the buyers fee for himself. |
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Replies: 19 / Views: 2,378 |
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Posted 09/05/2007 06:42 am
