LOG Auction:Tom Brady's got NUTHIN' on This Inflation!!
 

Love of the Game is taking 23% on top of winning bids.

I have gotten used to the 20% from other auction houses...has anyone seen buyers' premiums this high?

I will probably pass on this and toss future catalogs from them



c

Heritage charges what amounts to that due to sales tax in many states...yes they dont get the tax but its money the buyer pays thats not paid to pwcc if you arent in oregon for example.....i believe pwcc moved from califonia to oregon so people from california saved on tax

LOTG is only 23% if you pay by credit card or you pay after 14 calendar days after the invoice is sent to you. If you pay by check within 14 days then the BP is the typical 20% you see from most other auction houses. Goldin has a similar policy. Their BP is 22.5% if you pay by credit credit card or after 10 calendar days. If you pay by check within 10 days, then it is the 20% BP again.

And of course, Christie's is still the BP "winner" with a 25% BP regardless of payment method (and not even including their enormous shipping charges).

Hi all:

Just a quick point of reference on this: our buyer's premium is, for all practical purposes, 20%, similar to many other auctions.

What's different between us and many other auctions is that in addition to accepting payment via check or money order, we also accept payment by PayPal and credit card. We've always felt that this was a great convenience to offer our customers - however, doing so costs us as much as 4% of the entire transaction. At this point, roughly 50% of our customers pay this way.

While we've tried to shoulder as much of that expense as possible for as long as possible, it is extraordinarily difficult to do so, particularly in our Premier auction, which includes a full-color printed catalog. Therefore, we were left with two options: discontinue taking PayPal and credit cards, or figure out a way to be competitive with the market, while still offering the PayPal and credit card option.

After our last catalog auction, we spoke to a lot of customers about this, and many of them really like having the ability to pay by PayPal or credit card. So we elected to continue to offer it as a payment option. However, we need to be able to capture the fees that we are charged to offer this convenience.

As such, we elected to raise our buyer's premium to 23%. HOWEVER, should you elect to pay by check or money order, we discount the buyer's premium by 3%, to 20%. It is our hope - and our strong suggestion - that bidders will pay this way, and take full advantage of the discount.

I hope that this makes things clear to anyone that has a question or did not quite understand the update the way I'd written it in the catalog (which some of you should be receiving today).

-Al

Christies is 25% Plus tax if they are in your state, Plus storage charges after a certain time frame, plus shipping and insurance which must ship overnight FedEx shipping at your expense. No discounts based on payment methods, and no lee way on shipping a more economical way. My hunch is they charge the consignor fees too.

Maybe I'm just not a serious enough collector, but to me the buyers premium is an extra kick in the face, and I just can't be motivated to buy from auction companies... I'll take my chances buying graded cards on ebay from time to time and getting the "bucks."

Catalog came today, Al. Awesome, bids are in......

Plus people get cashback on their credit card from 1-2% so paying 2.5% isnt really costing them 2.5 percent more....

30% to NJ residents like me who want to use Paypal. A steal!

Consider it a 3 point lazy/impatient charge.

Factor it into your bidding. He could charge 50% for all I care. I'd just adjust my bidding and carry on.

No matter how many times we explain this, people don't seem to get it. Consignors should care. Buyers should not. A buyer's premium is just a convention for separating your bid into the part the consignor gets (the hammer price) and the part the house keeps.

This.

Whatever the juice is, it just needs to be factored into your bidding. I actually like having the PayPal/CC option.

I agree with just factoring the cost in. If the broker/auctioneer doesn't have a reasonable margin, then there won't be people out trying to generate consignments 24/7 in every nook and corner of the country. These efforts to get consignments are one of the reasons for all the high quality material that keeps surfacing.

Quite frankly, as a buyer I don't care how much the fee is as long as it's fully disclosed. I did not participate in the Christies auction, but from reading the posts, it appears that their shipping charges were a surprise, that would have ticked me off. But if it was fairly described and disclosed, I would have been ok with that.

As far as I know, per Paypal rules, merchants are not allowed to pass on fees to their customers via a "surcharge." Folding it into the premium seems like surcharge to me. So even if bidders don't care, paypal may still "drop the hammer" of their own. Unless I'm missing something.

Lotg
 

totally agree. both are beauties! bids were already in but about to do some more. Congrats, Al.
all the best,
Barry

++ If you want a card for $100 and the fee is 50%, Bid $66 and go to bed. Too many people getting caught up in fees, , sniping, string bidding, bid stringing, bid rigging, Curt Schilling, RICO, etc....

Bid what your are comfortable with and what you are willing to pay (including fees!) for the card and walk away.

It's not a surcharge for using a credit card, it's a discount for paying without one.

Not sure about PayPal rules at this moment. It also varies from state to state. Where I live it is illegal to charge more for paying with Paypal or a credit card. Merchants get around this by raising their prices and offering a discount for other payment methods. You have the same exact result but one is legal and one is not.

Gas stations in florida and us virgin islands where i lived in the past usually charge more for credit cards. If cash payers have to pay the same as credit card payers that sounds like a bad law for people that cant afford credit have to basically pay more for items because merchants would have to charge an amount to absorb their costs to the credit card and have those raised prices for everyone, including the cash paying people who cant get a credit card.

And like Al said, his other option is dropping paypal and cc like lots of other AHs did. LOTG is offering more ways to pay and being flexible and this board still finds a way to BITCH...really? Yes, LOTG must be hiding in the weeds and gaining so much profit for the option of taking p/p, and like he said they charge up to 4% for using it. Maybe people should do some more investigating before they just let their mouth rip...

What does "this board" have to do with anything? Boards don't bitch people do. Please continue.....

Completely right Leon, I apologize for my comment. There are tons of wonderful people on this board and tons of people that are very positive and bring tons of hobby info to the board. That was a wide brush on my part. PEOPLE still find a way to bitch...

Just take your true bid and divide by 1.2 or 1.23.

No worries.
I know people like to gripe about stuff but sometimes that gripe can turn into something positive too. Al got to clarify this situation so now members, and folks who only read the board, will know the rules concerning the BP.
There are several AH's that now charge an uptick in BP if paying by PP or CC. But I usually just figure 20% BP on my bids for all AH auctions when I am bidding. If it is 1-2 percent more or less, it's not that big of a deal to me. I am old school and will usually just put a check in the mail for lots won so I get the lower fee.
But I do agree, people (collectors) will always find something to gripe about. I don't see how an extra option should be looked at unfavorably but who am I to say?
"This board" is an inanimate object though and they don't gripe (much). :) Now get back to some Cracker Jacks....and looking at LOTG's new auction in more detail....
https://loveofthegameauctions.com/auctionlanding.aspx

.

Al walks on water. Just saying.

I have dealt with Al many times and have no concerns about bidding on any LOTG auction. As many on the Board have said, the premium (and taxes and shipping costs) are all factors to be taken into account when determining how much to bid on any piece. A $100 card is a $100 card whether sold on Ebay, Christies, LOTG or anywhere else and, when bidding for such a card, I bid $100 minus the expected premium, shipping and tax.

And he can slam a revolving door.

Only because the alternative is flying.

Al uses all these undue funds to continue his 1%'er lifestyle, probably voting for certain candidates..........

Oh wait, no he doesn't.............

Like most have said......It's 20% if you pay the ONLY way most of the other auction houses let you pay. If you have money in your paypal or want to float it for 30 days or want to carry a balance on a card, you have that option. I'll take more options any day over having NO options with a similar kicker. The other benefit, as a more small/medium auction 'house', he has somewhat smaller lots where you don't have to spend $5K to get a $500 item out of a lot. That is also a benefit. I've gotten some great deals from LOTG and hope to continue.

Net54 needs a "Like" button.

My dealings with Al have always been extremely positive.

I admit when I first looked at the catalog and saw the buyers premium had been raised to 23% I was slightly surprised but as I kept reading I realized that I can simply pay by check or money order and the buyers premium remains at 20% like always.

Though it is only one mans opinion, I do not feel any ill effect from these terms and for me personally Love of the Game Auctions is still one of my favorite auction houses to go T206 hunting.

Much love to all, and a big thanks to Al for producing yet another exciting auction for us.

Respectfully,

Derek Hogue

Agree
 

Totally agree. Well said.
Thanks for offering multiple payment options and great items as always Al!
Eric

Shocked!
 

My shipping bill alone was $2800 for my Christie's order! Wow! No other alternative.... but if I do it on my own, I have to pay NY sales tax, which is even higher! Wow! Everything else seems like a bargain!

Let's maintain a little perspective here, folks: 3% is $3 on every $100. For the vast majority of purchases and purchasers here it isn't going to break the bank. And you can always send a check if it ticks you off.

What I'd love to see just for convenience is an AH with no BP. The item sells for what it sells for and the consignor pays the commission he negotiates with the AH. End of whining.

Wow! Did you win several cars in the auction?

You simply figure in the additional premium when placing your bid. So if you are willing to actually pay $100 for a card and the AH charges 20%, you simply bid up to $84 and stop (the BP will bring your total up to $100). This is how most folks do it -- even the non-serious collectors. :)

Nope
 

I did win a number of bats and framed photos (I did not realize that they were framed)... a couple of which were panoramas... in the end they decided that they needed to professionally package them, build a crate and FEDEX overnight.... and it was their way or the highway... and if I picked them up, the sales tax would have been way more than the shipping.... I expected roughly a $500 shipping bill, but it was $2100 from them and they forced me to pay the insurance (even though I have an umbrella coverage that would have covered it)... which is $700. Wow. Will need to keep this in mind next time that there is a Christie's auction.

Wow very strange that they would force you to insure a package packed and shipped by them.

See: Kevin Savage Auctions, Joe's Vintage Sports Cards Auctions.