Posted By:
Josh WulkanAdam,
I'm not sure I understand your alternative. You say, "Why not just take a straight % of the gross proceeds?" Can you explain to me how this would work. Believe it or not, being an auction house is not a "cash cow" as some might think. It takes a lot of money to produce a catalog, print it, mail it, pay salaries, rent for the space you need, advertising, etc... We, at Huggins and Scott have a 15% BP and the rate on the sellers side varies between 5-15% (usually). We just completed our first $1M+ auction in gross sales, which was huge for us, but when you pay out all of the bills, consignor proceeds, etc.. the money that is left is actually pretty small, even after a $1M auction.
I'm curious how the straight % would work, as we're always open to figuring out new ways of doing business.
thanks,
Josh