Posted By:
Judge Dred (Fred)There are a few things to consider when you look to bid in an auction.
Do you have to pay local sales tax? That tacks on a good 6%+ on the total. What is the return policy of the auction house. Some houses will tell you "NO RETURNS?". The buyers premium is only one thing that people should be looking at when they are biddin in an auction. What about people that use the ebay portal. Sometimes they tack on another 5% to bid via ebay.
I would be willing to bet that some of the auction houses would be very negotiable with the sellers premium if the item(s) for sale were going to generate a lot of publicity and/or frenzied bidding. Mastro indicates "15%, period". Something tells me that period could be negotiable.
The following is a list of auction houses with Buyers Premium / Sellers Premium as stated on their web sites. A "?" indicates that I couldn't find the amount on the web site.
Lelands 15% / Negotiable
Lipset 10% / 10%
Sloate 15% / ?
19th Century Only 15% / ?
Mastro 20% / 15% - period
Hunt 15% / ?
Collectible Classics 15% / ?
REA 16% / ?
Goodwing 17.5% / ?
Clean Sweep ? / 10% if > $500, 15% if < $500
Huggins and Scott 15% / ?
Memory Lane 15% / 10% - negotiable