sotheby's/scp auction
 

Posted By: <b>mike</b><p>i have a friend who recently consigned a 1913 polo grounds honus wagner (psa 8)to their latest auction. the final bid did not reach his reserve price, but sotheby's sold it anyway. does he have any legal recourse?

sotheby's/scp auction
 

Posted By: <b>Marc S.</b><p>if there is a formal contract with the reserve price spelled out and agreed upon by Sotheby's -- it would seem like there is potential recourse. Of course, I would further imagine that the contract might have specified process for dealing with disputes.<br /><br />What was the reserve price? There was a PSA 8 on Ebay about two months back that only hit ~$500. I can't imagine that we're talking about a huge amount in dispute here...?

sotheby's/scp auction
 

Posted By: <b>Red</b><p>Your friend should still be paid based on the reserve price he set. The SMR is $700. Say your friend had a reserve of $650 and had a zero % seller's premium deal with them. The card hammered for $627. It was only $23 away from hitting the reserve. What an auction house can do is go ahead and sell the card for the $627 and pay the consignor the $23 out of their pocket. They tack on $125 of 20% buyer's premium onto the $627 and collect $752 from the buyer. The consignor gets the $650 reserve he set and the house scrapes by making only $102. If they didn't go ahead and let it go at $627 they stood to make nothing at all depending on what their deal was with the consignor.