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Originally Posted by Snapolit1
Nothing about my original question had anything to with how this would affect or not affect my potential buying activities. I just asked why AH's don't do it to for their own economic reasons. I then got 15 responses saying who the hell cares and why would it matter to me as a buyer. And then a 5 minutes internet search reveals that Sotherbys does exactly what I suggested. And more why would I care responses.
But, hey guys, I get it. You personally don't care about the buyer's commission. We've all sort of heard that. Many times. Sort of a bit of a broken record at this point. Believe it or not, there was a different question on the table. For some reason Sotherbys believes it is in their interest to have a declining commission rate. Of course Christies does the same thing. Curious why they have a business model different than in our little world.
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All we are talking about in a buyers premium is how, on the surface, an auction house and the seller decide to split the proceeds of a sale. Assume in almost all cases the buyer is going to pay full market price regardless of what the buyers premium is/how the auction house and the seller split the proceeds. It's also a safe assumption that most auction houses give a higher percentage of the proceeds on higher priced items -- the business models you mentioned for buyers premiums are not even close to unique. Some auction houses are explicit about giving back buyers premium percentage points to the seller and others understandably treat it on a case by case basis. That is no different than how business would be conducted in any other field. I've even heard of a case where an auction house paid out more than 100% of the proceeds on one truly iconic card. Again, it's understandable if that draws in more business.