What is the point of the "Buyer's Premium"?

[brianp-beme]

But seriously, I remember reading an article by Lew Lipset in his Old Judge newsletter from the mid to late 1980's (?) detailing the shift of auction houses from charging a larger seller's commission to charging a buyer's premium, which evidently was not standard for auction houses at the time. I think back in the day auction places were traditionally dealer/collectors that were auctioning their accumulations, and therefore a seller's premium obviously made no sense, but would of course charge you for the privilege of consigning cards. I remember the article identified the shift to following the example of art auction houses, who had established the practice of a charging a Buyer's Premium with less emphasis on Seller's Premium so as to attract the higher value consignments.

I guess it was just a natural progression for sports auction houses to follow this lead, as cards and memorabilia became more of a commodity.

Brian