Shrinking Buyers Premium ?

[griffon512]

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.

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.

[Peter_Spaeth]

The assumption of the initial post seems to be that an explicit lower BP is somehow going to result in a higher total price for the item (bid plus BP). That makes no sense to me. The posts explaining why BP makes no difference to bidders are quite on point because they contradict that assumption.

[jayshum]

I'm not aware of any other AHs that do what the OP found Sotherbys and Christies do, but Clean Sweep Auctions does the opposite of what the OP suggested and increases their BP as it gets later at night. I assume the goal is to get the auction to finally end since bidding later at night becomes more expensive (for everyone whether or not they are aware of it or factor it into their bidding).

15. BIDS PLACED AFTER 1:30 AM EST ARE SUBJECT TO A 5% ADDITIONAL BUYERS PREMIUM, 10% AFTER 2:30 AM EST; MAXIMUM BIDS PLACED BEFORE THIS TIME ARE EXEMPT FROM THIS.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by griffon512

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.

Hi James! How you been? It’s been a while. I hope all is well and I hope to see you one day soon at Philly or chantilly. Oh, and I agree with your post 100%

[1952boyntoncollector]

How many times you try to sell a card on private market and then send to AH and get 30% more......seems fine to pay AH 20% when making 10 percent more than you can get on own...