Honus- Second to NUN

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ebrehm

Actually the buyer's premium is part of the sales commission. It is a portion of the total sales price (hammer + BP) that is retained by the seller.

If you are speaking of the venue that is selling the card as "retained by the seller" then that is correct. Most times the BP is retained by the person or company that is doing the actual selling, not the consignor. Not sure if that is what you meant. regards

[ebrehm]

Yes, that is what I meant. The total sales commission retained by an auction house is the seller's fee (if any) plus the buyer's premium. Both are calculated as a percentage of the hammer price. The buyer pays the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. The seller keeps the buyer's premium and the seller's fee (if any). The consignor receives the hammer price less the seller's fee (if any).

In some cases -- usually on high value high visibility items -- the house will not only charge a zero seller's fee, but also offer to share a portion of the buyer's premium with the consignor -- this is sometimes referred to as a "negative" seller's fee.

[GaryPassamonte]

In this case the full hammer price of $220000. was received by the consigner. It appears there was no direct seller's fee. The $42900. was the BP which went to Heritage. Total-$262900.

[doug.goodman]

No matter where / who it comes from, Heritage should give their commission to the nuns, and they should do it quick, while the national press still cares about the story. But, even when the press is over, they should still do it.

Doug

[egbeachley]

I think they did give the commission to the nuns - they charged them 0%. Not to mention that the nuns got over $100K extra value from Heritage's publicity machine.

[ebrehm]

No, they charged the nuns 16.3%. The buyer paid $262,900, Heritage kept $42,900, and the consignor (nuns) got $220,000. The sales commission rate was thus 42,900/262,900 = .163. Why is there so much confusion over this.

[Bilko G]

Originally Posted by ebrehm

Why is there so much confusion over this.

because many people don't consider the buyers premium as a sales commission.