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#1
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Doug Allen
This post was pointed out to me so I thought I would clarify. |
#2
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
So, what does the 17.5% buyer's fee repreesnt? And the 15% consignment fee for each item sold represent? Does the $75 registration fee for each account push Mastro into the black? Or is it the 32.5% juice gained on each sale? Why try to explain that the $75 fee is just an attempt to recoup the cost of "servicing an account" when it truly is just a way to generate more revenue for Mastro? |
#3
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Kyle
I've always wondered by there's a buyers fee and a consignment fee. I understand the consignment, but then the point of the buyers fee is vague. One can only wonder how much money the auction houses make on these auctions. |
#4
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Tom Boblitt
they don't always (and probably RARELY) get 15% on the sell side. I'd bet it's closer to 5-8% overall. Not that they aren't pocketing a LOT of dough but I'd bet they send catalogs to 12-20,000 people. Just a guess....... |
#5
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Registration Fee
Posted By: John Kal
Now that the internet is ubiquitous, isn't the catalogue redundant, especially at what must be a huge cost to produce? My room is getting chockablock with these tomes. Get rid of them and give us a break on the coming and going. |
#6
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Daniel Bretta
As someone who has actually visited the Mastronet Office in Chicago and been given a grand tour I can tell you that it must be very expensive to run that business, from the art dept, photography room, shipping room, et cetera...they have an awful lot of people working for them, and I doubt any of those people work for free. Then you have to factor in the security for the building. It seems to me that $75 isn't a whole lot to pay to get on their catalog list...it's not like the catalogs are throw-away items either. Each one of them is loaded with great items with descriptions that can be used as research tools. |
#7
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Doug Allen
Jeff, |
#8
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Josh Adams
Doug, |
#9
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Registration Fee
Posted By: leon
Thanks for clarifying, Doug. Thanks for another great auction too. I hope I can afford something at the end . best regards.....moderator dude |
#10
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Joann
I don't get the Mastro Premier catalog - haven't yet anyway. But if the REA catalog sitting on my counter is any indication, I would say that $75 as a one time fee is beyond fair. Wow. And now that finals are over I can finally sit down with the REA catalog and leisurely go through it. Can't wait. |
#11
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Lee Behrens
I also agree with the fee, the catalogs are beautiful and are not cheap to produce. They are not asking alot in that you bid on an auction to continue receiving the catalogs for free. There are plenty of auctions that if you bid the minimum you would never win the bid so no harm in bidding to keep getting it for free. |
#12
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Registration Fee
Posted By: davidcyleback
You have to pay for most catalogs with Sotheby's. Perhaps you get them free if you're a regular. They have so many auctions, you basically pick and chose which one's you want. You had to pay for the Barry Halper/Sotheby's catalogs. I think it was something like $80. |
#13
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Registration Fee
Posted By: andy becker
Doug, |
#14
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Chris
I have no problem paying $75 to receive quality auction catalogs. Like many of you I'm so blown away by the recent REA catalog and the fact that they're sending it out free. Incredible that they can and do, but understandable that most can't, or don't want to. $75 for some great reading and reference material is nothing really. |
#15
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Registration Fee
Posted By: andy becker
chris, |
#16
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Registration Fee
Posted By: David Vargha
I go back to my original analogy from josh's thread, this sounds like the equivalent of Exxon/Mobil having a toll booth at the entrance to every service station. |
#17
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Registration Fee
Posted By: andy becker
ok david, |
#18
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
Doug, with all respect - and I think Mastro does a great job - to suggest that the $75 fee is simply required to ensure that the registrant is serious is somewhat specious. Doesn't providing credit card info and references suggest that the registrant is serious? What about bidding on your auctions? Does that suggest that the registrant is serious? |
#19
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Chris
Hey Andy, |
#20
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Richard Masson
Mastro Auctions is not an eleemosynary institution. |
#21
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Registration Fee
Posted By: andy becker
not at all, richard. that's why i think that mastro should request referrences. |
#22
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Registration Fee
Posted By: leon
Richard- I agree with your sentiments..... |
#23
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Richard Masson
Anyone who is interested in starting to purchase scarce and valuable sports cards and memorabilia at this point in time and is put off by a $75 initial registration fee is in the wrong department. There are many smaller auctions which cater to this sort of collector. |
#24
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Chris
"a toll at mobil wouldn't stop me from buying gas, but it would stop me from being a mobil customer." |
#25
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Jay Miller
I agree with anyone who can use the word "eleemosynary" in a sentence. Way to go Richard! I would have bet anyone that that was a typo. I guess I'm just an ignorant kid from the Bronx. |
#26
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Registration Fee
Posted By: andy becker
perhaps the better appraoch would be to charge the $75, and then credit a buyer $75 on their initial purchase. |
#27
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Chris
refunding the fee after a purchase sounds like a great compromise. good call. |
#28
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Registration Fee
Posted By: cmoking
refunding the $75 fee after the first purchase may be a good idea if they had instituted that from the very beginning...but there is no way in hell that a company would instate this at this point - because they will either have to refund all the fees they've ever taken (and that will be too much for the company to stomache), or they will have a bunch of pissed off customers who didn't get refudned. Either way, they lose. |
#29
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Richard Masson
My favorite word of all time. Shocking to have a chance to actually use it. |
#30
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Chris
"but there is no way in hell that a company would instate this at this point" |
#31
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Josh Adams
I am not saying that the $75.00 is too expensive. Heck, anyone willing to shell out several thousands of dollars would not make that argument. |
#32
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Mike Pugeda
I paid for the registration fee and have received catalogs free since 1999. |
#33
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Registration Fee
Posted By: David Vargha
I think it was $50 when I first signed up around 2001, I believe. |
#34
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Josh K.
I agree with the other Josh - the idea of paying someone to give them my business doesnt sit right with me either. Further, it seems to me that if you (a) dont want a catalog - since the auction is available online; or (b) are able to pick one up elsewhere for free, that you should be allowed to bid without having to pay the fee. |
#35
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Registration Fee
Posted By: david
if the 75 dollars is such an issue for you, dont get the catalog and dont bid. it is not one of you consitutional rights to be able to bid in a mastro auction. thousands of collectors have paid the fee and have no problems with it. |
#36
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Wesley
I must be the biggest rube here. If I remember correctly, Mastro charged me a $100 registration fee in 2001. |
#37
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Mike Pugeda
Wesley, |
#38
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Kyle
Does anyone know if Consignees get the fee waived for bidding? It'd make sense considering they're sending some of high value to Mastro, and Mastro is making some nice money off of it. |
#39
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Registration Fee
Posted By: HandsAtNeck
Although not the same thing, but Memory Lane sent me a chocolate Goudey Ruth along with their catalog, just fore signing up. It was about a PSA 8 before I ate it. Now it is Authentic, Altered, I would guess. |
#40
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Cat
I ate the Goudey Ruth Chocolate too. All gone...out of the pop report. |
#41
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Registration Fee
Posted By: davidcycleback
My opinion is that if you pay the $75 and regularly bid you get more than $75 worth of catalogs. If you've never seen a MastroNet big sports catalog, it's like 500 pages fully illustrated. It's basically a big book, like you'd buy at the book store. |
#42
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Registration Fee
Posted By: martin dalziel
These upfront/catalog fee's are nothing new and certainly not confined to Mastro alone - the more traditional auction houses (read - fine arts, antiques, etc.) Sotheby's, Christies, Parke-Bennett, etc. all charge for them and have been for a long time - decades. There are many collectibles auction houses that do the same thing - Hunt and Lelands for example. Once you've been around for a while and have built a solid reputation then you become the preferred/desired place to shop - you can then charge for the privilege of shopping there and people will pay for that. |
#43
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Jay
Richard--It just shows where your priorities are. My favorite word of all time is callipygian. |
#44
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Richard Masson
Didn't he used to coash at Notre Dame? |
#45
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Anonymous
Or maybe he was just popular in the locker room... |
#46
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Registration Fee
Posted By: warshawlaw
Mastro can do as it pleases; there are enough auctioneers out there so you really don't have to do business with them if you don't want. On the other hand, it does irritate me pay for a catalog then pay the auctioneer anywhere from 25%-37.5% for auction services, part of which should be the catalog. Perhaps the compromise is to allow bidders to opt out of catalogs (i.e., be an internet-only bidder) in return for waiving the fee? |
#47
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Brian
Why is it wrong for businesses to make money? |
#48
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
It's not wrong for businesses to make more money just like it's not wrong for Levi to charge whatever the hell he wants for his cards. What is wrong, however, is for Mastro to claim that the reason they charge for catalogs is because they simply want to weed out non-serious bidders. The reason they charge is, plain and simple, to make more cash. I'm sure it annoys them to have to send out catalogs to people that don't bid on their auctions. I also waste plenty of time interviewring potential clients for cases that I may never get. I can either charge a consulting fee or not. I choose not to. Mastro decided differently. End of story. |
#49
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Registration Fee
Posted By: Cat
I bought six cards from Mastro last year totalling $45,000. About a year ago, if my memory is correct, the vig went from 15% to 17.5% because of what they called "cost increases." Undoubtedly, part of these cost increases were for more and more catalogs that are being shipped. Most businesses have revenue goals and seek varying ways in order to attain those goals (at a minimum they have to offset their cost structure). If catalogs are being mailed to people that never buy, Mastro can either charge those people or continue to let the buyers pay for the catalogs of those that do not buy. That's an easy decision for me...let those that have the benefit (receipt of what has previously been free catalogs) pay their own way. I don't want to pay for them. |
#50
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Registration Fee
Posted By: jackgoodman
Don't we pay a disproportionately high price just to walk into a card show? We know it's an income stream for the promoter that offsets costs of running the show. Same as charging for a catalog. |
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