HA Buyers Premium now 22%
pruebas
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This is being discussed on the US forum, but the HA buyers premium is also increasing to 22% for world coins starting in 2026.
Yes, we all say it doesn't matter, but in actual fact, it does.
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It will soon be at 25%, IMO.
I wonder if they think they have an opportunity because overseas buying is more expensive due to carriers charging tariffs, even though it is not supposed to be that way
http://www.victoriancent.com
ON a related note, TCNC in Canada, has a buyers' rate of 21.5% ( I think)......there is an auction now with a bunch of gold bullion lots.....so I'm curious if these bullion coins will go for a 21.5% discount, or if someone is willing to pay a 21.5% premium.......I'm not 100% sure about the TCNC rate, but it;s getting excessive.
Between the high auction fees, metals, TPGs, and travel costs, the “hobby of kings” is reverting back to only being affordable to kings (or billionaires).
The prima donna actions by TPGs aren’t exactly helping either.
Baldwin auction just closed at 23%....Race to the top.
Well, just Love coins, period.
Well, if I have 100 dollars for a coin, I have 100 dollars irrespective of who keeps the money. I cannot bid more than 100, incluiding juice. As a consigner that is another story. Because clearly if buyers have 100, I would get less money. I'm sure they have reasons to increase the fees, yet if they were viable business at 15%, 22 sounds excessive.
I guess the solution for the consigner is to consign a quarter million dollars so can negotiate terms. But for us mere mortals, this means less money if you are selling coins.
There are several forums we can sell on. It’s up to us to determine which is best. But 22% buyers premium plus a sellers premium requires explicitly premium service and implicitly higher sale prices. Maybe the market supports it, but it’s fair to ask “what am I paying for / what are you giving me that cheaper options aren’t?” I think it comes down to what you’re looking to sell. If they want more numismatic rarities and less 1/4 ounce generic gold coins, maybe this is the strategy.
I don't really care or pay attention to the BP because I have been paying 25% in other categories already. Plus BP is out of my control so I pay more attention to my price. I only put in the price I want to pay. I try to stay away from live auctions so I will not get excited and overbid.
@johnnyb you should never be paying any sellers fee. As a consignor, you may or may not get some of the buyers fee rebated to you, but any sellers fee is a total non-starter.
Hmm, just my luck to consign a bunch of coins to Heritage as this increase starts. At least it's easy to get 0% commission with them. For those that track cost basis for tax purposes, you add commission and buyers premium to your cost basis. I'll be taking long term capital losses on most of my coins.
Long term capital losses on collectibles mean you do not pay gains taxes. Beyond that, they are not deductible for collectors, only "investors" and dealers.
http://www.victoriancent.com
I guess I don’t shop at Heritage anymore
I'm BACK!!! Used to be Billet7 on the old forum.
@SimonW why not? The auction fees really only affect the seller, despite the misnomer “buyer fees”. (Named as such to make consignors feel better)
As @abuelo said, if the coin is worth $100 to you, you can still set your bid to pay that much all-in. The only difference is how much of that $100 goes to the consignor and how much goes to the auction house.
You as consignor don't need to sell $ 1/4 mill coins to get a part of the buyers premium which on 5k+ coins I have gotten usually 5% - so I would get 105% of the sales price.
HOWEVER this increase in buyer's premium also works as something of a psychological ploy in that at least some of us calculate it ahead of time but sometimes when pressed (as I was last week when I almost missed a "White Whale" coin) may somewhat forget to enter that into our bid calculus. I did get the coin at more than I wanted to pay, cursed the infernal underbidders under my breath and ponied up...
Well, just Love coins, period.
This is on a path to 50% over the next 20yrs
Latin American Collection
How about a 50% "Transaction Premium" which applies to both Buyer and Seller.
Hammer $50,000
Buyer Pays: $75,000 = $50,000 + 50% TP
Seller Gets: $25,000 = $50,000 - 50% TP
Auction House Gets: $50,000 = Hammer
Buyer and Seller both get "Wiped" by the TP.
I’m still more annoyed at PCGS charging a BS “Guarantee Premium” to upgrade their own coins than Heritage adding 2% to the BP.
Latin American Collection
If I stopped buying at HA I would likely miss on some serious coins. Sure I can survive it, but I do not think I want to do it.
And if you backed the 22% BP out of all your bids, you would never win anything. I know that is true for me.
Well obviously, but the BP is part of the bid. You don’t pay 22% more because there is 22% BP, you bid 22% less than you would if there were 0% BP. If there were 100% BP the coin would not sell for double what it does now, the hammer price would just be lower.
If you’re paying 22% more for coins because the BP is 22%, then I would like to sell you some coins for 22% more than retail. Maybe I’ll even make it 15% above retail - that way you’re saving money!
Gobrecht's Engraved Mature Head Large Cent Model
https://www.instagram.com/rexrarities/?hl=en
Is it only me that's missing auction feed like 15-18%? Started collecting around 2015 and have heard that some decades before it used to be even lower?!
Indeed, 10-15%. BTW, have you ever heard of the Great Siege of Candia?
Another point to ponder: at what point does the rise of "premiums" start to defray demand?
Well, just Love coins, period.
For me personally, I've had some good luck finding coins I need in the European action houses but it gets tricky...
Conversion from € to USD, surcharges, shipping and handling fees...
I threw a bid on above 1883 Hawaiian dollar at €651 which is roughly $770. For a nice AU example, it's a very fair price but then the auction house added: €157.54 ($185) for Surcharge and VAT, shipping and handling €42 ($50) and I ended up paying over $1,000
VAT is also not waivable for out of country bidders since the VAT is calculated under the margin scheme. This means that VAT is applied only to the services, not to the lots themselves. Because this is a specific VAT scheme, it applies worldwide, regardless of the final destination of the shipment.
I failed to realize how much "extra's" are added and will now bid accordingly...
In this month’s HK auction, HA auction result is 42.1 m so 20% fee is 8.4 m for ha, 22% would be 9.24 m.
Yeap, one of the biggest siege in history! Coins played also a vital role in it. But that is a subject for another topic.
Personally speaking, I think that anything below the "psychological barrier" of 18-19%. Above that point, it gets kind of extreme from of auction houses side.
Perhaps unnoticed, Stacks Bowers quietly raised their buyers premium to 22%, matching Heritage, starting April 1.
I was watching the Hong Kong auction this evening and wondered why the prices were odd amounts.
The 22% didn’t keep me from getting pretty much destroyed on every single lot I bid on in yesterday’s HA Mexico auction.
I’m often at least underbidder on stuff I’m really interested in, but I got smoked repeatedly in this one. Some attractive stuff for sure.
Market for great material seems to be chugging along.
I can't justify 22% either. To each our own, none more
It's not even the market for "great" stuff, it's apparently the market for ANY stuff.
I just started reviewing the Heritage Mex. results. I'm gonna just stop at this lot... When collectibles are selling like this below, I solemnly assure you all 20% vs. 22% is not even worth discussing:
But …. It’s in a slab!
I bid on a few coins last night but bailed out when I felt that the prices had jumped from uncomfortably high to irrationally exuberant. I just can't get a good read on whether this trend in pricing is going to continue on this trajectory for while more or if the music is going to stop playing.
For context, when Greenspan uttered that phrase, the NASDAQ was at about 1300 pts. It's now 23,000.
What this means, IDK 🤷♂️
HA builds the BP into your bid price which is helpful (many other auction houses don't). I just build that into what I'm willing to pay. The BP % is irrelevant to me if it's within what I'm willing to pay.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Why not make it 100%? Then it will be easier to calculate.
I hate buyers’ fees. It feels like all of the air goes out of your bids when you crack them back by 22% or whatever the rate is. Heritage has had a 25% rate on political items for a long time. That makes them my least favorite auction house for those items.
Dealers argue that the buyers’ fee makes no difference because “everyone” lowers their bids for it. That’s true for dealers with discipline who have an interest in a large number of auction lots. For collectors, who have a smaller scope of interest, you always run into “yahoos” who ignore the fee and just keep bidding.
It really ticked me off when Stacks-Bowers followed suit. They did the same thing when it went to 20%. Sounds like collusion to me.
It’s tacit collusion, which is common and legal.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
It might have been a good PR move not to follow.
Though, I don't see it mattering much at HA, so they would be leaving money on the table.
After a while they might be taking it off table. I am more driven than ever to look for other venues. It’s been that way for me with political items, which I also collect. The Heritage rate for them is 25%, and has been that high for as long as as I can remember. They are the source of last resort for me. They have the highest buyers fee in the industry for political items.
I like watching auctions for foreign modern gold coins. They close, not surprisingly, at 15-20% back from spot to account for buyers premium. You would be much better off as a seller just bringing the coins to the pawn shop and letting Rick melt them down.
Recent examples:
Heritage April 28, 2026
Republic gold Proof "Empress Elisabeth" Medal (1/2 oz) ND PR61UC link
Melt Value: $2,313.24 @ $4,568/oz (04-28-2026)
Final auction price $2001 (86% of spot) to seller + $440 BP = $2441 cost to buyer
Heritage April 26, 2026
Bahamas: Elizabeth II gold Proof "Prince Charles" 100 Dollars 1978 PR68 link
Melt Value: $1,976.64 @ $4,694/oz (04-24-2026)
Final auction price $1650 (83% of spot) to seller + $363 BP = $2013 cost to buyer