Buyer's premium on auctions

nwcs

I've seen some of Heritage's auctions on ebay have a 20% premium (ouch!). I was wondering how many people avoid auction that carry a surcharge.

gemtone65

A buyer's charge might discourage a potential consignor from selling their coins through that particular auction house. This is the case because the buyer's fee is, paradoxically, designed to strengthen the auction house's ability to negotiate a commission with the seller. However, for the buyer, it shouldn't really matter, as long as all the competitors are well informed about the fee. In that case, say a buyer is willing to pay B for a specific lot without any buyer's fee. If the fee, expressed as a fraction is f (e.g., for a 20% fee, f = 0.2), then simply revise your bid to B* where B* is the product of B and the ratio 1/(1+f).

DrawTwo

I'd rather just go look for another coin. Or round it off and just multiply my amount by .8.