Questions about representing a client at auction.

OKbustchaser

What is a fair (and accepted) commission to pay a dealer to act as one's agent at a live auction? How is this determined? As a flat rate A percentage of sucessful bid? A combination of the two--ala smaller flat fee plus percentage of bid? Or does one simply say "This is what I will pay; buy it for what you can, the rest is yours?

Jim

tradedollarnut

5-10% of successful bids - where you fall in that range depends on the sum total of your business with the dealer.

coinguy1

The most common general arrangement I am aware of is for the client to pay 5% of hammer on successful bids.

If the winning bid amounts are very high, sometimes less than 5% is agreed upon (for instance, you could agree to pay 5% of hammer up to a maximum fixed amount).

If there are few or no winning bids it can be a bad deal for the dealer but you can agree to pay the dealer a minimum fixed amount for his time.

The most important things are that the terms be made clear ahead of time and that each party feels the arrangement is fair.