Auction Company Fees

Proof

A friend of mine has consigned $700,000 worth of PCGS coins to an Auction Company. The Auction Company is charging him 2.5% to sell the collection. Since they charge the buyers 15%, the auction company will earn a total of 17.5 % times $700,000, which translates into $122,500.
The collection consists mostly of high end gold. In fact half of the coins are an all time finest known set in the PCGS Registry.
Is this the norm, charging a seller 2.5 % on a $700,000 collection ??
My thought is that he is being overcharged and should seek another auction company.
Would appreciate any info, because he has a half dozen other finest known sets to sell in the future and my thinking is that he can do better. ????????????

Bear

A collection that size, should not only qualify for no owner commission, but the owner should be able to

negotiate a piece of the buyers 15% commission. Thus the owner should be able to get 105% of hammer price.

shylock

I've never sold close to that dollar amount but it sounds at least 7.5% too high for the consignment. They should waive the seller's fee and give back at least 5% of the buyer's fee. I've gotten a 2% seller's fee for consignments under 50K from a major auction house.

coinguy1

I'm firmly with Bear and Shylock on this, based upon the details as presented.

cointagious

Your friend got humped. Both Bear & Shylock are on target.

Bear

Have your friend contact, ANR, Heritage, Superior and Goldberg for comparison rates.

morgannut2

And I thought eBay had problems; nice rip for $35000 or more by that Auction. Sotheby's and Christie's teamed up to do this stuff in the 90'S, but while the guys are now out of jail, they can't auction anymore.