Is there a charge to place a reserve on a coin in a major auction?

Barry

That's the question...

tradedollarnut

There is usually a buy back fee - if your reserve is too high, then you'll pay the auction company 2-5% as a listing fee.

Huge consignors can negotiate this down [or away] if their reserves are reasonable.

Julian

As TDN said, everything is negotiable.

This is because there is a large number of firms that wish to compete for your consignment.

They also do not wish to waste their time, so the unreasonalbe reserve will be charged a higher fee, to cover their costs and to bring them a profit for their time, etc.

coinguy1

In addition to wanting to be rewarded/compensated for their efforts, the auction companies are mindful of the fact that if too many lots have unrealistic/unreasonable reserves, bidders will eventually be discouraged from participating.