Buying at arm's length

MForde · 6th August 2019, 03:27 PM

With the advent of the big online auction platforms of recent years it makes sense that fees have gone up as the houses have found a greater audience and with this connectivity has come greater costs. Is some of it greed? Yes, of course. Personally, I dislike all the fees anyway because I'm a simple chap who likes to know the price without having to do calculations on the fly.

A. G. Maisey · 6th August 2019, 09:50 PM

You have a very generous heart Ken, and I compliment you upon your humanity.

When I said "--- less for the sellers." I was not thinking in terms of commissions, but rather in terms of how much the seller will receive for an item put to auction.

At the end of the day everything has a perceived value, and that value is what the buyer will usually not go far beyond, so if fees for buyers rise, that is an inbuilt element in total cost, and the hammer price will fall accordingly, resulting in a lower payment to the seller.

6th August 2019, 03:27 PM	#1
MForde Member Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: UK Posts: 36	With the advent of the big online auction platforms of recent years it makes sense that fees have gone up as the houses have found a greater audience and with this connectivity has come greater costs. Is some of it greed? Yes, of course. Personally, I dislike all the fees anyway because I'm a simple chap who likes to know the price without having to do calculations on the fly.

6th August 2019, 09:50 PM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,736	You have a very generous heart Ken, and I compliment you upon your humanity. When I said "--- less for the sellers." I was not thinking in terms of commissions, but rather in terms of how much the seller will receive for an item put to auction. At the end of the day everything has a perceived value, and that value is what the buyer will usually not go far beyond, so if fees for buyers rise, that is an inbuilt element in total cost, and the hammer price will fall accordingly, resulting in a lower payment to the seller.