$131.81. The Heritage Auctions buyer's premium threshold.

[Brian Van Horn]

Hiccup. Feel free to do the math. Under $131.81, a $29.00 buyer's premium applies. Above $131.81 is 22%.

Hiccup.

Come on. A multi-million-dollar auctioneer resorting to this?

My apologies. I am stepping away from the computer for an outbreak of something I mentioned twice in this post.

[DrSatanis]

I remember winning my first autograph from an auction house when I was 16, Robert Ripley. Growing up in the country, where there's country auctions, we didn't have buyers premiums. So imagine my surprise when the autograph I landed for 64 bucks, ending up costing me 100ish!

It didn't feel good then and it feels worse now!

I get the auction firm does the work, the catalogs, etc.

But there are so many fees! *cue the Grinch noise, noise, noise animation*

I'm all for them making their money for facilitating these auctions. But now they're making money in every direction!

[Johnny630]

The demand for the cards in these major auction houses is high . Honestly, the auction house could make the buyers premium 30%. The demand is still there, it’s as high as ever people will pay whatever it takes for the item they want.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Was the threshold raised? I recall that it was either $50 or $60 before.

[x2drich2000]

I'm not sure what you are referring to as a hiccup. HA has it very clearly stated on each auction page "Buyer's Premium per Lot: 22% of the successful bid (minimum $29) per lot." HA simply has a minimum amount they want to make on each lot. You don't make money by doing stuff for free. They have had this concept in their rules for as long as I can remember. I'm actually more suprised other auction houses haven't done this as well. Regardless of how big the auction house is, with every auction, buyers have the obligation to read the rules and decide it they want to participate. If a buyer doesn't read the rules, they shouldn't complain about being surprised or blame anyone but themselves.

[parkplace33]

Again, AHs are in the drivers seat. 30 percent isn’t far off.

[Brian Van Horn]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

I'm not sure what you are referring to as a hiccup. HA has it very clearly stated on each auction page "Buyer's Premium per Lot: 22% of the successful bid (minimum $29) per lot." HA simply has a minimum amount they want to make on each lot. You don't make money by doing stuff for free. They have had this concept in their rules for as long as I can remember. I'm actually more suprised other auction houses haven't done this as well. Regardless of how big the auction house is, with every auction, buyers have the obligation to read the rules and decide it they want to participate. If a buyer doesn't read the rules, they shouldn't complain about being surprised or blame anyone but themselves.

The problem isn't with the buyer's premium of 22% although it should be 20% for a company as rich as Heritage.

The problem is if you make an opening bid of $1.00 the buyer's premium at that point makes it $30.00. Talk about inflation. The threshold where the 22% kicks in as opposed to the $29.00 buyer's premium is $131.81. They are that desperate for a dollar? Come on. Smaller lots won't break them and they can serve as an attraction for first time bidders which can lead to a long and growing account of purchases. Oh, wait. That would be successful business. Never mind.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

The problem isn't with the buyer's premium of 22% although it should be 20% for a company as rich as Heritage.

The problem is if you make an opening bid of $1.00 the buyer's premium at that point makes it $30.00. Talk about inflation. The threshold where the 22% kicks in as opposed to the $29.00 buyer's premium is $131.81. They are that desperate for a dollar? Come on. Smaller lots won't break them and they can serve as an attraction for first time bidders which can lead to a long and growing account of purchases. Oh, wait. That would be successful business. Never mind.

You say that their BP should be 20% since they're so rich (which I assume comes from some level of success) then say they can't be successful if they don't want to sell smaller lots. Which is it?

There are plenty of auction houses that are happy to deal with smaller/less valuable lots. Heritage doesn't want to be one of them. That's their business decision and it seems to work pretty well for them.

I haven't bought much from Heritage, but I everything I have ever bought exceeded the minimum BP. I don't know how many of their lots that doesn't happen with. Maybe others can weigh in on their experience of getting something so cheap from Heritage that they had to pay the minimum BP.

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

I'm not sure what you are referring to as a hiccup…

I believe the OP alluded to having a case of the hiccups in real life.

[Brian Van Horn]

Originally Posted by Eric72

I believe the OP alluded to having a case of the hiccups in real life.

From this.

[BioCRN]

Butting in to give a positive shout out to the auction houses that clearly spell out your BP when you're making your bid.

I'd rather do no math rather than easy math, especially during "after hours" when personal budget vs number of items in play is more of a consideration.