SUBJECT: BEWARE Steve Verkman, Keith Vari, Leland’s, Clean Sweep & Paragon auctions

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by gunboat82

Last year, I reached out to Huggins & Scott to inquire about consigning these cards:

1928 Tharp's Ice Cream Babe Ruth #6 (Throwing) SGC 1
1928 Tharp's Ice Cream Lou Gehrig #26 SGC 35 (2.5)
1933 George C. Miller Jimmie Foxx SGC 1.5

I was told that their standard commission is 20% from the seller (on top of the 20% buyer's premium they receive), but they would reduce my fees to 5% only if I gave them all three cards to sell.



Someone from SCP Auctions reached out to me unsolicited on this site and tried to get me to consign through him with a 10% consignor fee (down from his standard 15%), leaving me with only 90% of the hammer price:







So, yes, there are auction houses charging seller fees if they can get away with it, even for marketable cards that are already graded/authenticated.

Thanks for posting some actual information about what AHs charge for commissions. Clearly it's negotiable so contacting multiple AHs makes sense. So many people like to say that sellers shouldn't pay anything to an AH, but that doesn't look to be accurate unless you have a very high priced or highly desirable item.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Thanks for posting some actual information about what AHs charge for commissions. Clearly it's negotiable so contacting multiple AHs makes sense. So many people like to say that sellers shouldn't pay anything to an AH, but that doesn't look to be accurate unless you have a very high priced or highly desirable item.

If someone has to pay a seller's premium on top of having their take reduced by the buyer's premium, makes even less sense in many cases to consign to an auction house, IMO.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

If someone has to pay a seller's premium on top of having their take reduced by the buyer's premium, makes even less sense in many cases to consign to an auction house, IMO.

Sure, there are other avenues a seller has, but they all have pros and cons. Not everyone wants to deal with trying to sell things themselves. Even if they do, finding the way to get the most exposure to the right people can be challenging. Posting on net54 is free but what percentage of the card collecting community does it actually reach?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Sure, there are other avenues a seller has, but they all have pros and cons. Not everyone wants to deal with trying to sell things themselves. Even if they do, finding the way to get the most exposure to the right people can be challenging. Posting on net54 is free but what percentage of the card collecting community does it actually reach?

IMO for any non-elite cards there are better ebay options which is what I do. Exposure not an issue obviously.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

IMO for any non-elite cards there are better ebay options which is what I do. Exposure not an issue obviously.

Ebay obviously works for a lot of people, but there are also plenty of complaints posted here about it. Like I said, there are pros and cons to every method of selling. It comes down to what an individual seller is most comfortable with.

[rand1com]

Anyone who thinks auction houses can survive on a 20% BP with no seller fees is naive. Maybe a very small operation with low OH could but I doubt it.

Of course, if you consign a single $100K item, they will give you no fee and possibly half of the BP because they do virtually nothing for $10K on their end.

It all depends on the amount of work and expense they incur that establishes any seller fees.

In this case, based on minimal known facts, it appears a lot of time and money would be spent to bring the collection to auction. Is 40% unreasonable. Not in my opinion and yes, I realize it is in the minority on this forum.

The consignor certainly had the right to refuse the offered terms and negotiate with other auction houses but did not choose that route before signing the dotted line on this contract and now thinks he was mistreated.

We can always come up with excuses for making bad decisions but most of us have to live with them. It is called a life lesson.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by rand1com

Anyone who thinks auction houses can survive on a 20% BP with no seller fees is naive. Maybe a very small operation with low OH could but I doubt it.

I would say it's HARDER for a smaller auction house as we're not taking in 6 and seven figure items that give us leeway on commission on the smaller items.

Originally Posted by rand1com

Of course, if you consign a single $100K item, they will give you no fee and possibly half of the BP because they do virtually nothing for $10K on their end.

Agreed (well I take minor exception to "do virtually nothing" but I agree with the overall point)

Originally Posted by rand1com

It all depends on the amount of work and expense they incur that establishes any seller fees.

Right. 1000 lots with a value of $100,000 can EASILY take 100 man hours to sell. One $100,000 lot takes an hour, tops.