05-05-2019, 11:09 AM
In my mind the principle of a buyer's commissions is simply a con.
In theory the buyer should be taking their bid price, then adding on the premium in their mind, to have their 'real price' in mind.
I think that in practice the heat and excitement of the auction, with the auctioneer looking at you and saying, 'its a lovely car for £5K, are you going to let it go for that?' rather than being honest and saying ''its a lovely car for £5K, plus my premium making a total of £6K to you, are you going to let it go for that?', just shows that its a way of the auctioneer making things sound cheaper than they actually are and giving you a few seconds to decide whether to take it at £5K, or is it really £6K.
For every person who can actually do the maths there is probably someone who can't and so bids that apparent £5K hammer price up.
Let's face it, we wouldn't go to the supermarket and accept that VAT would be added at the till after we have decided what to buy based on an apparently low shelf price (I know they do that with some tax in US).
We want to know what we are paying, no confusing extras, especially ones you have seconds to calculate and make decisions on, and there is only one reason to hide this extra, to make us forget or be unable to quickly calculate the real price.
The fair and simple way is that the bidder pays what they bid and any charges go to the seller from the price paid. This would create a more competitive environment since sellers would seek out competitive commission rates, rather than not worrying because the buyer will be paying the big chunk.
For that reason, I do go to auctions, but on principle I dont go to any that have a buyers premium of any sort. My inconsequential stance I know, but if everyone did it...
In theory the buyer should be taking their bid price, then adding on the premium in their mind, to have their 'real price' in mind.
I think that in practice the heat and excitement of the auction, with the auctioneer looking at you and saying, 'its a lovely car for £5K, are you going to let it go for that?' rather than being honest and saying ''its a lovely car for £5K, plus my premium making a total of £6K to you, are you going to let it go for that?', just shows that its a way of the auctioneer making things sound cheaper than they actually are and giving you a few seconds to decide whether to take it at £5K, or is it really £6K.
For every person who can actually do the maths there is probably someone who can't and so bids that apparent £5K hammer price up.
Let's face it, we wouldn't go to the supermarket and accept that VAT would be added at the till after we have decided what to buy based on an apparently low shelf price (I know they do that with some tax in US).
We want to know what we are paying, no confusing extras, especially ones you have seconds to calculate and make decisions on, and there is only one reason to hide this extra, to make us forget or be unable to quickly calculate the real price.
The fair and simple way is that the bidder pays what they bid and any charges go to the seller from the price paid. This would create a more competitive environment since sellers would seek out competitive commission rates, rather than not worrying because the buyer will be paying the big chunk.
For that reason, I do go to auctions, but on principle I dont go to any that have a buyers premium of any sort. My inconsequential stance I know, but if everyone did it...
Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think!