[meteorite-list] Auction Questions

From: Yinan Wang <veomega_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 02:08:41 -0400
Message-ID: <CALpO9Hca2ZdH3pdrwu3XMGByhMojOkdRnXBSKEYB_TP6qaUBDw_at_mail.gmail.com>

I'm putting in my two cents on the pros of auctions; since I've been a
consignor, buyer, and an employee in major auctions.

Reasons to consign: One of the main reasons to consign something to a
large auction house is that you have the potential to get several
times what your piece is normally worth. The larger auction houses
have literally tens of thousands of wealthy clients that you will not
reach through normal methods. When several parties get into a bidding
war, your piece sells quite well. I have found that 60% of the items I
consign will sell, and out of those that sell, 1 out of 4 sells for
significantly higher than I can get for it on the normal markets. I
certainly have been burned on a few items but that's the risk you
take, so the best thing is to make sure you're consigning enough
pieces to mitigate potential losses.

Reasons to bid: Even with the buyers premium, sometimes pieces from
estates come up for auction that you cannot buy through normal
channels. For example, last month I attended an auction of a
collection of Victorian-era fossil pieces. Even with the buyers
premium I got everything for 1/3 what it would normally sell for. So
you can certainly find bargains.

As for the buyers premium; the auction house is the middle men and
they demand their cut for being the intermediary between the seller
and the buyer. Without them in the deal, the seller would not be able
to reach the buyers that the auction house knows, and the buyers would
not have a trusted intermediary of cool stuff. The majority of these
buyers do not shop on ebay, online, or at trade shows. They'll see
something in an auction catalog that looks nice or has a good story
and decide they want it.

So yes, there are risks and benefits to auctions. It depends on the
item you have and whether or not you're willing to gamble.

-Yinan



On Sat, Aug 4, 2012 at 10:30 AM, Michael Farmer <mike at meteoriteguy.com> wrote:
> I have consigned some things to high end auction houses. I got screwed over hard. Between their fees and outrageous shipping costs, in the end I got scraps. Ever bought from them and had to have items shipped? I had a piece of Norton County shipped from New York, sent priority mail in flat rate box, poorly packaged and cost me almost $50 for $10 shipping. Not too pleased with epic level of rip-off. Of course the high buyers premiums kill the bidding most of the time yet i see suckers loving it. Some people relish the atmosphere of showing off in public by bidding when they could buy the item cheaper down the street......
>
> Michael Farmer
>
> Sent from my Ipad
>
> On Aug 4, 2012, at 7:20 AM, Adam Hupe <raremeteorites at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> I can see where this gimmick comes into play. You received 100% of the hammer price but maybe only received 75% of the real price realized for the object. I can see where this sounds good to a seller but in reality the auction house is still receiving up to 40% of the real price the item sold for.
>>
>> This does help clear things up for me. The hammer price means very little when when a buyers premium is put into play. To me, it is a gimmick to mislead buyers and sellers into thinking they got a good deal. I wonder if this started out as a way to daze and confuse buyers and sellers?
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> Adam
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "peterscherff at rcn.com" <peterscherff at rcn.com>
>> To: Adam Hupe <raremeteorites at yahoo.com>; Adam <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Cc:
>> Sent: Saturday, August 4, 2012 7:08 AM
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Auction Questions
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have sold stuff at auctions where I received 100% of the hammer price. The auction houses only cut was the buyers premium.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>>
>> Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
> ______________________________________________
>
> Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Sun 05 Aug 2012 02:08:41 AM PDT