I notice that lately many phonographs are showing up on big auction houses that are charging buyers premiums of 20 to 22.5%. It will not be too long before it is 25-30%, if they can get away with it. The largest phono auction house, Stanton's, still doesn't charge any premium at all, and they seem to be doing just fine. The buyer's premium, or better name "buyers penalty" is just a gimmick to make larger profits for the auction house. Some collectors say you can just keep your bid lower to compensate, but in practice the buyer ends up spending more. It would be nice if all phonograph collectors would refrain from bidding on any machine for which there is a buyers premium, but of course that is just wishful thinking. Some collectors with unlimited cash will probably spend whatever it takes to get that special machine, buyers premium or not. Any comments? Ray From [email protected] Wed Aug 23 13:57:48 2006 From: [email protected] (john robles) Date: Sun Dec 24 13:11:50 2006 Subject: [Phono-L] Auction buyers premiums In-Reply-To: <000801c6c6f5$694f4e10$6101a...@wilenzick> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
I have been against buyer's premium for years. It seems like the auction houses who practice this heinous crime, and there are many, are basically just raking it in on both ends. They earn their commission from the seller, and then charge a 'premium' to the buyer. Why should one pay for the privilege of spending their own money, and why should the auction house profit from both sides? They are the agent for the seller, let the seller's commission be enough, or let the auction house raise it if it isn't enough. John RObles [email protected] wrote: I notice that lately many phonographs are showing up on big auction houses that are charging buyers premiums of 20 to 22.5%. It will not be too long before it is 25-30%, if they can get away with it. The largest phono auction house, Stanton's, still doesn't charge any premium at all, and they seem to be doing just fine. The buyer's premium, or better name "buyers penalty" is just a gimmick to make larger profits for the auction house. Some collectors say you can just keep your bid lower to compensate, but in practice the buyer ends up spending more. It would be nice if all phonograph collectors would refrain from bidding on any machine for which there is a buyers premium, but of course that is just wishful thinking. Some collectors with unlimited cash will probably spend whatever it takes to get that special machine, buyers premium or not. Any comments? Ray _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list [email protected] Phono-L Archive http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ Support Phono-L http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank
