Buyers auction fees?

Butch(OH)

Well-known Member
Not wishing to start another debate about the buyers premiums. Although I am not fond of the practice it is easy to work around and that what I do. That being said I read an auction ad yesterday and under terms it said 13.5% buyers premium and 5% for VISA or 18.5% for VISA purchases. This was not your big time highly advertised televised on RFDTV type deal, just your basic small farmer sell out. Never seen premiums that high in this area for a locally advertised small farmer sell out with a few household items. What are you seeing in your area for similar sales? Just curious.
 
I don't see the big deal in the case you cited if I wanted to use a CC I'd just bid about 20% less than I want to pay,if my limit on an item was $100 I'd quit around $80.What do I care how the money is
split up after the auction? If a person 'forgets' about the premium while bidding then that's just their own stupidity.
 
I wouldn't go to any auction that charges a buyers premium, I don't care what percentage it is. The charger for using a credit card is normal because it cost the auctioneer to accept them. I'm an Auctioneer and will quit when I have to start doing that. It is so the Auctioneer can charge the owner a percentage and then charge the buyer a percentage. I have no idea what percentage the owner normally gets charged but I would guess somewhere in the 15 to 20 percent area then the buyer gets charged ant the Auctioneer gets a BUNCH. I charge a straight 15% for smalls and the owner and I can negotiate on the large ie. tractors, dozers and such. I make enough and the owner is getting to make some money without giving it all away. Just my thoughts, Keith
 
There is no big deal, my personal assessment of the practice and how I deal with it mirrors yours. I haven ever seen higher than 10% here previously and not seen that high a charge for VISA and just wondering what others are seeing around the country.
 
In my area there is a big consignment auction,the deal there is a 10% buyers premium,but there is no charge to the seller if the item goes over $500.Its always the biggest auction in the
area.
 
They had a Federal Bankruptcy auction last year and the auctioneer told me he had to charge a buyers premium to get paid because the court won't pay the auctioneer a fee so the auctioneers take the job based on getting a buyers premium.
 
There are not many using the buyers premium in my area. It is common for household auctions to have a 20% commission charged for small household only auctions. Many of these auctions do not gross $5-10K total. Many times the auctioneer has to get the stuff out of the house and sell it for the commission.

The one fellow that does charge a buyers premium does not charge the seller anything. He uses the buyers premium as the carrot to bait old people into selling with him. He has many of them convinced that when they sell that way it "costs" them nothing to sell their stuff. A lot of the older tight fisted ones fall for it. On smaller house hold stuff it does not make much difference built on big ticket items it kills the sale around here.
 
The standard around here is 10%. Some auctioneers will reduce that to 1% on items selling for $1000 or more. The ones that take credit cards tack on another 2-3% for that, and the ones that do online auctions add another 2-3% for "internet premium" if you buy using their online bidding.

You wouldn't be going to many auctions around here if you refuse to go to any with buyer's premiums, because they all do it.

I like to think that the auctioneers are using the buyer's premiums so they don't charge the seller as much commission. I'm probably being naive. There aren't as many auctions as there once was, and those auctioneers have to maintain their standard of living, you know.
 
I bid this week on a grain aerator on line. 10% buyers premium and 3% credit card. I would have went 150 on it but stopped at 135, it sold for 145. I don't like it and won't even bid unless its something I want or need then just deduct it from my finally price.

When this first started a few years back I seen a guy come unglued at the payout trailer when they told him he owed 10,000 more on the 100,000 dollar tractor he brought. I didn't blame him but he should have listen and read the terms of the sale.
 

I don't see the problem since I would much rather they be honest about the fees up front. I guess at an auction it is hard to hide fees since the buyer controls the bid, but in general I hate fees that are hidden from me. At least they are up front about it so as to avoid a kerfluffle at the settlement window
 
I would say that these fees discourage the buyer friendly attitudes which is contrary to what an auction should be, you want attendance, not the sparse crowds that seem to show up compared to the crowds of years past, IMHO.
 
It is not "illegal", but all merchant services companies I've dealt with did not allow it in the agreement. What IS allowed is a "cash discount", just like at the gas station, there is a "cash" price then a "credit price". Technically not charging for using the card, just giving a cash discount. Most consumers do not realize that there are fees the merchant pays along with not recieving the full amount charged to the customer. Very rough example: end user is charged $100.00 for an item and that is what is on HIS bill. Merchant services company applies $96.75 or less to the vendors account (and usually not for several days) after their "swipe fee", and their percentage. Who do you think is actually paying that 2 percent you "get back", it sure ain't the bank you have the card through.
 
They get around that by their wording. They are not actually charging for the card, however they give you x% discount for cash or check.
 
Well I never was a big fan of auctions. I hate to waste a whole day only to have what I'd like to have bring WAY MORE than you can buy it privately for. I'd rather spend my time working on tractors. These buyers premiums even further discourages me from going to them.
I have consigned a few items in the past at some and most times I got what I wanted for items.
Only flop was when I took an AC WC and the auctioneer could barely get a bid. He gave up on it felt bad so he did not even charge me for trying to sell it. It was a decent good running tractor too. I later sold it from sitting it down by the road.
 
To get deals at you have to be able to 'pick' the right auctions and areas,then be there when the first item is sold and stay until the last item is sold.I've resold a lot of items at auctions to people that were at the auction but not paying attention when it sold.You can never predict when something will sell cheap,I look at an auction as a work day.
 
Hi, some years back I bought a cleanup bucket cat quick change. It took maybe 3 minutes. I paid $700 for it. When I went to pay they said it was less than $2000 so I had to pay 10% more. That was RB auction. I complained. I seen them grow from a small outfit to world wide mult multi million dollar outfit. Before the buyer fee was introduced. I thought it was a blatant rip off from their customers.
Ed Will Oliver BC
 
we buy a trailer load of equipment and just went to better sales without a buyers penalty----we had a young auctioneer come to our area and dropped the buyers penalty --he has cleaned the other ones clocks and we are laughing at them
 
There is a local online auction going on now,10% plus $20.00 shipping and packaging fee. It is 15 miles away, and I am not paying a $20.00 packing fee. Most of his sales are on Sunday at 10:00am and I am not going there either.
 
I refuse to go to an auction that has a "Buyers Premium " The auctioneers are just GREEDY and lazy. and love to screw the customers!! Just plain GREED !!
 
This was at the auction that went on for three Saturdays. No buyers fee at this auction but also not even close to 1000 people. This is a very big consignment auction, once a year deal.
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Around here (ceentral NY)3 main choices 1- no buyers premium- seller pays auctioneer commission 2- buyers premium often 10% some auctioneers charge this fee and also charge the seller too except for higher priced items and real estate. 3- buyers premium charged up to a dollar amount - often $1000 or more this is common at some machinery consignment auctions.
 
I do not participate in auctions that have a buyers premium. But then again I am going to fewer and fewer auctions because of my belief that as the buyer I am doing them a favor buying it.
 
We have an auctioneer family around here who have been doing it for a little over 100 yrs. In his little speech at the beginning of the auction he states that there has never been a buyers fee at one of the their auctions and never will be.
 
The statement above is absolute BS. I have clerked sales in the past. Every auctioneer I ever knew and worked for was a hard working person. If they were lazy or greedy they would not be in business. I also will never attend an auction with a buyers fee.
 
(quoted from post at 19:04:57 04/20/18) We have an auctioneer family around here who have been doing it for a little over 100 yrs. In his little speech at the beginning of the auction he states that there has never been a buyers fee at one of the their auctions and never will be.

Might not be anything to brag about if they are charging the seller 20%.
Instead of charging the seller 10% and the buyer 10%.
 
lets see. I sellers fee is what auctioneers charge a person to sell there stuff for them. So they are working for the seller,

A buyers fee is what they charge the buyer when you buy the sellers stuff. So if they charge a buyers fee are they working for the buyer? Can not work for both and have a very fair auction. WHO are the working for???
 
My approach is that I really don't care if their is a buyer's fee involved. I set a maximum I will pay and if that includes a buyer's fee I can live with that. If so many potential buyers are not going to that sale for that reason, crowd is probably smaller and things may sell for less even with the buyer's fee. Some of best buys I have made at a sale included a buyer's fee.
 
And what is real funny is when I sell something I bought at a BP sale to someone that won't go to the sale because of the BP and they pay me a 50 to 75 percent BP over what I paid.
 
(quoted from post at 08:26:57 04/21/18) And what is real funny is when I sell something I bought at a BP sale to someone that won't go to the sale because of the BP and they pay me a 50 to 75 percent BP over what I paid.

Hey...be quite!
Your going to ruin your market, LOL.
 

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