Because many auction companies have recently raised their buyers premiums to levels ranging from 17.5% to 20%, we have received countless inquiries about whether Robert Edward Auctions is planning to follow suit. The answer is NO. We have no plans to raise our buyer’s premium. Robert Edward Auctions offers both lower commission rates to sellers AND lower buyer’s premiums, while at the same time delivering:
· A larger circulation
· eBay integration
· Reasonable reserves
· The most trusted and detailed descriptions
· The fastest post-auction payment of consignor proceeds
· The fastest post-auction shipment of auction items to buyers
· The most advanced authentication processes
· The most secure and trusted bidding processes and auction policies
Robert Edward Auctions presents the most exciting and highly anticipated auctions of vintage baseball cards and memorabilia. What we do is even more remarkable than it seems, because every single item featured in our auctions is a consignment. Unlike our competitors, we don’t buy material to auction at all, let alone present purchased material to the public as if it were consigned. This is perhaps the most important and least understood distinction between how our auctions are put together and how most (if not all) other auctions in this field are assembled.
Some auctions even claim they are not dealers, when in fact that is exactly what they are. We believe that collectors approach auctions very differently when they understand that material presented is often owned by the auction company, as opposed to being consigned as represented, and are much less enthusiastic about bidding on all lots (including those lots which are actually consigned) in any auction in which they feel they have been intentionally misled. When collectors finally learn the truth about this issue, let alone when they come to understand that at many auctions the auction company and its employees bid in their own auctions, they become less enthusiastic bidders in those auctions. This should be very important to consignors. We are seeing a greater awareness of these issues that affect all lots in auctions which combine secretly owned auction-house lots and consignments. As collectors grow more sophisticated, they are gaining a greater understanding of the conflicts and misinformation that are regularly presented to them.
In the auction world, the integrity of the auction house and the bidding process are essential ingredients in promoting bidder confidence. This is just one of the many reasons why quality material brings such strong prices at Robert Edward Auctions. Collectors trust us. Robert Edward Auctions strives to stand out as an example to the auction world, demonstrating how auctions ideally should be run. With so many auctions in the collecting world, it is all the more important to present your quality material in an auction that is trusted, an auction that really stands out, an auction that everybody receives, and in which everyone participates: Robert Edward Auctions.
Consignments accepted through September 30, 2005 for our next auction will be given special discounted consignment rates, as well as the most aggressive cash advances (if desired), as an extra incentive to get your material in early. If you have quality material you think may be of interest, please call or write.
Justin, I would definitely agree. Presumably you have the same total ceiling amount you want to bid on an item, so the higher the buyer's premium, the lower you are going to bid (and that means a lower realized price for consignors who do not receive a portion of the buyer's premium from the auction house). Plus at some point an auction houses buyer's premiums become so obnoxiously high, you just pass on bidding altogether (which again would lower the consigners realized price).
I think other points Rob raised are just as interesting. For instance, MastroNet owns many (if not most) of the items it offers in its auctions (hence the conflict of interest when MEARS both sells its items to Mastro and also authenticates them under the false-pretense of being an independent third-party).
Does it bother anybody when an auction house is selling items it actually owns but does not disclose this to the buyer? Does this bother consignors if they feel their items might not get the same level of attention from an auction house as opposed to the items that the auction house owns?
It also strikes me as unfair that an auction house would charge a buyer's premium at all when they own an item. Since it's basically as straight sale, why should we have to chip in an extra 17.5% to 20%?
I also think Rob raises another important issue with regard to auction houses bidding on their own items. MastroNet, for instance, openly allows its employees to bid on items. Does this mean a Mastro employee is bidding on a Matsro owned item? If so, how do they ensure that's not shill bidding?
Anyway, I like that Rob brings to light many of the "underside" issues present in the sports hobby's auction houses. I would really love to see some sort of independent third-party investigation of the industry to ensure buyers are not being ripped off.
