Saleroom.com charge increase

[CNSOBU]

Note attached to an e-newsletter I received from Mullocks:

Please be aware that from 1st November 2018 www.thesaleroom.com will be increasing charges to 4.95% for all online bidders.

Might be worth checking if your favoured auctioneer uses EasyLive who, from memory, charge either 3% or a one off fee of £3 per auction.

[se20blue]

Why does anyone use the Saleroom/EasyLive and pay another chunk of charges, when other methods of bidding(commission/telephone) are available ?

[CodeXIII]

Agreed se20blue.
Plain daft to pay another 3-5% when you can register a commission bid with almost all auctioneers and houses.
But having read some comments on here recently there's quite a few ditherers who need two guesses to know which way they're going in a lift

[CNSOBU]

Leaving commission bids will depend on how well you know and trust the auction house owner, staff and auctioneer.

For example, if a bid of £100 is placed on the books for an item (with, say, a £60 estimate), it wouldn't be unheard of for 'someone' to place a 'rogue' bid of £80 - or if brazen £90.

Or, many auction houses will have a reserve but will include 10-15% auctioneer's discretion. On the day, a item with a £100 reserve could drop/start at £85. If a bid of £100 was left on the books then the discretion wouldn't come into play.

Personally, I try to avoid both commission bids and thesaleroom (but have succumbed to both). I try to bid in person or telephone - but alas, some of the tat I like to buy is low value and telephone bids aren't allowed!

[Cantona93]

I couldn't agree more. I try to avoid leaving commission bids if possible.

A little while ago I left a commission bid of £300 for an item which had a guide price of £60-£70 from memory.The day before the auction this particular (well known) auctioneer actually rang me up to say that he had received a similar commission bid from somebody else and would therefore need to open the bidding at that amount and would I like to increase my bid! How professional is that?

I should have withdrawn the bid there and then but didn't and in the end won the item at that opening price. The hammer came down very quickly from memory.

CNSOBU wrote:

Leaving commission bids will depend on how well you know and trust the auction house owner, staff and auctioneer. For example, if a bid of £100 is placed on the books for an item (with, say, a £60 estimate), it wouldn't be unheard of for 'someone' to place a 'rogue' bid of £80 - or if brazen £90. Or, many auction houses will have a reserve but will include 10-15% auctioneer's discretion. On the day, a item with a £100 reserve could drop/start at £85. If a bid of £100 was left on the books then the discretion wouldn't come into play. Personally, I try to avoid both commission bids and thesaleroom (but have succumbed to both). I try to bid in person or telephone - but alas, some of the tat I like to buy is low value and telephone bids aren't allowed!

[CodeXIII]

also, a number of the auctions I've left commission bids with in the past have a live camera (if you can watch) so unlikely they will 'try it on'.

and if an item has an estimate of £80 - £100 there's no way I'd be leaving a commission bid of £300! no matter how much i needed it.

[garyspain]

CodeXIII wrote:

also, a number of the auctions I've left commission bids with in the past have a live camera (if you can watch) so unlikely they will 'try it on'. and if an item has an estimate of £80 - £100 there's no way I'd be leaving a commission bid of £300! no matter how much i needed it.

They could have a second commission bid though for the same amount. Of course it could be a real one or a fake one. A camera doesn't help then.

[Rafehod]

I would just like to add my point of view on this, as for me leaving commission bids is usually a no no. My reason for this is, no one knows what the Auctioneers have on their books regarding bids as this is never transparent or ever will be. Auctioneers are there to make money and are there solely for their vendors and their commission, they are not there to do buyers any favours whatsoever.

Yes they are all very smiley and friendly blah blah blah but it is in their interests to be like that so you keep going back. You see them all the time trying to drive up the price or if they are not happy with the price they are getting they will pass the lot.

Leaving commission bids is like giving your hand away at poker, you go all in and they know how to play it to get a price they are happy with unless there is no further interest and you may get it at the low estimate price.

I have seen it many times at auctions I have left bids at knowing full well that what I was bidding on there would be very little interest in however always got it at the low estimate because the auctioneer starts it at the price not lower to do me a favour, starts at for example '£40 on the books' he does not care if he has only one, after all he has someone prepared to bid up to say £60 so surely they would pay £40!! like they are doing you a favour. If you were in the room they may have to go down to £20 to get interest, they start staring desperately at the internet screen hoping something will happen, you put your arm up and bingo you have saved yourself money right there.

Dont be fooled, they are a business and operate like one.

[CodeXIII]

fair comment but two examples:

I put a commission bid for £275 down on a item which went for £325 so i lost it but my bid was in the right 'ballpark'. No sweat, it may come up again and I can up my max or stick at £275? my choice.

last week i put a max commission bid of £100 and won when the estimate was £125 - £150 and ive seen the same item sell for £175 so I won at £100 and was very happy as the item is mint not very good as described.

I guess it's personal choice but i can't make auctions in person and bidding live is rarely an option either.
Most of us have an idea on values and it appears the 'value' of a lot of items have fallen due to lack of new collectors, ease of finding rare items, more savvi buyers etc.

Always set a limit and stick to it!!

[martino]

Cantona93 wrote:

A little while ago I left a commission bid of £300 for an item which had a guide price of £60-£70 from memory.The day before the auction this particular (well known) auctioneer actually rang me up to say that he had received a similar commission bid from somebody else and would therefore need to open the bidding at that amount and would I like to increase my bid! How professional is that?

I thought that if an Auctioneer received identical commission bids then the first bid received was the one he went with. It seems a bit unethical to tout for a higher bid when he is unable to give you firm evidence that he has received an identical bid.

To me a commission bid is a "one hit" chance whereas bidding live via the Saleroom lets you see how the bidding goes and you can jump in / out at any point. So I always do the latter.

Auction House costs are also rising so taking the Saleroom costs into account as well that, with VAT, now totals around 30% of the hammer price. Looks like telephone bidding or in person is now the way to go.

[Auchinleckian]

The thing with commission bids, and we'll all have seen tit is when the auctioneer says "another bid might win it"

Now, if I'm leaving a commission bid it's to try and win something, not for an auctioneer to leverage further interest on an item where there wouldn't be without their intervention. One of the reasons I don't use commission bids.

[Leigh Treymaine]

Nobody who knows the game would leave commission bids on something they really want for various reasons. If it was something win/lose then no problem.