eBay tacking on buyer's fee to upscale auctions
By Troy Wolverton
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 31, 2000, 4:10 p.m. PT
High-end auctions on eBay are getting a little more expensive.
The San Jose, Calif., online auction giant is adding a buyer's premium to auctions in its upscale Great Collections area. The fee, which will be 10 percent of the closing auction price, will be paid by bidders to eBay Great Collections sellers starting this week.
posted on October 31, 2000 05:34:22 PM
The bid price will show the fee, so it will be no surprise.
The real losers in this will be the consignors ... many of the high-end stuff is consigned. Let's say the house has a 60/40 split and the piece sells for $10,000. consignor gets $6,000.
Now with the buyers fee, it still sells for $10,000. BUT the "final bid" is $9,000 so the consignor gets $5400 ... $600 less than if there were no fee.
posted on October 31, 2000 06:53:09 PM
Isn't the 10% going to be tacked on after the auction closes?
So, if the final bid is 10K, another 1K is going to be tacked on for a total of 11K due from the high bidder? (Plus the outrageous shipping charges of course! :P)
posted on October 31, 2000 07:07:30 PM
In a regular RL auction the buyer's premium is added to the final bid and I assume it will be the same with Great Collections. So, if you bid $10,000.00 you will have to pay $11,000. The buyer's premium usually goes to the house but in this case I believe eBay is giving it to the seller as an encouragement to get more quality listings for Great Collections which is NOT doing well.
Blanche
[ edited by bhearsch on Oct 31, 2000 07:13 PM ]
posted on October 31, 2000 07:14:27 PM
The buyer's premium will go to the auction house or dealer, but eBay will be taking their FVF out of the total (winning bid plus premium).
posted on October 31, 2000 07:38:28 PM
Hello Glenda. That's the way it usually works but the information on the Announcement Board states that eBay will give the 10 percent buyer's premium to the seller.
QUOTE:
"Effective October 30, all items on the eBay Great Collections site will be subject to a 10 percent buyer’s premium on the sale of fine goods. This new fee will be added to the winning bid price and will be paid directly to our sellers to cover costs for value-added services that they must provide in order to trade on the Great Collections site."
END QUOTE
Of course, eBay will still benefit because the FVF's will be applied to the entire amount which includes the extra 10 percent.
posted on October 31, 2000 07:45:58 PM
Maybe our terminology isn't in sync. By HOUSE, I mean the Auction House and by SELLER, I'm referring to the party that consigned the merchandise. We may be saying the same thing.
