Buyers premium

Talk about everything else here.

Topic author
hair bear
Posts: 1091
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:14 pm
Real name: Rob
Location: Hampshire
Has thanked: 255 times
Been thanked: 304 times
Flag: Great Britain

Buyers premium

Post #1 by hair bear » Thu May 02, 2024 8:36 pm

I've always enjoyed going to farm sales, you never know what might turn up. It used to be fun to get a bargain.
Dragged all the way to Alton recently to a collective sale. Big mistake. It was a Saturday so was expecting the usual dredge of 'Saturday shoppers' just getting in the way but what I wasn't expecting was the 12.5%+vat (min £10) buyers premium. That makes a £5 bucket of chainsaw parts a bit of a joke. Walked once around the field and went home. When I later looked at the website I was quite shocked at what they were charging:

General Auction: 28%+VAT
Architectural Auctions: 15%+VAT
Farm Auction: 12.5%+VAT
Online auctions may include an additional Premium of 3%+VAT
Saleroom.com / iBidder.com / BidSpotter: Internet Bidders are subject to an additional Premium of 4.95%+VAT

So having given up with that I went to a viewing for an on-line auction with a different agent. This time checked first and a much more sensible premium of 3%+vat. There was a box of pins and shackles I though I'd have a go at - £20 tops. Get home and go online, I have to open an account with them. Then I have to log on and register to bid, but, I can't bid until I've paid them a £2,000 deposit! Seriously? Rang them to find out what it's about and no, you've got to cough £2k before you get to wave your finger. They didn't get the £2k, but they did get the finger. The only thing there possibly worth more than that was a very ropey combine.

Wifey recently went to a junk auction at the village hall they do twice a year. They wanted a £20 cash deposit before you could bid.

Am I missing something somewhere?
Rant over. :?
If a LandRover doesn't leak oil, it's run out.

User avatar

Billy26F5
Posts: 190
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2023 8:31 pm
Location: On Billy
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 40 times
Flag: Great Britain

Re: Buyers premium

Post #2 by Billy26F5 » Thu May 02, 2024 10:19 pm

Not great, we don't go to sales but even then it seems fairly ridiculous, especially given how prices have risen in recent times. All seems a bit over the top and a great way of selling nothing at all.
Sandy
ImageImageImage


Topic author
hair bear
Posts: 1091
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:14 pm
Real name: Rob
Location: Hampshire
Has thanked: 255 times
Been thanked: 304 times
Flag: Great Britain

Re: Buyers premium

Post #3 by hair bear » Thu May 02, 2024 10:31 pm

After the £12 burger incident at a charity tractor run last year and then this I'm starting to wonder if I am turning into the worlds biggest cheapskate???
If a LandRover doesn't leak oil, it's run out.


essexpete
Posts: 4230
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:43 am
Real name: essexpete
Has thanked: 890 times
Been thanked: 739 times

Re: Buyers premium

Post #4 by essexpete » Fri May 03, 2024 11:22 am

hair bear wrote:After the £12 burger incident at a charity tractor run last year and then this I'm starting to wonder if I am turning into the worlds biggest cheapskate???

Sorry Rob but you are! :D
Joking apart, the auctioneers will claim that buyers have the opportunity to view and purchase from a large collection of items all in one place, as it were. I have a feeling that large buyers that often deal with a particular auction house may negotiate. I might be wrong. I rarely go to sales now, always used to come back with something I did not need to throw onto the scrap a decade later. When Dad was alive we bought several cars through auction but that is a complete ball ache now. Some of the procedure is anti money laundering and some is probably to protect against dodgy bidders?
Last edited by essexpete on Wed May 08, 2024 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.


Jeremy Rowland
Moderator
Posts: 8799
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2007 8:36 pm
Real name: Jeremy Rowland
Has thanked: 1948 times
Been thanked: 1751 times

Re: Buyers premium

Post #5 by Jeremy Rowland » Fri May 03, 2024 7:55 pm

Rob, although I am no auction expert, part of the problem for auctioneers is that people bid on things and win them, then decide they don't want them after all so that's why they want a deposit, one of the reasons I've never bothered with them. Think the only one I recall going to was when what had been Copes Motorcycles at the Hagley Road Brum had closed and everything was auctioned off, me and my bro went along, I bought a cheap lid and some oil, but watched a well knackered Britool torque wrench go for silly money (you could have bought one new cheaper), so a class case of knowing what things are worth and if there is something you may wish to bid on prior to turning up.

Jeremy


Return to “Off Topic”