A question about Teletrade

[bsshog40]

Does anyone know why they charge a buyers fee? And what is that all about?

[gmarguli]

Because they can?

 

Seriously, they do because they still get buyers and sellers to participate with their rules.

[bsshog40]

I've never been to thier site and decided to register. When I started looking at all the FAQ's, I thought it kind of strange charging the buyer 12% to purchase someone's coin. I would think that would come from the seller's fees like Ebay does.

[jesbroken]

Bobby,

I would be careful with Teletrade were I you. I won an auction for $15 a couple of months ago and it cost me $31. The Lincoln cent was worth about $15. No doubt it was my fault for not paying better attention. It may not be as bad for a large amount of money but for a small amount it stinks for buyers. If you are selling it may be better for you, but I doubt it.

Have you thought about Heritage's auction in Feb? I've got some coins in it. Maybe more if I can get them through NGC in time. PM me if interested and I'll give you my account agent's number.

Good luck however you go.

Jim

 

[bsshog40]

Thanks Jim. I"ve just seen talk of Teletrade and thought I'd check'em out. I already see that I won't be messing with them. I'm registered with Heritage also. Thanks again Jim.

[okbustchaser]

I've never been to thier site and decided to register. When I started looking at all the FAQ's, I thought it kind of strange charging the buyer 12% to purchase someone's coin.

 

And this is different than any other auction house how??? Most places charge the buyer 15% instead of 12. (Including Heritage, by the way)

 

I would think that would come from the seller's fees like Ebay does.

 

It does. Buyers simply reduce their bids by that much.

[bsshog40]

I've never been to thier site and decided to register. When I started looking at all the FAQ's, I thought it kind of strange charging the buyer 12% to purchase someone's coin.

 

And this is different than any other auction house how??? Most places charge the buyer 15% instead of 12.

I've never bought from an auction house. This why I was asking. So this is common for all auction houses? Heritage also??

I would think that would come from the seller's fees like Ebay does.

 

It does. Buyers simply reduce their bids by that much.

 

By what auctions I was looking at, didn't look like buyers were taking that percentage in to consideration.

[okbustchaser]

Heritage, also.

 

Maybe I should have said tha in general buyers take the percentage into consideration. There are some buyers who don't take shipping and handling into consideration on Ebay, too, but most do.

[TomB]

Traditional auction houses (Bowers & Merena, Stack's, Heritage, Superior Galleries, Goldbergs, etc...) charge what is known as a buyer's fee or buyer's premium. One may debate the semantics as to who actually pays the fee, whether it be buyer or seller, but the net effect is that 12-20% (typically 15%) of the final bid amount is tacked onto that amount as a commission for the auction house. This fee can be in addition to a fee taken from the seller, too, of 5% or thereabouts, to net the auction house around 20% of the final bid price as their total commission. Some may argue that the seller actually pays all the fees while others will argue that the buyer pays the dominant fee, but it truly does not matter since the net effect is to dampen a buyer's highest bid so that the fee is taken into consideration. Ebay, on the other hand, charges all these fees to the seller and they can be approximately 6% for coins in auctions that accept PayPal.

 

The problem that people have with TeleTrade is that sometimes folks will forget about the various fees when they purchase a low dollar value lot. In addition to the buyer's premium there is also shipping to consider. If there is a limit to how low the buyer's premium may be adjusted, which might be set to a minimum of $9 or some other number for any single lot, then the buyer might win a coin for $25, but will also have to pay the minimum $9 buyer's fee plus perhaps $8 shipping. Therefore, the $25 coin now has cost the buyer $42. If you need to return a coin to TeleTrade then you are really going to incur fees.

[jackson64]

Yes, overall Teletrade is cheaper buyers fee than others...but I would never bid on anything under $100...like you said, by the time you pay the fee and shipping--that $80 coin may cost $100 or more...I've had some great buys from them though, got my 44-S Walker MS65 (nice example too) for about $200 less than the lowest one sold by Heritage of the same grade...like anywhere, you just have to watch and be patient..

[leeg]

I won a coin last night in a DLRC Auction for $7. My total invoice is $16. $6 for BP and $3 for shipping.

[bsshog40]

Yea I see what ya'll are saying. There was a coin that I was looking at that a previous sale went for $17. Well after the 12% buyers fee and the $4.95 +.25per coin, this coin would have cost almost $25. I think ebay would have been the cheaper route here. Thanks for the info ya'll!

[BillJones]

It does. Buyers simply reduce their bids by that much.

 

I was that were true, but seems like most auction bidders treat buyers' fees as "throw aways."

 

I wish that the people who buy coins from me would give me a 15% preimum with no argument. Such an automatic argument would end all need for haggling.

[DC Dawg]

Buyer's fees started in Europe and then migrated to the United States in the last 10-15 years. It is common at all auctions for there to be a buyer's fee or buyer's premium for a winning auction lot. This is how the auction house makes money. In the past, only the seller would pay a commission to the auction house. But wen some of the "traditional" auction houses (i.e., Southebys) started numismatics auctions and charging buyer's premium, the rest of the industry jumped on the bandwagon.

 

One of the reason why Teletrade's buyer's premium is lower than others is that Teletrade's sellers' commissions are higher. While you may be able to negotiate commissions with some other auction houses knowing that they will make some adjustment on the buyer's premium, Teletrade does not negotiate these fees. They can do this because of their large customer base that came from the day they were a telephone-only auction house. They can deliver the customers, so they get away with it.

 

From a buyer's perspective, if you are buying lower value items (under $100), unless you are buying in bulk, these auction houses may not be the way to go. And you have to be careful because if you bid on a few low cost items and win only one, the buyer's fees will look ominous in comparison.

 

Even with the buyer's premium, I've done well with DLRC, Heritage, and Teletrade. Of the three, I've had more good experiences with DLRC than the others. But that's my opinion, YMMV!

 

Scott

[CHABSENTIA]

Exactly. I have seen Bids on Teletrade for as much as 50% over valuation and on some occasions above 80% although rare.This tells me that people just don't know the proper valuation.

 

I know that there is a 12% BP on Teletrade with a minimum of $12.00. If I win an auction on Teletrade for $100.00 then it is goinf to cost $112.00 plus shipping.If I win one for $50.00 then it is going to cost me $62.00 plus shipping.

 

You have to know the rules and bid accordingly. I won a coin afew days ago.I determined that my Maximum bid would be $100.00 and if I won that I woud pay $112.00.There is no shipping fee for December so I will pay $112.00 instead of $117.00.Technically I saved $5.00 but above $100.00 the minimum increase in bidding is $10.00. so I couldn't just bid in $5.00 increments.

 

Numismedia lists the coin as a value of $147.50 .Coin world lists it as $175.00.If I had not won at $100.00 then I would have had to go to $110.00 + about $13.00 or $123.00 . The next increment would be $120.00 plus $15.00 or $135.00. One is near the Numismedia vlaue and the other is just about at it.

 

One has th know the rules for Bidding then the Value of the Coin and bid accordingly.

[Conder101]

Buyers fee may have come over from Europe, but they have been around longer than 10 - 15 years. They go back to at least 1980. Before they had the buyers fees the standard sellers fee was 20%. Then in order to entice submissions some of the houses began doing a split fee 10 and 10. Later that changed to a 5 and 15% split. There have ben a couple of sales that tried to do a 5 and 20% split but that quickly settled back to the 5 and 15% standard. (With major consignors getting even that 5% reduced or eliminated. Sometimes with them even getting a bite of the take from the buyers fee ie: up to 105% of the hammer price.)

 

One other problem with Teletrade, the fees for a returned item used to be horrendous. I don't know how bad they are currently because I have not used Teletrade in about 20 years.

[CHABSENTIA]

When Teletrade gives the Price for a particular coin then they give it in most cases for the last four auctionsand it has a asterisk *. This includes the Buyers Premium so if it says $112.00 * then the coin actually went for $100.00

[BillJones]

As I remember it the first large U.S. auction company to introduce the buyers' fee was the late and unlamented New England Rare Coin Galleries. It started off at 10%, which was at least a workable number to calculate the penalty when you were bidding on the floor. Now the thing has reached 18% at some auction houses, which is an ungainly monster.

 

A couple token guys still conduct auctions without buyers’ fees. They get some strong bids from me because of that. Not that matters what a little fish like me does.

[bsshog40]

I guess this is a norm for the auction houses. I never really looked at them that close. Just went in browsing coins. I can see that it would not be worthwhile for low cost coins at all.

[CHABSENTIA]

You just have to look at the value of the coin.If it has a Value of $28.00 then on Teletrade you just don't bid anymore than say $10.00. I have seen people bid $6.00 for ANACS Coins with Details such as cleaned etc.I have seen them bid $6.00 for other coins. I do not know what they close at because I am not interested unless it is a coin I want and I figure the coin is seriously under bid.

 

Once it reaches what I am willing to pay including the applying of the BP then I am gone.

[bsshog40]

You just have to look at the value of the coin.If it has a Value of $28.00 then on Teletrade you just don't bid anymore than say $10.00. I have seen people bid $6.00 for ANACS Coins with Details such as cleaned etc.I have seen them bid $6.00 for other coins. I do not know what they close at because I am not interested unless it is a coin I want and I figure the coin is seriously under bid.

 

Once it reaches what I am willing to pay including the applying of the BP then I am gone.

 

I agree with this concept. Thier bidding is wierd tho'. You start at $6 and then the next bid is for $9. Not much of a break in between that. Don't know if the same dollar amount applies to all coins, but this was the case for one I was looking at.

[Houston Investor]

I believe at one time the TTR buyers fee was 8% and 5.5% on gold