2915-1 Sold earlier today at Serling Vault Auctioneers

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Hi! Buyers Premium at Sterling Vault is one of the lowest at 20% + VAT. Sellers fees are also competitively low.
The fees quoted for this auction on The Saleroom bidding platform were around 30%, I can't remember the exact figure but they were definitely not 24%.
 
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The fees quoted for this auction on The Saleroom bidding platform were around 30%, I can't remember the exact figure but they were definitely not 24%.
Ah, that’s including a 4.95% online charge for bidding on the saleroom site. It certainly does add up. You will always save bidding direct with the auctioneer.
 
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Do you intend opening your own online bidding platform at Sterling Vault?
 
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Hi! Buyers Premium at Sterling Vault is one of the lowest at 20% + VAT. Sellers fees are also competitively low.
Why don’t you publish your buyer and seller premiums on your website?

You haven’t said what your seller premium is here, and it looks like the only way a seller can find out is by first submitting goods for an estimate.

Not very transparent, or am I missing something?
 
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Hi! Buyers Premium at Sterling Vault is one of the lowest at 20% + VAT. Sellers fees are also competitively low.
Welcome. How would you react to the suggestion that the photos of that item were so negligently bad that no one would seriously bid unless they had the watch in hand. The photos hide more than they show and almost look like they were designed to obscure the necessary information like condition of the bezel, serial number, dial etc. Your selling fee, at 24% is average I guess but that is rather irrelevant if you don't promote the items well.
 
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Do you intend opening your own online bidding platform at Sterling Vault?
We have bidding on our own site. Which has a lower 3% online fee, this is the cost charged to us by the operator. Bidding direct via telephone or commission bid doesn’t carry anything extra so just 20% +VAT. Which I think is on the lower side of normal for most auctions?
 
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Why don’t you publish your buyer and seller premiums on your website?

You haven’t said what your seller premium is here, and it looks like the only way a seller can find out is by first submitting goods for an estimate.

Not very transparent, or am I missing something?
Hi! Well, the truth of it is our sellers fees can really vary depending on what it is we’re selling. If we are selling 50x low value items which still require the same level of work then we have to charge something higher. If it is a few higher end pieces then our fees are low, if that makes sense.
To give you a ball park over £500 our advertised rate is 10%+VAT.

we always offer the first sale commission free to collectors so people can give us a try which is pretty fair?
 
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Completely agree, my local auction house buyer's commission has risen by 10% over last year and they have also increased the seller's costs as well so it's now nearly 55% of total taken by auctioneer. For example , watch sells for hammer price of £1000 , buyer pays approx £1340 and sellers gets £790 so auction house makes £550 , this includes online bidding charge as well of nearly 5%.
I'm not sure i understand quite what is allowing the auction houses, which operate in a competitive market, to increase their buyers fees to such levels, which are clearly hurting liquidity and functioning of the market. In fact, i don't know of any competitive market that seems to allow its participants to drive up its fees, over many years/decades, rather than have them slowly driven down. What am i missing here?
 
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Welcome. How would you react to the suggestion that the photos of that item were so negligently bad that no one would seriously bid unless they had the watch in hand. The photos hide more than they show and almost look like they were designed to obscure the necessary information like condition of the bezel, serial number, dial etc. Your selling fee, at 24% is average I guess but that is rather irrelevant if you don't promote the items well.
Hi Padders. I see note your point. To be honest couldnt have put enough photos online of this lot. The ones advertised were the basics, front sides back, lugs etc. We actually had another 30+ photos taken for condition reports and requests. I am almost certain all those who bid requested extra photos. So to answer your question I wouldn’t have expected people to seriously bid without contacting us for extra information/ pictures and condition reports anyway.
 
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To give you a ball park over £500 our advertised rate is 10%+VAT.

😲

So a total of about 35% between buyers and sellers fees. More motivation for me to simply list watches on the forum with fair prices.
 
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😲

So a total of about 35% between buyers and sellers fees. More motivation for me to simply list watches on the forum with fair prices.
If you find your motivation drops you know where we are. Otherwise I wish you best of luck
 
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Hi Padders. I see note your point. To be honest couldnt have put enough photos online of this lot. The ones advertised were the basics, front sides back, lugs etc. We actually had another 30+ photos taken for condition reports and requests. I am almost certain all those who bid requested extra photos. So to answer your question I wouldn’t have expected people to seriously bid without contacting us for extra information/ pictures and condition reports anyway.

This was the worst listing for an rare Omega , I've seen in my 30 plus years of collecting . You are lucky , that the owner does not sue you. Putting up lousy main pics. and argue, it does not matter , because you had better ones, that could be requested? This Speedy had many inconsistencies, but set the Hands in a way to conceal the important writing on the Dial and therefore hidding and sowing doubt instead of clarifying the facts about the hands and the all important dial , is not in your sellers interest. Same for the bezel, as if it was not important...... My guess is, you missed a 30-50% higher price because of that. Even a lot more, if these are genuine ( which I doubt). I was left very bewildered with that auction. But it is your business, so..... Kind regards. Achim
 
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😲

So a total of about 35% between buyers and sellers fees. More motivation for me to simply list watches on the forum with fair prices.
As long as they get enough business they do not need to lower any fees, do they? It is all about finding the sweet spot where most value are made for the auction house. Most business probably come from individuals that have no clue what the value of items they are selling is and that fees are taken from the buyer also.

With that said, I also go the route of primarily selling via forums and ad platforms as I think it is simply to large piece that is taken by the auction houses.
 
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As long as they get enough business they do not need to lower any fees, do they? It is all about finding the sweet spot where most value are made for the auction house. Most business probably come from individuals that have no clue what the value of items they are selling is and that fees are taken from the buyer also.

With that said, I also go the route of primarily selling via forums and ad platforms as I think it is simply to large piece that is taken by the auction houses.

I understand supply and demand, but don't forget, we are talking about what I would consider to be an obscure auction house here, not Philips. There are only a few auctioneers who can justify such high fees.
 
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Hi Padders. I see note your point. To be honest couldnt have put enough photos online of this lot. The ones advertised were the basics, front sides back, lugs etc. We actually had another 30+ photos taken for condition reports and requests. I am almost certain all those who bid requested extra photos. So to answer your question I wouldn’t have expected people to seriously bid without contacting us for extra information/ pictures and condition reports anyway.
would be nice to see the other pictures here. can you manage that?
 
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I like Sterling because, - in the vintage area certainly, - the sellers clearly often couldn't care less what their watches fetch. Thus I have got lots of great deals from them because of the total lack of photos of things which some might consider important.

Like the movement.

i'm not sure I am impressed by the argument that where I am deciding up until the last minute how to (change my?) bid, they did have lots of photos of the watch which they weren't disclosing!

They are very cooperative and helpful, though occasionally it has been reasonably clear that they owned the watches they were selling. For that reason, possibly, their selection has been a bit limited of late! I am impressed by Sterling not being an auctioneer which obfuscates their watches by photographing the whole strap with the watch!

When all is said and done, their sales do accurately reflect the plain fact that it is relatively difficult to turn vintage watches into cash while being relatively easy to turn modern watches into cash!