Community Stories

Why do auction houses always undervalue watch estimates?

guaranteed.rohu
Posts
1,194
Likes
6,139
Has anyone wondered about this also? 'Always' might be overstating it, but seems like most of the time I see the major auction houses this is happening.

Auctions houses always seem to massively under estimate for watches going up for auction. Is there any actual reason for this? Tax implications or other?

And then on the flip side some of these watches that are super common (ceramic rolex hulks, pepsis, batmans etc.) seem to go for way above retail even though they're easily available for less than the auction price. A separate topic here, but seems a little suss.
 
Modest_Proposal
Posts
2,926
Likes
6,224
Low estimates bring in more bidders. Gives them a sense of optimism - that they're going to steal a watch right from under the appraiser's nose.

Then paddles and emotions start flying and you go from spending less than you were comfortable to more.
Edited:
 
Evitzee
Posts
6,751
Likes
12,739
Nothing will kill an item's potential for a successful auction price than setting the price too high. If one was to sell a Snoopy 50th at auction it will bring a much better result with an estimate of $10,000 to $12,000 versus an estimate of $28,000 to $30,000. You want to generate interest, not kill it.
 
guaranteed.rohu
Posts
1,194
Likes
6,139
Modest_Proposal Modest_Proposal
Low estimates bring in more bidders. Gives them a sense of optimism - that they're going to steal a watch right from under the appraiser's nose.

Then paddles and emotions start flying and you go from spending less than you were comfortable to more.
Yeah good point, makes sense.

I find it surprising that it's happening with extremely common pieces that it'd take 30 seconds to check on the internet for the price and see that the auction house is putting the estimate at a 70-80% discount - but yeah I guess also sometimes people attending these auctions maybe are not the types to be caring about value.
 
rspace
Posts
238
Likes
518
It is also great PR for the auction house when every watch blog on the planet refers to its listing as “ hammered 4 times the high estimate”…
 
Neeb
Posts
191
Likes
245
I've just got into auctions and this threw me the first time. There was a watch I really wanted and the estimate was low, so I'd only prepared myself psychologically to bid up to a little over the high end of the estimate range. Of course it went much higher and I vacillated, so I lost it even though if I'd had a minute to think about it I'd have paid much more. So it didn't work in my case and the auction house / seller lost out.
 
timjohn
Posts
1,161
Likes
6,802
And don’t forget you’re paying 25-30% on top of the bid….
 
Spacefruit
Posts
5,258
Likes
23,994
Nothing to be gained from a high estimate.

Most Houses have a bonus commission on the amount they achieve over high estimate.

Very rarely will I buy a watch I like on the low Estimate, because if I like it, others will compete.

I set myself a limit, plus one. So when the price hits or exceeds my pre set limit, I go one bid.

Or I just go tonto and keep waving the paddle until everyone else is exhausted, staring at me like a mad man.
 
Sign up or log in to reply...

Similar threads

kaplan

Lot-Art Alternative? Do you manually check auction houses?

kaplan Vintage Omega Watches Help, Discussion and Advice
Mark020
Mark020
Posts
1
Views
1K