Can a bid be bumped up by an auction house to force a sale?

DoaM

Well the buyer would pay 10% of £160 = £16 ... but yeah - that thought crossed my mind too.

theoretica

It reads to me as though the auction house messed up.  They sold the item when it should have been passed and are now trying to get out of the situation - while suffering from the common inability to admit they messed up.  Someone else now thinks the item is theirs.  You agreed to sell it for whatever the reserve price less commission comes to and how that price is made up doesn't seem to be something you can insist on.

shaun_from_Africa

DoaM said:

Well the buyer would pay 10% of £160 = £16 ... but yeah - that thought crossed my mind too.

You're right of course. My figures were slightly off (£2 difference) but in my example it's still a return of £43 for the auctioneers (£16 buyer fee, £27 seller fee) for a £20 outlay.
For a one off deal it's not a lot but if they do the same on a few lots per auction, the extra £s could soon start adding up.

waamo

One persons "nice little earner" is another persons "thieving barstewards". I couldn't possibly comment on my thoughts though.

bris

It's common practice at all auction houses to have a certain discretion when selling. Knowing the T&C;s when entering items into an auction is a bit of a no brainer, really so you really can't complain when the T&C's are used.

They want a sale, thats what they do sell things, unsold items don't make commission.

FelineAmazing

shaun_from_Africa said:

It sounds very dodgy to me.
Just as an example.
Item reserve price £200 with a 10% discretion so it could sell with a hammer price of £180. Of this £180, the OP would pay commission which if it's 15% (about the going rate), would be £27. The buyer would also pay a buyer's premium of around 10% so that would be £18.
This means that at the hammer price of £180, the auction house would earn £45.

Say the final bid was £160 (£40 below reserve and £20 below the reserve with 10% discretion) and the auctioneers sold it at this price and made up the difference of £20 payable to the OP. This means that for their £20 outlay, they get £45 back in buyer and seller fees.
Quite a nice little earner.

Exactly. They’re claiming they’re doing us a favour...

FelineAmazing

bris said:

It's common practice at all auction houses to have a certain discretion when selling. Knowing the T&C;s when entering items into an auction is a bit of a no brainer, really so you really can't complain when the T&C's are used.

They want a sale, thats what they do sell things, unsold items don't make commission.

Totally get that but it’s not the 10% we’re disputing. To me they’re forcing a sale by making up the reserve in addition to the 10% - fair enough if they want to make that offer to us but I expect to be able to accept or reject it. 

FelineAmazing

tizerbelle said:

How much are you talking here for this 10% difference? 

Is is really worth stressing about?

It’s the principle :-) 

The_Rainmaker

Most reserves have discretion and you should have factored that in to your reserve at the start.

You are selling in the middle of a pandemic and it is logical to surmise that prices won't be the best in these circumstances.

If and when I buy/sell at auction the first thing I read are the T&Cs (skim read usually) and fees.

Accept the sale and get on with your life.

Sandtree

theoretica said:

It reads to me as though the auction house messed up.  

Its not a mess up at all, its simple maths to say that the auction house is better off using some of their commission to make the price up to the true reserve (reserve minus discretion) than to pass the item.

It sounds more like sellers remorse, when you list an item on eBay without a reserve as you're sure it'll sell for over £200 and you dont want to pay the fee for a reserve and then don't want to send it when it actually sells for just £50.

The OP will get the money they should have been expecting, its the minimum but it is the amount. There are plenty of other tactics that auctions can use, such as non-existent bids, that are much more morally questionable.