Christie's Updates Buyers Premiums

Auction Central News reports on the new fee schedule, which appears to raise the buyers premium on wine, and widens the thresholds for all other purchases.  According to the release, this is the first increase of buyers premiums at Christie's in the past 5 years.

LONDON - Following an internal business review, Christie’s International has announced an adjustment to its buyer’s premium schedule that will result in an increase in the fee paid by the successful buyer of an item at auction. This amendment widens the price thresholds at which fees are applied but represents no change in the fee percentages themselves.

For Wine auctions only, where a flat percentage fee applies, Christie’s is implementing increases of 1 to 2 percent for live and online-only Wine auctions hosted through its main sales sites in New York, Hong Kong, London, Geneva and Paris. These changes will take effect for all auctions occurring on and after Monday, March 11, 2013.

For all collecting categories other than Wine, this change represents the first fee amendment the company has made in nearly five years. "These incremental changes will keep Christie’s current with rising costs while minimizing the impact on both buyers and sellers, who rely on our broad global reach as an auction services provider," a Christie's press release states.

The following examples illustrate the fee changes at each threshold level:

For collecting categories other than Wine, the new premium rate will be an amount equal to 25% of the hammer price of each lot up to and including £37,500/$75,000; plus 20% of the hammer price from £37,501/$75,001 up to and including £750,000/$1,500,000 and 12% above £750,001/$1,500,001 and above. This change effectively widens the thresholds where the percentage fees apply but does not change the percentage rates.

Examples of the impact on purchase prices (before taxes) for clients:

·  A client purchasing a lot with a hammer price of £50,000 currently pays £11,250 in premium. They would now pay £11,875 – an increase of £625 (5.6%)

·  A client purchasing a lot with a hammer price of £500,000 currently pays £101,250 in premium. They would now pay £101,875 – an increase of £625 (0.6%)

·  A client purchasing a lot with a hammer price of £3,000,000 currently pays £401,250 in premium. They would now pay £421,875 – an increase of £20,625 (5.14%)

For Wine sales, the new premium rates will be an amount equal to 22% of the hammer price in New York and Hong Kong and an amount equal to 17% of the hammer price in London, Paris and Geneva.



Read more: http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/index.php/features/auction-houses#ixzz2L4p9u5im