3/12/2013

Bonhams Hold the Line on Buyers Premiums


The Antiques Gazette is reporting that Bonhams will be bucking the recent trend of Sotheby's and Christie's and will not be increasing buyers premiums.

Nice to see a little independence and concern for the buyers.

The ATG reports
Bonhams have announced that they will not be following Christie’s and Sotheby’s in raising buyer’s premium thresholds.

It means that the three auction houses have moved from matching charges for buyers in their main categories to operating three separate systems.

Although all three use a staggered premium rating of 25%/20%/12%, they have all now adopted differing thresholds at which those percentages change.

Sotheby's chose to push their thresholds to a higher level than those announced by Christie's at the end of last month.

Bonhams' chief executive for the UK and Europe, Matthew Girling, said: "With the USA just coming out of recession and Europe still struggling, we do not feel this is the right time to be adding to our buyers' costs by increasing the buyers' premium thresholds."
Source: The Antiques Trade Gazette 

No comments: