EBAY V Auction houses

Just because the country auction house sells antiques does not mean they can remain in the 19th century. OK granted many are now online now with the saleroom, but Jesus have you tried to button down an item you want? Postage? work out costs? Condition report?

AUCTION HOUSES COMPARISON WITH EBAY

1) Photos - Why do we get a single photo, on eaby you may get x10. Surely the seller could supply images if they wanted - most people can handle a camera. If I was selling through an auction house I could supply x20 good photos - it's not the dark ages, photos no longer take up half your storage Most phones can take thousands of images. On ebay 99% of sellers will send or post additional images if you ask nicely.

EBAY WINS

2) Condition - Jesus, how can they justify missing damage - to be sure of what you are buying you need to go and see it yourself. Ebay, yes I have many items described by the novice seller as perfect - then turns out to have an bloody great hairline. So Ebay not 100% here but asking for condition report is bullshit. Why don't they post a condition report as standard in auction houses. At least you have a recourse if 'not as described' on Ebay

EBAY WINS

3) Postage - F-ing useless half of them - from the time the 'authorized' postage firm would not answer my emails once they knew the item was of low (20-30) value (not worth their effort) to reading the small print recently where they say 'will not post ceramics' ...REALLY ? Tossers. Well if Eaby can sort it out then pull your finger out of your butt and get an affordable and reliable postage service working.

EBAY WINS

4) Comission and bidding - I will write this slowly ...... Auction houses are thieves IMO. The amount of extras, never trust commission bids. Often they seem to go for exactly what i bid, strange that. On Ebay you pay what you bid and add P+P  postage is normally OK if not then 99% of the time you knew what it would be and can factor that in before you bid.

EBAY WINS

OK

Result = 4/0 to EBAY

No wonder I don't buy from auctions, the tossers need to sort themselves out. Now I may be missing a point here - ebay is for the public where many country auction houses are really for the dealers who buy the loins share of the stuff and keep the house going. Auctioneer has to look after his dealers doesn't he?

I left a bid at a local auction house and guess what the item (last in the auction catalogue) went for? Yes, my max bid. I doubt they even bothered to open it up to the floor.

Or the auctioneer asked someone to bid up to one notch under your bid. Honestly the only places with more dodges must be a travelers horsefair (is it Stow?) or pubs.

I have just sold my first item at Auction...my bear and cub if you remember..sold for £170..bought for £20...and it was very very heavy(probably couldnt have posted)...and Ebay seems to have died for me at mo..so at the mo-i'm lucky

Cartels at auction houses keeping prices down by promising not to bid against each other and divying up their haul after the auction

Ahh Naomi that is a 'ring' and is illegal.

Yes, you'd think so, wouldn't you, but when all your stuff sells at the auctioneer's discretion at 10% under your reserve, then something looks fishy.

Yup sure does

As I've said before we knew some family friends who ran a country auction, he was an auctioneer and set up on his own. He had tea and biscuits after the auction with all the main dealers. Fine when things are going well but when things get a bit rough and you have a mortgage to pay....then....

Auction houses have a place in the array of options open to people when trying to sell something. They don't replace eBay. If something is damaged, restored or over a certain size then auctions can get you a good price. For the majority of items eBay is better, its direct to the public and should be seen as the retail side of things. But damaged or restored items tank on ebay, those often slip through in auctions to buyers who have not checked or are buying at distance.

For me I now never buy anything at auction that I have not held in my hand or is not part of a wider group of objects that is being cleared as a group so i can absorb some throw away items. Ebay on the other hand I only buy if it is ending at a strange time, is mislisted, generally listed (generic title without manufacturer) or obscure enough that it can slip through. Well known manufacturers, perfect items that finish at 8pm on Sunday night are rarely bargains.

As a collector of studio pottery. Specialist auctions get all the top potters that never appear on Ebay. If you building a specialist collection,then it is just not possible to build one on Ebay.
Moreover, you are confusing the issues here. Ebay is not an auction house. It is an Online platform that uses the form of an auction as a selling tool. But in fact the vast majority of items on Ebay are now BIN's, and the auction process is getting less and less. People want instant satisfaction.
Moreover nearly all the studio pottery on Ebay that is anyway decent, is vastly overpriced.

Having said the above....ahem
We had a catalogue through from Toovey's the Sussex auctioneers. They have just put their Buyer's premium and Internet buying rates up.Buyer's commission id now 24.5 %, which works out at 29% Vat Inclusive. Plus the use of the Internet facilities supplied by the Saleroom goes up from 3% to 5%, which works out at 6% Vat inclusive. So the total cost of buying an item from them,and bidding remotely, is 35% on top of the hammer price.
They are not alone. A good number of provincial auction houses this year have increased their Buyer's premium this year. 25 % + or - a bit + VAT , seems to have be becoming g the industry norm. Which of course, makes you think very carefully about what hammer price you want to pay.

All good points. I suppose I should have clarified that I work and simply can't get to an auction in Cheshire on a rainy March Wednesday afternoon so my only option is online bidding or commission bids. All round auction houses COULD improve their product to be with better descriptions, postage arrangements, photos etc. but they don't. Unless you an go to the auction then in many cases it's extremely difficult to buy that item you want and get it sent.

Philpot - yes, very true. If you are higher end then you will be in bed with the auction houses, no option there, that is where the market is but don't you wish they made things easier? Have you ever gone to an auction to find the piece you want A/F and not mentioned in the description? A big waste of your time?

I suppose I'm saying that we now live in a [b]remote world[/b, books from Amazon dropping out of the sky, Tesco delivers your bogroll and toothpaste and cat food to your door at 8:00PM, internet banking, music, films but the auction houses are still stuck with one photo, poor descriptions and shocking costs and need dragging into the 21st C - Saleroom is a start but not good enough so overall C- MUST TRY HARDER