Instead of whittling these people down with that kind of rigorous commission, I have it at twelve percent to the seller and ten percent to the buyer. Armed with low commission rates and relying on the buyer's premium to make up the difference in revenue, Gordon vigorously prospects in other areas. Gordon says he reads the frequent discussions in antiques trade papers on the merits of buyer's premiums and believes those opposing it simply do not understand its purpose. The buyer's premium is a tool to cut the throat of another auctioneer. Auctioneer and attorney Steve Proffitt's column in trade papers such as M.A.D. is one that has discussed buyer's premiums.
Further problems occur when it is improperly used.
In my judgment, all auctions will eventually have to charge a buyer's premium to stay competitive, because it will be required to lure sellers to bring their assets into the auction markets. The primary challenge for auctioneers is to find sellers, and the buyer's premium has been shown time and again not to be an impediment to finding bidders. My wife and I have bought many of our most cherished possessions at auctions where we gladly paid a buyer's premium to obtain what we wanted. Steve Proffitt, however, sympathizes with both sides of the buyer's premium issue. I support auctioneers who use the buyer's premium properly as the marketing tool that it was designed to be.