Proxibid houses have a golden opportunity to pick up additional customers with the right advertising as traditional numismatic houses wrestle with online buyer’s fees. One house on the portal–Brian’s Auction Service–has set the pace with a 5% buyer’s fee special for its April 10 auction. Click picture to expand.

Brian’s Auction Service is a numismatically savvy house that uses PayPal rather than APN clearance, allowing Proxibid buyers to use credit cards conveniently on Internet. Moreover, the photography is good and shipping even better, with orders going out within 48 hours of payment.

In a recent post Proxiblog advocated for specials to spur competition and win new bidders. Brian’s Auction Service did just that, announcing in its terms of service: “THIS IS A CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE. ONLY A 5% BUYERS PREMIUM. SEND US A CHECK AND RECEIVE AN ADDITIONAL 3% OFF.”

This offer comes when Teletrade and Great Collections are offering buyer and seller fee specials, with Teletrade reducing seller fees for consignments to 0%, matched by Great Collections on some consignments with the latter keeping fees at a low 10%. (For specifics of each major house, click pictures to expand.)

Teletrade and Great Collections continue to compete vigorously while some traditional houses used to setting terms are going in the opposite direction, believing they can still set the pace with others following in an Internet age. Stack’s and Bowers Galleries has raised its buyer’s fee for the June Baltimore Auction to 17.5%, lowering the fee to 15% for invoices exceeding $50,000.

Stack’s and Bowers believes it can do this because it has an elite buyers’ audience and top consignments.

However, we have seen equally top consignments at Teletrade and Great Collections–two of the most Internet savvy auction houses in the business.

With elite East and West Coast numismatic companies expected to raise their fees by following the example of Stack’s and Bowers, Proxiblog sees an opportunity for top houses such as Leonard’s Auction, Capitol Auction, Weaver Signature Coin and Currency Auction, and Western Auction, among others, to consider specials and lower or continue at low rates their buyer’s and seller’s fees.

Currently Teletrade and Great Collections are not offering raw coins, as does Proxibid, and this gives the portal’s houses another advantage to win over customers. But auction houses on the portal must adhere to all the conveniences and standards of the major competitors, i.e., accurate lot descriptions, refunds for counterfeits, superior photography, flat-rate shipping and (we cannot emphasize this enough), refusing to see maximum bids or allowing consignors/auctioneers to ghost bid on the portal.

Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.