God knows I’m NOT on the side of the auctioneers . BUT from the quality of the catalog you guys are saying that’s not inexpensive in today’s market . Printing costs can be lessened by quantity , but I would assume they print no more then possibly two or three thousand which in any printing circles I was ever apart of would be considered small and not generally worthy of any discounts . Also it seems they advertise a more then fair amount . To say nothing of paying a semi competent person to take somewhat decent photographs for the net/catalog/advertising. Again I by no means am on the side of the auctioneers but I can see why they charge what they charge and again I don’t like paying 15-30% either .

Most of the folks I know just deduct the juice from their bid price so it's factored in and never really paid by the buyer. I realize there will be exceptions to this but I would suspect this holds true in most cases.

Yes. And unfortunately, the poor begger who ends up taking the real hit is the SELLER!

Is there also a seller's premium?

Yes. They get it from BOTH ends.

To be fair, Morphy’s does a great job assembling an exceptional group of firearms for auction. Would I pay that premium? I haven’t so far and probably not. But if the price is low enough that, including the 26%, the gun is still about 70-80% of retail, I would consider it. Morphy’s and Rock Island also do a very good job describing the gun. Others, not so much. But all those beautiful catalogs and advertising, that you pay for, brings more interested potential buyers, thus bringing a higher hammer price. Good for the seller and good for the auction house, but not good for the buyer. And if they can further offset cost by getting guys to purchase their advertising material, even better. Again, Morphy’s offers some really fantastic guns, but you will pay. Another positive for Morphy’s, they have a relationship with Dewey Vicknair. For a small fee, I think it’s $125, he will inspect the gun for you prior to the auction. If you’re bidding on a higher end gun, it may be worth the cost.

Joe I was not aware of the inspection being offered by DV. Good to know that's available should the right gun present itself, thanks !

26% on the back end, and something on the front end. Wow!
Now, I understand that Morphy's or RIA or anyone else is not running a charity, but it seems like they are giving their customer a rough ride. That being said, who is their customer? The consignor or the purchaser?

That's one reason why I probably will not sell at auction, there are plenty of fine dealers that will advertise and sell your gun for 10 to 15%. If I am a seller at an auction I know the buyers are subtracting 20 to 26% from my price plus what I am paying the auction house :shock: I won't even get close to top dollar for my guns.

The sellers fee is normally on a sliding scale determined by the hammer price. The more an item sells for the lower the sellers fee percentage, which I understand. It takes almost as much effort and resources to catalog a $2k item versus a $20k item.
Maybe the reason the buyers fee is creeping up is the average lot price is declining and the auction still needs to cover fixed expenses???