I contacted Class Act Auctioneers regarding items I wanted to sell. Since I lived close they agreed to pick up the items and would determine what to take when they arrived.
Frank arrived and advised that they would take everything and decide what to auction, what to sell during a sale at their warehouse and what to suggest we donate to charity or take back. I agreed to this. He advised that they would charge a 40% commission, I agreed to this as well.
It took him 3 or 4 trips to transport all the items. On the final trip he brought the contract for me to sign. It listed the 40% commission as well as a listing fee of $3.50 per item and an auction administrative fee of $2.00 per item. I naively assumed this would probably bring the total I paid them to around 50% and decided it was worth it to have them handle everything so I signed the contract.
They were to have everything that was to be auctioned included in their 11/29/15 auction, they did not. The remainder of the items were included in their 12/26/15 auction.
I received statements from them with the auction activity.
The 11/29/15 auctions items sold for a total of $2362.00. They charged $1015.00 in expenses and $944.80 commission. I received $402.20 for a net proceed of 17%.
The 12/26/15 auctions items sold for a total of $145.00. They charged $213.50.00 in expenses and $58.00 commission. I received an invoice for $126.50 which they wrote off after I contacted them.
In total they sold my items for $2507.00 of which I received $402.20 (which would have been $275.70 if they had not written off the balance due from the 12/26/15 auction). They did not charge me the $2.00 per item auction administrative fee or it would have cost me an additional $702 for the 351 items they listed and I would have owed them $299.80 for selling my items from the 12/26/15 auction.
I contacted Ron, the auctioneer, and he explained that this is how the auction business is and that they will list items regardless of whether it will cost the consigner money to sell them and do not feel the need to advise the consigner of this. Example, vintage album jackets sold for $3.00 minus $4.70 so it cost me $1.70 to sell them.
Apparently they will also break items up into multiple batches. Example, a set of Mikasa Garden Harvest dinnerware and serveware were broken into 15 items rather than 1. 15 lots times $5.50 is $82.50 as opposed to 1 lot for $5.50.
I contacted Class Act Auctioneers regarding items I wanted to sell. Since I lived close they agreed to pick up the items and would determine what to take when they arrived.
Frank arrived and advised that they would take everything and decide what to auction, what to sell during a sale at their warehouse and what to suggest we donate to charity or take back. I agreed to this. He advised that they would charge a 40% commission, I agreed to this as well.
It took him 3 or 4 trips to transport all the items. On the final trip he brought the contract for me to sign. It listed the 40% commission as well as a listing fee of $3.50 per item and an auction administrative fee of $2.00 per item. I naively assumed this would probably bring the total I paid them to around 50% and decided it was worth it to have them handle everything so I signed the contract.
They were to have everything that was to be auctioned included in their 11/29/15 auction, they did not. The remainder of the items were included in their 12/26/15 auction.
I received statements from them with the auction activity.
The 11/29/15 auctions items sold for a total of $2362.00. They charged $1015.00 in expenses and $944.80 commission. I received $402.20 for a net proceed of 17%.
The 12/26/15 auctions items sold for a total of $145.00. They charged $213.50.00 in expenses and $58.00 commission. I received an invoice for $126.50 which they wrote off after I contacted them.
In total they sold my items for $2507.00 of which I received $402.20 (which would have been $275.70 if they had not written off the balance due from the 12/26/15 auction). They did not charge me the $2.00 per item auction administrative fee or it would have cost me an additional $702 for the 351 items they listed and I would have owed them $299.80 for selling my items from the 12/26/15 auction.
I contacted Ron, the auctioneer, and he explained that this is how the auction business is and that they will list items regardless of whether it will cost the consigner money to sell them and do not feel the need to advise the consigner of this. Example, vintage album jackets sold for $3.00 minus $4.70 so it cost me $1.70 to sell them.
Apparently they will also break items up into multiple batches. Example, a set of Mikasa Garden Harvest dinnerware and serveware were broken into 15 items rather than 1. 15 lots times $5.50 is $82.50 as opposed to 1 lot for $5.50.
I have learned a very expensive lesson.