COMMISSION RATES

Seller's Commissions

 The commission is based on the total sale price for all of a consignor's lots. The commission is a percentage of the sale price plus any platform fees. Contact us for current rates.

Value Estimates and Reserves

 The value estimates provided for your consignment is our estimate of the range of lowest and highest value that the lot is reasonably estimated to bring. We base our estimates on almost forty years experience in marble collecting and based on what similar items have brought in our other auctions in the past. Generally, the minimum estimate is the reasonable wholesale value of the lot. The maximum estimate is usually twice the minimum, or the approximate high retail value of the lot. Mint, very unusual or rare items tend to go higher, while more common or damaged items tend to sell at, or below, the minimum estimate. Due to the inherent nature of an auction, we cannot guarantee that any lot will sell within the value estimate.

Auction lots that consist of more than a single marble (bulk groups, groupings of marbles, etc) take us a significantly longer time to sort, grade, image, catalogue and pack for shipping. Effective December 15, 2022, lots that consist of groupings of marbles and bulk lots will be charged a seller commission double the rate for single marble lots, plus the platform fees.

We do not encourage consignors to place reserves on their lots, but we do understand that a consignor may not want to allow an item to sell at a ridiculously low price. There is an upside and a downside to placing a reserve on an item. The upside is that the consignor can have the comfort that the lot will not sell below the reserve price. The downside is that we have found that a reserve above the minimum lot value estimate tends to scare away bidders. Therefore, if you are going to place a reserve on an item, we ask that you be realistic in setting the reserve. You should set your reserve to protect your investment in the item. You should not set your reserve at the level at which you think the item would sell. After all, if you had a buyer for the lot at the price you thought it would sell, you would sell it to that buyer, not place it in the auction and incur the commission expense. Under no circumstances will we accept reserves that are above the minimum lot estimate for the item. We reserve the right to withdraw a lot from an auction if, in our opinion, the consignor's reserve will be detrimental to the auction as a whole.

Prior to an auction being posted and opening for absentee bidding on the auction platform, a consignor can request that a lot be withdrawn. The consignor will be charged one-half the commission, calculated on the minimum lot estimate, to compensate us for the time spent cataloguing and imaging the lot. Lots cannot be withdrawn after an auction is posted on the auction platform and it has received an absentee bid, except due to a valid court order from a State of Connecticut Court.

We actively discourage consignors from bidding on their own lots. Because bidders use nicknames during the auction, we usually won’t know if you are bidding on your own lot. If you bid on your own lot, you run the risk of buying it back and owing us the seller’s commission (and any buyer’s premium). This has occurred in a couple of instances, much to the consignor's chagrin. Don’t bid on your own lot, set a reserve.