Battle of the Auction Platforms

Battle - RM vs. BaT: Ford GT Heritage

BOTH CARS SOLD FOR THE SAME PRICE INLUDING PREMIUM, BUT WHAT DOES THE SELLER GETS?

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A very interesting Battle ended in not even 24 hours last week. This a US Battle between the traditional auction house RM Sotheby’s and the rising online star Bring a Trailer. And what a great looking car, reminding the racing success of Ford at Le Mans in the 60’s, was on the sales. The 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition.

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Only 343 examples of the Heritage Edition were produced, all in the liveries of the three winning cars from Le Mans ‘66. These two like new examples were both in the Ken Miles driven car Heritage Blue with Epic Orange livery, one with 5.400 and the second with 4.500 miles on the clock. And also the results were exactly the same when the buyer’s premium included, both cars were sold for 385.000 USD. (RM auction link)

But is the result really the same? Not for the seller. Although RM Sotheby’s does not present their seller’s fees, we know, that the buyer’s premium is 10 % (+ VAT) and that the seller’s fees are negotiable, a standard of 10 % is also here applied, but the seller is able of negotiate it to 5 % for interesting cars with a reasonable reserve. If you deduct those fees from the selling price you end up with 315.000 to 332.500 USD for seller selling through RM Sotheby’s. But at BaT, the seller gets 379.651 USD from the selling price! (BaT auction link)

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An astonishing difference for the seller which makes it a clear win for BaT in this Battle!