K&L Auctions to start charging 5% buyers premium

WINE TALK
1

Just got this email:

Thanks for all your support in helping K&L launch the fastest growing online wine auction of the past several years. We have a couple changes to K&L’s auctions for 2016, beginning this month. We believe these updates will result in an even greater number of fantastic lots for you over time, but there are a couple significant changes to bring to your attention in advance.

This month you will start to see lots coming online with a 5% buyer’s premium.
•You remain in full control of the purchase price you’d like to pay. When typing in your maximum bid, the net total of your bid plus premium will be auto-calculated and displayed for your convenience. NO mental math and NO surprises, so you can bid within your desired budget.

•By adding in a buyer’s premium and adjusting our seller commission structure, we aim to attract the top collections from around the country and provide an ever greater array of the world’s top wines.
•Our competitors all charge a buyer’s commission ranging from 15-25%. Our goal is to remain an industry low on commissions for both buyers and sellers.

Changes for Auction Consignors:

There are some new commission incentives available on the top collections (consignments of $10,000 and up), including lower commissions, or our new 105% store credit option. Please contact our Library Wine Department for details at auctions@klwines.com

In the past, we’ve offered sellers the option of a cash payout, or 100% of the hammer price in store credit paid in the form of gift cards. While the latter option has been very popular, it’s resulted in a pile of different K&L gift cards for top sellers, which has often become a hassle to manage. We are replacing the gift cards with a “K&L Credit Account” system that works as follows:
•When a lot sells, the hammer price (less the listing fee & applicable shipping charges) is automatically deposited into your K&L Credit Account. Any funds in your account used towards K&L retail purchases are not subject to seller’s commission. It’s easy to view your balance and apply the credit during checkout online or when shopping in our stores. Please note that as before, store credit via auctions cannot be used to buy other auction lots.
•Once you have funds in your K&L Credit Account, you may request a check online for any available amount. The current account balance will show both the total proceeds available for check payment (reflects deduction of seller commission) and funds available for store credit. A full transaction history detailing all deposits and withdrawals from your account will also be listed and accessible for Excel export.
•For all new consignments starting in January, your K&L Credit Account will be displayed in the “Auctions-Selling” page under the My Account section of klwines.com. Any consignments initiated prior to our January roll-out are not eligible for payment through the new K&L Credit Account system. However, if you have multiple older gift cards, we are happy to help you consolidate them on to a single gift card. Contact auctions@klwines.com and we’ll take care of it!


I always loved the fact that they were a no buyers commission auction site, but like the email says, if they are really trying to attract better consignment lots, then having a lower sellers commission structure could help somewhat.

2

K&L ships to so few states that I don’t know that they’ll ever be a significant player.

3

Don’t forget sale’s tax for us folks in CA. So now it looks more like 14% for me…

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t there big way to entice people to sell through them was no commission if you use the money to buy more wine from K&L has that now changed?

4

I don’t see it being any different in this aspect. You can’t use the funds to buy auction only retail anyways.

The real issue is that now the actual purchase price is lower and the seller gets less of the cut. K&L already doesn’t negotiate their fee for sellers so it’s just another hurdle.

5

Use a proxy shipper. I have K&L, and a few other wineries / retailers on the West Coast, ship to Portland Wine Storage in Oregon. Yes, you do pay a little extra to ship there and then to you, but it opens up a whole lotta places you otherwise couldn’t buy from.

Why am I having deja vu - didn’t we talk about the exact same thing a year ago? [scratch.gif]

6

I ruled them out due to site listing non ship to mn. I called them to inquiry on a specific rare bottle and found out they ship wine to mn but not hard alcohol or beer. Since their website for some reason cannot differentiate this they show can’t ship to mn as mn I guess doesn’t allow direct purchase of hard alcohol or beer.

If your state is listed as a non-ship state but is a direct ship state for wine it might be worth a call to make sure.

7

Pay twice for shipping? Why would I want to do that? [scratch.gif]

8

It doesn’t cost much to ship from CA to OR. If you want wine(s) from places that don’t ship to your state, this is one of the ways to handle it. If the few extra dollars are something you object to, then don’t use my suggestion.

9

Because it costs less all in. If not, don’t do it. Dollars are dollars.

10

For larger purchases, if you ship to Oregon there is no sales tax. That at times can more and cover the shipping cost.