All items on Sothebys.com are subject to a 15 percent Buyer's Premium. A Buyer's Premium is an additional fee traditionally charged by auction houses on the sale of fine goods. It is added to the winning bid price and is payable by the buyer to the seller as part of the total sale price.

Most traditional auction houses charge a buyer's premium of 10 to 20 percent of the sales price to cover their costs for services that are essential for successful auctioning of fine art, antiques, and other unique collectibles. More specifically, auctioneers collect a premium to pay for value-added services such as authenticity guarantee and property storage and handling. Sothebys.com has introduced this 15 percent Buyer's Premium to allow our sellers to list on the high quality property that would normally only be available in auction house showrooms.

At Sothebys.com, all bid prices include the 15% buyer's premium. The price that you see and bid will always be the total price that you will actually pay if you win the auction. If sales or other taxes apply, the seller will let you know.

The examples below illustrate how the Buyer's Premium is calculated. If the seller lists an item with the opening bid price of $1,000, the opening minimum bid price is $1,150 ($1,000 plus 15 percent Buyer's Premium of $150).

As seen in the next example, the price on the top of the item page displays $1,100, which is the total price that the buyer pays if the bidding ends at this moment.

The next minimum bid would be at $1,250, as calculated in the following example.

The Buyer's Premium is paid to the seller to help cover the costs for value-added services that they must provide in order to trade on the Sothebys.com site. A customary Final Value Fee is charged to Sothebys.com sellers based on 15% of the Total Price, which includes the buyer's premium.

Special note: The Buyer's Premium applies only to items listed in Sothebys.com, not eBay.com.

For more information, check out Frequently Asked Questions on Buyer's Premium.