Auction All-In Price: What You Really Pay for a Winning Bid

What goes into an auction all-in price?

Four pieces make up the price you actually pay. Many auction sites show only the first one while you bid, and the other three arrive on the invoice.

• Hammer price: the winning bid when the lot closes.
• Buyer's premium: the house's percentage of the hammer, set in each sale's terms.
• Sales tax: in Texas, up to 8.25%, generally charged on the hammer plus premium unless you give the house a resale certificate.
• Shipping or handling: a per-lot price, a combined amount added after the sale, or nothing if you pick up.

How do you calculate an all-in price?

Multiply the hammer by one plus the premium rate, multiply that by one plus the tax rate, then add shipping. Here is the math for a $200 hammer at an 18% premium and 8.25% tax.

The gap grows with the price. A $1,200 hammer at the same rates is $1,532.82 before shipping, $332.82 more than the bid.

1. Premium: $200 x 18% = $36, for a subtotal of $236.
2. Tax: $236 x 8.25% = $19.47, for a subtotal of $255.47.
3. Shipping: if the lot ships for $25, add it, along with any tax the house charges on shipping. For pickup, $255.47 is the total.

How do you set a max bid from an all-in budget?

Work backward. Take the most you will spend, subtract shipping, and divide by the same multipliers. With an 18% premium and 8.25% tax, every hammer dollar costs about $1.277. A $400 all-in budget for a pickup lot means a max bid of about $313, which comes to $399.81.

Then enter that number as your max bid. The price you pay can never go above it, and if competition is light you will pay less. Write the number down before closing night so the heat of the last minutes does not change it.

How does all-in pricing work on Auktia?

Every price can be shown all-in: current bid, buyer's fee (buyer's premium), sales tax and shipping, recomputed as the bid moves. The page for every item (lot) shows that total before you bid, and a switch in the header, labeled All-in pricing, shows every price on the site that way. Either way, the bid you place is the cost you accept, so there is no surprise at invoice time.

Pickup items show the price without shipping, since you collect them yourself. Items that ship at a set price include it. If an auction adds one combined shipping amount after it closes, that amount comes on your invoice; see auction shipping for how each mode works.

Why do so many bidders go over budget?

Because the bid box shows the hammer. A bidder who stops at $500 thinks of the item as a $500 purchase, then opens a $622.44 invoice at a 15% premium and 8.25% tax. That gap leads to buyer's remorse and, sometimes, to unpaid invoices, which can get a bidder blocked. See what happens if you win and don't pay.

Seeing the full number while you bid takes the surprise out. It also makes comparisons honest: a $90 hammer at auction is not a deal against a $100 store price once the premium and tax bring it to about $112.

What does a winning bid cost all-in at common price points?

Here is a quick reference at a 15% buyer's premium and 8.25% sales tax, for pickup. Swap in your sale's rates and the pattern holds: the all-in price runs about a quarter above the hammer.

• $25 hammer: $31.12 all-in.
• $75 hammer: $93.37 all-in.
• $150 hammer: $186.73 all-in.
• $400 hammer: $497.95 all-in.
• $2,000 hammer: $2,489.75 all-in.