It is amazing how often I hear the same comment regarding auction fees, but if you consider the immense expense involved with hosting the auction then we are nowhere near the profit margins seen in most industries. You have to consider salary, office rental, auction space, catalog printing, photography, shipping, various travel, advertising, credit card fees and other expenses at the minimum.

Regarding Direct Bid I can confirm we will be charging 10% buyers and 10% sellers commission, this is a lot of work for us at this return but we feel there is a gap in the market with many clients reluctant to buy or sell via the current online options. We are offering multiple photographs, descriptions and authenticity combined with our existing client base to potential sellers. We will set the estimates, photograph and describe the watches ourselves and act as a third party to ensure payment is cleared. We have set in place anti-sniping with most watches being offered on a 10 day period, considering the interest generated so far, it will be popular from day one.

I don't know about you but I usually tip 20% for good service at a restaurant, to charge the same for the service we will be providing most consider too low. So jump in quick before we put the charges up!

Charles Tearle

: Wow . . . 25% from buyer and 16% from seller is shocking. Can
: there be any other market with this cost of intermediation? I
: suppose that producing these live auctions can be expensive.

: I am confident that the DirectBid fees will be some fraction of
: this amount. I will not hazard a guess; perhaps we can invite
: Mr. Tearle for a return appearance, to address some questions.

: Jeff

: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: : My concern is the fee structure that me be imposed by
: Antiquorum.