For the third time
since 2016, Christie's have raised buyer's premiums, above the fees charged by
rival auction houses Sotheby's and Phillips.
Auction houses typically charge graded fees, with the highest premiums applied to
the lowest-priced items while highly priced objects imply smaller fees from the buyer.
The new fee for works sold in the top
tier (above $4 million in New York and above £3 million in London) will
now be 13.5 percent of the hammer price, up from 12.5 percent. At Sotheby's,
the fee is 12.9 percent and 12.5 percent at Phillips.
The premium for
works sold under 250,000 USD (225,000 GBP in London) has been fixed at 25% of
the hammer price while a fee of 20% will be applied for works sold between
300,001 and 3 million USD and 225,001 and 3 million GBP)
.
Fees will also rise across all other Christie's
locations, except Shanghai, where the auction house will continue to charge a
flat 20 percent fee on all objects sold. Christie's previously raised fees in September 2017 and
September 2016. The 2016 increase was the first in three years.