Monday, February 27, 2012

Letter from Fred Thomas, President of Frame and Wheel about revised PAAS for buyers

Dear Frame and Wheel customers,
I read that Edvard Munch’s famous painting, The Scream, will be auctioned in New York in May. The auction is being conducted by Sotheby’s in New York and the estimated selling price is $80m. This news highlights an important point about auctions that has been gnawing at me for some time, and that is relevant to Frame and Wheel. When something gets auctioned at Sotheby’s or Christie’s, it is the buyer who pays the commission rather than the seller. Frame and Wheel is an auction service and in this spirit has always charged the buyer a Product Analysis and Service (PAAS) charge, primarily to defray costs of packaging and to compensate for the time and effort of originating and executing a smooth auction. However, this sum has been a fixed charge rather than a percentage of the hammer price, and has been arbitrarily set at a level that does not reflect accurately the amount of work that goes into originating numerous and relevant images, providing accurate and comprehensive descriptions, responding promptly to email questions and shipping worldwide. The low PAAS charge effectively puts the bulk of the commission burden on the seller. Consequently, Frame and Wheel is introducing the new PAAS structure that will level the commission burden between buyer and seller, and allow Frame and Wheel to continue to provide excellent auctions. The changes are effective 27 February 2012. Thank you for your patience and understanding and I look forward to working with you in 2012.
Sincerely,
Fred Thomas
President
Frame and Wheel, Inc.
Appendix 1: Revised Frame and Wheel Product Analysis and Service (PAAS) charge
Revised Frame and Wheel Product Analysis and Service (PAAS) charge
Item
Revised ($)
Previous ($)
Change (%)
Bicycles
80.00
25.00
220
Framesets
50.00
25.00
200
Wheel set
40.00
20.00
200
Wheel
20.00
10.00
100
Accessories
15.00
5.00
200
Components
10.00
5.00
100

No comments:

Post a Comment