Watching the most recent SB auction - most of the loaded Cas coins sold for face value (plus the 20% buyers fee SB I assume pockets).
Yes, SB keeps this commission ("buyer's premium").
This is unfortunate for the sellers who basically made no profit at all. I don’t fully agree with OP though in that SB is not going to take on the risk of selling a loaded coin which is worth 75k and only make 20% of the profit above the spot price of BTC as it wouldn’t be worth it to them - there is likely some middle ground.
I know that large recent sale of Cas coins on Heritage I think the buyers premium was split between the auction house and the seller - that seemed like a fairer deal.
I agree with you that a middle ground could work, especially considering all the insurance, storage, overhead, etc. that comes with safely auctioning high-value items.
- As it stands, SB made $107,959 from all the loaded coins in their recent auction; sellers made $19,915.
- If commissions had been split 50-50, SB would've made $53,980; sellers $73,895.
- If commissions had only been taken on the collectible values, SB would've made $21,312; sellers $106,562.
I could probably get behind a middle ground that looks like that. If either party makes a profit, all parties should.
In fact, a seller not making any money or in fact losing money on an auction in which the auctioneer makes so much might even be construed as breach of fiduciary duty in some jurisdictions. Auctioneers are legally considered to be agents of seller, after all.
What will happen if this continues and the fees don’t change is people will simply stop selling their loaded Cas coins on SB as they will not expect to make any profit at all as buyers aren’t willing to pay more than a 20% premium over spot price at this time it seems.
The collectible value certainly looks more or less decoupled to me, so I wouldn't expect to see vastly higher premiums from collectors. I mostly agree with you, except for one detail: If this continues, premiums hold steady, but crypto prices rise by as little as 10-20%, people simply won't be able to sell Cas coins with SB anymore, as their commission structure would make it impossible.