The seller’s commission (sometimes called “seller’s premium” or just “commission”) is the percentage of the hammer price that the auction house keeps as its fee for selling the lot. Commission rates typically range from 5% for high-volume dealer consignors to 25% or more for one-time household consignors.
Commission structures vary widely. Major art auction houses use sliding scales (lower percentages on higher hammer prices). Vehicle auctions often charge a flat fee per car. Estate liquidators may take 30–50% of gross. Modern flat-fee platforms eliminate commission entirely — the auctioneer pays a fixed monthly subscription instead of a percentage of hammer. Net to consignor is what matters; gross commission is an opaque comparison.
The trend over the past 30 years has been declining seller commissions paired with increasing buyer’s premiums. Major auction houses have effectively shifted the cost burden from sellers to buyers, since lower seller commissions attract more consignors (the “supply side” of the auction market) while buyers, locked into the bidding process, are less price-sensitive on the back-end fee. Flat-fee platforms challenge this model entirely, charging neither side a percentage and instead monetizing through subscriptions or per-event fees.