{"id":2127112,"date":"2026-09-03T20:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2127112"},"modified":"2026-09-03T20:02:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:02:00","slug":"christies-and-bonhams-quietly-hike-buyers-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2127112","title":{"rendered":"Christie\u2019s and Bonhams Quietly Hike Buyers\u2019 Fees"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-809010.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\tChristie\u2019s and Bonhams have both quietly raised the fees they charge buyers. The charges, which auction houses like to call \u201cbuyer\u2019s premiums,\u201d are added on top of a lot\u2019s hammer price and are a key source of revenue for the houses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAt Christie\u2019s, effective September 1, the house is charging 28% of the hammer price of each lot up to and including \u00a31.5 million or $2 million; 22% of the hammer price from \u00a31.5 million or $2 million up to and including \u00a36 million or $8 million; and 15% of the hammer price above that threshold. The changes affect all departments except wine and were instituted \u201cfollowing an internal business review,\u201d according to a press statement sent to ARTnews<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe change brings Christie\u2019s to parity with Sotheby\u2019s, which hiked its fees in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tChristie\u2019s changed its fees as recently as September 2025, when the house began charging 27% on amounts up to \u00a31 million ($1.5 million); 22% from \u00a31 million ($1.5 million) to \u00a36 million ($8 million); and 15% on amounts above that.<\/p>\n

\n\tBonhams is also raising its fees, taking effect on October 1. All sale categories, except wine and whisky, coins and medals, and cars and motorcycles, will be affected by the first changes to the structure since 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new rates introduce a new price band. They are: 30% on the first \u00a325,000 or $35,000 of the hammer price; 28% from \u00a325,001 to \u00a3500,000 ($35,000 to $750,000); 25% from \u00a3500,001 to \u00a31 million ($750,000 to $1.5 million); 21% from \u00a31 million to \u00a35 million (from $1.5 million to $7.5 million); and 14% above \u00a35 million ($7.5 million). The previous rates were: 28% on the first \u00a340,000 ($50,000) of the hammer price; 27% from \u00a340,001 to \u00a3800,000 ($50,000 to $1 million); 21% on \u00a3800,000 to \u00a34.5 million ($1 million to $6 million; and 14.5% on amounts in excess of \u00a34.5 million ($6 million).<\/p>\n

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\"Bonham's<\/div>\n<\/div>
A view of the galleries in Bonhams\u2019 new 57th street headquarters.<\/span>McGuire McManus, courtesy of Bonhams<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\u201cWe at Bonhams want to be able to continue to offer our clients the level of specialist expertise that they rely on for authentication, provenance, and valuation across a wide range of price points, as well as further invest in improving their digital experience,\u201d said Seth Johnson, chief executive officer, in an announcement. \u201cThis is the first change we have made to our buyer\u2019s premium in more than three years, and the adjustments have been made to properly reflect the value that Bonhams as a global auction house provides.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPhillips introduced a new fee structure in 2025, at the same time introducing \u201cpriority bidding,\u201d a system in which bidders may enter binding written bids ahead of a sale and, in return, benefit from a significantly lower buyer\u2019s premium.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/market\/christies-and-bonhams-quietly-hike-buyers-fees-1234796933\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-809010.jpg?w=1024″] Christie\u2019s and Bonhams have both quietly raised the fees they charge buyers. The charges, which auction houses like to call \u201cbuyer\u2019s premiums,\u201d are added on top of a lot\u2019s hammer price and are a key source of revenue for the houses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At Christie\u2019s, effective September 1, the house is charging 28% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2127112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2127112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2127112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2127112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2127112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2127112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}