The Maine Antique Digest is running a story about Al Cardamone of Mooney’s Auction Service. According to the story, Mooney’s recently sent out a bulk email announcing a prepayment program in which prospective bidders can exempt themselves from the buyer’s premium, as well as obtain a $7.00 concessions coupon at each auction they attend, by prepaying at least $1000 for purchases. There is no time limit or expiration on the use of the prepaid funds and the entire program is capped at $125,000 on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Does the math add up? If someone prepays for $1000 in purchases – and then purchases $1000 after eating at the concession stand – the auctioneer lost $107, supposing the details of the program are accurate in the story. There was no information available at mooneys.net regarding the program at the time of this posting.
Does the program make sense? Does the possible increase in cash flow justify the loss of the buyer’s premium for the auctioneer? First person to post a comment gets a $7 gift certificate at the AuctioneerTech concession stand.
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Was the buyer's premium viewed as a problem in his area? Did his customers balk at paying it? If so, then this might be a great idea. If the buyers premium was not viewed as an obstacle before, this program could put some doubt in his customers mind about paying it that wasn't there before. I would have tested the idea with a small number of my best customers before sending it out to everyone (maybe he did). Let's hope he has a good system for keeping track of who paid! Bottom line for me is that the potential increase in cash flow doesn't justify the loss of the buyer's premium. It's all about training your customers and just when he has them trained, he changes the game plan. I like great new ideas, but don't think this is one.
Was the buyer's premium viewed as a problem in his area? Did his customers balk at paying it? If so, then this might be a great idea. If the buyers premium was not viewed as an obstacle before, this program could put some doubt in his customers mind about paying it that wasn't there before. I would have tested the idea with a small number of my best customers before sending it out to everyone (maybe he did). Let's hope he has a good system for keeping track of who paid! Bottom line for me is that the potential increase in cash flow doesn't justify the loss of the buyer's premium. It's all about training your customers and just when he has them trained, he changes the game plan. I like great new ideas, but don't think this is one.