Just Ask John: DLRC's No Fee Guarantee
Every week we get emails from our clients asking our fearless leader John Brush for his knowledge and opinions on a wide range of issues within the coin industry. Last week, John expressed his thoughts on underrated coins and their place in the coin industry. This week, we have a question from a collector asking about one of our new slogans, the "DLRC No Fee Guarantee".
I’ve seen a few ads with this new line about the “DLRC No Fee Guarantee”…what is this? And if you really have no fees, how does DLRC make its profit? - Bill W. from Paso Robles, California.
Bill,
That’s a fantastic question. I have a tendency to sit during marketing meetings and make the worst puns in the world (My wife absolutely detests when I do this at home, but my kids are starting to appreciate it). A few weeks ago, we were talking about the fees that our competitors are charging. Everything from Imaging Fees, Buyback Fees, Shipping Fees, Listing Fees, and the absolute worst, Buyer’s Fees. Many auctions charge 20% and some offer a sliding scale of 10-12, but this practice is downright offensive to buyers and sellers alike. That's when I stumbled on the "DLRC No Fee Guarantee".
The thing about the way fees often work in the auction industry, is that they are designed to manipulate collectors. Imaging fees, listing fees, and the like are all worked in to subtly bleed consignors so that the company selling the coins can add a few percentage points to the bottom line. Buyer's fees in particular are structured to be intentionally confusing. Sellers are misled to think they are getting full value for their coin when in reality, the addition of the buyer's fee represents its true market value (what a buyer is willing to pay). Of course, if they happen upon an uninformed buyer, all the better, as that individual may end up paying far more than they expected at the time their bid was locked in.
We prefer things to be clean, clear and transparent. It's in everyone's best interest in the long run and it helps to foster lasting relationships with our clients! if you’re a DLRC customer (of course you are or you wouldn’t be writing to me!), you know that we don’t charge for Shipping and we are vehemently opposed to Buyer’s Fees. Yes, we all have to make money, we’re a business of course, but why should we hide our profit centers? We don’t need to make terms and bills complicated. We just want to be concise, and up front! So, no added fees. Simple as that.
The logical next question then, is "how does DLRC make money"? As a consignor, if you consign with us, our commission rate will vary a bit depending on the total value of the collection or the individual value of the coin, but if you have a $1500 coin and you auction it with no reserve, you will receive 90% of the final sales price, no additional fees, no hidden costs, just a flat percentage. Of course, the commissions vary as mentioned, but it’s easy to calculate your final result… and one other thing to throw into the mix, we don’t mind offering a guarantee on any coin we auction. We’ll give you a minimum value, so you’d receive that guaranteed amount or 90% of the final sales price on that $1500 coin, whichever is higher!
In short, the DLRC "No Fee Guarantee" is our way of saying: we don’t charge extraneous fees anywhere on our website. No Buyer’s Fees, No Shipping Fees, No Listing Fees. As an auction buyer, what you bid is what you pay. And if you’re selling, your coins will net you more money because we’re charging the lowest commissions in the auction business and we’re incentivizing aggressive bidding by making the process easier for collectors. All of these things add up to more money in your pocket, or more fantastic coins in your collection!
Do you have a topic about DLRC, the coin industry, or the collecting hobby that you want John to tackle? Email your question to coingroup@davidlawrence.com and it might be featured in a future edition of “Just Ask John!”