RWTF, did it bother you to call it a vig? Sorry. Holt's charges 25% up to the first 100K pounds and then 20% above that. I for certain will never each the 20% reduced rate. VAT is payable at the applicable rate and is listed in the listing as to %. But exporting usually removes that but I don't know how much longer that may apply. Taxes seem to be ever increasing all over the World.
I grew up around people who lent money to others that charged 10% or more, a week. South Jersey and Philly people. Does not sound like much but it all adds up quickly. And you paid your debts to them. Period. People who 50 years later were willing a able to answer a few questions for me, because they had been friends back when I was a little boy and they respected my father. We never borrowed money from them but they did look after our trucks and drivers when they went to the Philly vegetable market and made sure they got unloaded and returned unharmed. That cost 200/week in the 60's.
The auction price is only a very small part of buying a gun at auction like Holt's. It pays to have the gun looked at in advance if possible. I often do not anymore. After paying for a dozens reports at 50-75 pounds each, for guns I did not win, I changed my strategy. I'll pay to have a gun looked at after I win and see what it needs. Shipping to get this done cost 40 pounds. It is a bit riskier but after not winning a number of items I figured if I only paid for it on guns I won, even a minor missed defect might cost less than endless reports for guns I never seemed to win. So if it need 500 pounds of work that was less than the ten plus reports I paid for on guns I never won. So guns under a thousand dollars I bid blind and those over that I pay for the report if I am worried. Repairs over there are much easier to arrange and cost a lot less than over here.
So the first cost is the bid price. Second is the Buyer premium which is 25%. VAT goes away for now. The export cartage which is a few hundred pounds, import fees is several hundred dollars, import duties for non antiques is to be paid, then shipping to your FFl and then his transfer fees. So that 1,000 bargain will end up costing you nearer $1,600-2,000 by the time you are done. Bunching them in batches does help a bit.
