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Seller Commissions

This article describes the process for setting up seller commissions at the company and auction level, as well as the process for creating commission scales and split guarantees. For commissions for Sales Managers, see Sales Manager Commissions
This article contains the following sections:

 

Setting Seller Commissions


Commission rates can be applied to sellers at the auction level or the company level. Commissions must be set for each seller individually. There is not a way to set commissions for multiple sellers at a time. Commissions can, however, be applied to lots in bulk.

Auction Level

Commission rates are generally set at the auction level if the seller/consignor is new or does not frequently consign with the auction house.

Sellers must be checked-in to the auction before the commission can be applied at the auction level. Commissions can be set during check-in. Follow the steps below to add/edit commissions to a seller that has already been checked-in to an auction.

  1. Navigate to applicable auction from the Dashboard, then select Auction > Sellers.
  2. Type the first few letters of the seller's name into the Find Customer field. 
  3. Click on the seller's name from the resulting Matching Customers list. The seller's information will populate below.     
  4. Under the Commissions tab, select the commission options for the seller. See below for the additional information on the various commission fields.
  5. Click on the Disk icon in the top right corner of the page to Save. 

 

Company Level

Commission rates are generally at the company level for permanent sellers or sellers who consign with an auction house frequently.

Commissions set at the company level will automatically be applied to any auction the seller is checked-in to.

  1. Navigate to My Links > Company > Customers > Create/Edit.
  2. Create a new seller, or enter the seller's name into the Find Customer field and select the seller from the Search Results list.
  3. Click on the Seller Commissions tab at the bottom of the page.
  4. Select the commission options for the seller. See below for the additional information on the various commission fields.
  5. Click the Save button in the top right corner of the page.
  6. Navigate to the applicable auction from the Dashboard, then select Auction > Sellers to check-in the seller. 

If changes are made to the seller's commission rates at the company level after the seller has been checked-in to an auction, the updated commission rates will need to be updated at the auction level. If the seller in question has not been assigned a permanent seller number, the commission rate will need to be updated at the auction level manually.

 

Updating Permanent Seller Commission Rates

If changes are made to a permanent seller's commission rates at the company level after the seller has been checked-in to an auction, the updated commission rates can be pulled down to the auction level.

  1. Navigate to the applicable auction from the Dashboard, then select Auction > Sellers.
  2. To pull the updated commission rate down for just one seller, enter the seller's name into the Find Customer field and then select the seller from the Search Results list.
    • To pull the updated commission rate down for all permanent sellers, leave the Find Customer field blank.
  3. Click the Refresh icon in the top right corner of the page to pull company level commissions into the auction. A pop-up will appear confirming the sellers that have been updated.UpdateContract1.jpg
  4. Click the Ok button to continue. 

If one of the sellers' commissions did not update, navigate to the Permanent Seller's record (My Links > Company > Customers > Permanent Sellers) and click the Save button. Even if the contract is correct and unchanged, the Save button needs to be clicked. Doing so should update their Permanent Seller contracts in existing auctions and ensure that the Refresh button will work as intended for that seller.

 

Commission Options


Commission by Selling Price

SellerCommissions5.JPG

  • No Commission: If a percentage commission is not being applied.
  • Fixed Percent Per Lot: Fixed percentage charged on the hammer price of each lot sold.
  • Sliding Scale Per Lot: The commission percentage changes based on the hammer price on the lot. For example, a hammer price of $2,500 will charge a commission of 15%. A scale will need to be created and selected from the drop-down in order to be applied.                                                 CommissionScaleExample.PNG
  • Cumulative Sliding Scale Per Lot: Cumulative Sliding Scale fees work similar to Sliding Scale fees, except that each lot may be charged more than one percentage, depending on the lot's hammer price. For example, using the scale below, a lot with a hammer price of $2,500 will charge a commission of 20% on the first $1,000 (which would be $200) plus 15% for the remaining hammer price (15% of $1,500= $225). This would bring total commission to $425. A scale will need to be created and selected from the drop-down in order to be applied.                                              CommissionScaleExample.PNG
  • Sliding Scale Seller Auction Total: Functions the same as Sliding Scale Per Lot, except that the commission percentage changes based on the hammer price of all lots sold in the auction. A scale will need to be created and selected from the drop-down in order to be applied. When this option is enabled, there will be two fields at the bottom of the Seller Settlement- one for the commission total charged per lot, and one for the commission total charged for the auction. SellerCommissions1.jpg          

 

Flat Commissions

SellerCommissions3.JPG

  • No Commission: If a flat commission amount is not being applied.
  • Flat Commission Per Lot: A dollar amount that is charged per lot sold.
  • Flat Commission Per Auction: A dollar amount that is charged for the overall auction.

 

Min and Max Per Lot Commissions

SellerCommissions4.JPG

  • Minimum Per Lot: A minimum dollar amount to be charged for commission for each lot sold. If the commission percentage on the hammer price is lower than this value, the commission will be increased to match this value.
  • Maximum Per Lot: A maximum dollar amount to be charged for commission for each lot sold. If the commission percentage on the hammer price is higher than this value, the commission will be lowered to match this value.

The Minimum/Maximum Per Lot fields can be used in tandem with the Commission Per Selling Price and/or Flat Commissions fields.

 

Reserves

SellerCommissions1.JPG

  • No Charge for Reserves: If a fee is not being charged for lots with a reserve price.
  • Charge Per Reserve (always charge): A flat dollar amount being charged to all lots with a reserve price.
  • Charge Per Reserve (no sale): A flat dollar amount being charged to lots with a reserve price that do not sell (pass) in the auction.
  • Percent of Reserve Amount (always charge): A percentage of the hammer price being charged to all lots with a reserve price.
  • Percent of Reserve Amount (no sale): A percentage of the hammer price being charged to lots with a reserve price that do not sell (pass) in the auction.
  • Percent of Last Bid: A percentage of the highest bid received for a lot with a reserve price if the reserve price was not met.

 

No Sale

SellerCommissions2.JPG

  • No Charge for No Sale Lots: If a fee is not being charged for lots that do not sell.
  • Charge Per Lot: A flat dollar amount being charged for every lot that does not sell (pass) in the auction.
  • Percent of Starting Amount: A percentage of the Starting Bid that is charged for every lot that does not sell (pass) in the auction.

 

Commission Scales


Create/Edit Commission Scale

SellerCommissionScale2.jpg

  1. To create a commission scale, navigate to My Links > Company > Accounting Settings > Scales - Commission and click the Create New Scale button.
    • To edit an existing scale, select it from the Choose a scale to work with drop-down.
  2. Enter a Name and Description for the commission scale.
  3. Enter the commission percentage in the % field. See below for information on Split Guarantees.
  4. Enter maximum dollar amount in the Up To ($) field.
  5. If desired, enter the minimum dollar amount in the Minimum ($) field.
    • This is the minimum dollar amount that will be charged for the lot, regardless of the percentage entered.
  6. To add another line to the scale, click the Add link and complete the fields for the additional line.
    • Click the X to the right of a line to delete it.
  7. Click the Save button.

Once a scale has been created, it can be applied to a seller.

 

Split Guarantees


With a Split Guarantee, the auction company guarantees that they will pay the seller a certain amount (before or after an auction) and anything owed to the seller over that guarantee amount is split between the auction company and the seller. Wavebid provides users with the option to use a commission scale to create a Split Guarantee. However, if the guarantee isn't met, the seller commission will need to be manually adjusted.

 

Creating and Applying a Split Guarantee

A Split Guarantee is created and applied to sellers the same way as any other commission scale described above.

When entering a Split Guarantee commission scale, the Minimum ($) field should be left blank. An example of a Split Guarantee would be 0% commission up to $100 (guarantee amount), then 50% commission up to $999999999999.                                                   SplitGuarantee.PNG

 

Manually Changing a Split Guarantee

If the Split Guarantee price isn't reached during the sale, the seller's information will need to be manually updated.

  1. Navigate to the appropriate auction from the Dashboard, then select Accounting > Sellers.
  2. Click on the applicable seller to open the Seller Settlement.mceclip12.png
  3. Scroll down and click on the Add Credit link to balance out the remaining amount up to the guarantee amount. For additional information on adding credits, see Seller Expenses and Credits. AddCredit1.jpg

 

Multiple Commissions Per Seller


Please note that simply adding multiple Seller Codes to the same seller via the check-in page will not allow for multiple commission rates. One of the methods below must be employed to apply multiple commission rates to the same seller.

Multiple Commissions on a Single Seller Settlement

Wavebid will only allow one commission rate to be applied to each Seller Code. If a seller needs to have multiple commission rates, there are two options:

  1. The commission can be applied/edited to the lot(s) directly.
  2. The commission for the impacted lots can be edited directly on the Seller Settlement.

Multiple Commissions Across Multiple Seller Settlements

If multiple Seller Settlements with different commission rates are desired, the seller can be checked-in to the sale more than once. Each time the seller is checked in, they should be assigned a different Seller Code with its own commission rate. The appropriate Seller Codes can then be assigned to lots as needed.

When checking the seller in the second time (and any subsequent times), the seller's name must be entered differently than the first time.

Example:

Bob Customer is a seller/consignor. His firearm lots should have a 40% commission rate and his ammunition should have a 20% commission rate. Bob can be checked in to the sale twice, once under the name 'Bob Customer' with a Seller Code 25 and a 40% commission rate, and again under the name 'B. Customer' with Seller Code 26 and a 20% commission rate.

When cataloging, Seller Code 25 should be entered on the firearm lots, while Seller Code 26 should be entered on the ammunitions lots.

At the end of the sale, Bob will receive two Seller Settlements, one for Bob Customer containing all the lots assigned to Seller Code 25 (the firearm lots) and another for B. Customer containing all the lots assigned to Seller Code 26 (the ammunition lots).

 

Assign Commission to Lots


The commission attribute will first need to be enabled in order to assign commissions at the lot level.

  1. Navigate to the applicable auction from the Dashboard, then select Auction > Edit Settings.
  2. Under the Auction Attributes tab (or Adv. Attribute Settings tab), check the Commission box.
    • For Proxibid events, the Adv. Attribute Settings tab must be enabled in order to view this attribute.                                                                    CommissionLot2.jpg
  3. Click the Disk icon in the top right corner of the page to save.
  4. A Commission % field will now be visible in Lot Builder under the Lot Details tab at the bottom of the page. This field can be used to apply commission to each lot.
    • The commission must be entered as a percentage.
    • To add commissions to lots in bulk, use the Lot Bulk Actions page.  CommissionLot.jpg

If the value entered into the Commission % field differs from the rate on the seller's contract, the commission will appear with two asterisks (**) on the Seller Settlement as a way to indicate that it has been altered.

If a commission if not entered into the Commission % field, the lot will use the commission in the assigned seller's contract.

 

Edit Commissions on the Seller Settlement


Once commissions have been applied, they will appear on the Seller Settlement. There are four columns related to commission that can be added or removed from the Seller Settlement via the Columns button on the left side of the Seller Settlement:

  • Comm %: The commission percentage entered on the seller contract. The commission rate would need to be edited under the seller in order to change this value.
  • Comm About By %: The value of the commission based on the hammer price of lots sold. The commission rate would need to be edited under the seller in order to change this value.
  • Comm Flat: The flat commission rate entered on the seller contract. This value will appear in blue and can be edited directly on the Seller Settlement.
    • This value must be a dollar amount, not a percentage.
  • Comm Total: The value of the flat rate commission based on the lots that have sold. This value will appear in blue and can be edited directly on the Seller Settlement.
    • This value must be a dollar amount.

If a commission has been manually altered it will appear with two asterisks (**) on the Seller Settlement. To revert a commission back to the default, click on the blue value, leave all fields blank, and click the Ok button. For more information, see Seller Settlements.

AlteredCommissions.jpg

 

 

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