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Directories & comparisons

Card Auction Houses Compared

Auction houses compete on commission and differ far more on audience. This lays out what each charges both sides, what they want to receive, and which is the right home for the card you are consigning.

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Consignment terms and what each house is strong at.
HouseSellerBuyer premiumTypical minimumEst. netCharacter

Commission is negotiable; the premium is not

Published seller rates run to about 15%, and the specialist houses will go to zero on a card they want, because the buyer's premium already pays them. If your card is genuinely desirable, treat the quoted commission as an opening position rather than a price.

The buyer's premium is fixed, and it costs the seller: bidders work to a total spend, so a higher premium produces a lower hammer, and your commission is charged on that lower number. A 20% premium against 15% costs the seller roughly four points of the final total.

What actually differs

  • Audience composition. A generalist collectibles house brings buyers who came for coins and comics; a card specialist brings people who came for cards. On a niche card the specialist realises more.
  • Catalogue position. A mid-value card in a premier auction is buried; the same card headlining a weekly sale gets seen.
  • Settlement time. Three to five months from consignment to payment is normal, and the auction cycle is only part of it.
  • Minimums. Most houses have a floor below which they will not take single cards, and it is often higher in practice than in policy.

Questions people ask about this

What commission do card auction houses charge?

Published seller rates run from about 0% to 15%, and the card specialists will negotiate to zero on lots they want because the buyer's premium covers them. Heritage sits at the higher end of both — 10–15% seller with a 20% buyer premium — in exchange for the broadest collectibles audience.

What is the minimum to consign a card to auction?

Typically a few hundred dollars per lot at the card specialists and higher at the generalist houses, though the practical minimum is usually above the stated one. Below roughly $500 the auction route rarely beats selling directly, once the premium compression and the three-to-five-month wait are counted.

How long does it take to get paid after a card auction?

Three to five months end to end: intake and cataloguing, the auction cycle, then a settlement period of 30 to 45 days after the sale closes. If timing matters at all, that gap is worth more than a few points of commission.

Where these numbers come from

Rates on this page were last checked against the published price lists on . Grading companies change fees and pause tiers without notice — confirm the total on the submission form before you pay.