Division (9) In more detail, the agreement and/or concerted practices between Christie’s and Sotheby’s contained the following elements:
United Kingdom
- (a)
Regarding the vendors:
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agreeing to introduce a new ‘sliding scale’ for the vendor's commissionf1,
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agreeing to the terms applicable to the scale, including making the scale non-negotiable, that is, to allow no exceptions (save as agreed) to the scale,
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agreeing the modalities, as well as the timing of its introduction,
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agreeing to monitor the adherence to the scale by exchanging lists of the permitted exceptions in order to monitor the implementation of the agreement and to deter and discuss any deviations,
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agreeing not to give vendors at auction guarantees as to the minimum price,
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agreeing on a formula for the sharing with vendors of the ‘upside’ benefit where goods are sold more than the guaranteed price,
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agreeing to make no advances to vendors on single lots,
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agreeing and/or concerting on the terms and conditions of advances for particular auction sales,
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agreeing the minimum interest rate for loans,
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agreeing to limit the commission paid to trade vendors/dealers and to restrict the practice of providing insurance for trade vendors,
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agreeing on limiting the payment of introductory commission (to 1 % of the buyer's premium in cases where there was no vendor's commission).
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- (b)
Regarding the buyers:
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agreeing to limit credit terms to trade buyers to 90 days.
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- (c)
Other elements:
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agreeing to limit their marketing efforts (avoiding claims/statements regarding market share or claiming ‘leadership’ in the art market or in a particular segment).
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Annotations
Footnotes
- f1
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A sliding scale means that the percentage that is charged to sellers as a commission on the sale is changed at certain thresholds. In practice, the higher the price obtained for a consignment, the lower the percentage that a seller has to pay.