The fee card
What you actually pay above the hammer.
Every auction result you read quotes a price that nobody pays. The premium is cumulative, VAT is charged on the premium, and on a qualifying lot the resale royalty is usually passed to the buyer. Here is the whole sum, with the working shown.
The calculator
Only houses whose current card is confirmed against two independent sources appear here. An unconfirmed rate is never rendered as a number.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Hammeras announced in the room | £5,000.00 |
| Buyer's premiumChristie's card effective 2026-09-01 · 28% on £5,000.00 (up to £1,500,000.00) = £1,400.00 | £1,400.00 |
| VAT on the premium @ 20%UK standard rate, charged on the premium, not on the hammer | £280.00 |
| Artist's Resale Right if it applies unconfirmed4% on £5,000.00 = £200.00 · calculated on the hammer excluding VAT and premium · exempt from VAT · liability sits with the seller, but the cost is usually passed to the buyer by contract | £200.00 |
| All-in37.6% above the hammer · this is the number on the invoice | £6,880.00 |
Not included in that figure
- VAT on the hammer where the lot is not sold under the margin scheme
- Shipping, packing and insurance
- Import VAT
- Aggregator fees (a house may add a percentage of hammer on wins through a third-party platform)
The published cards
as of 2026-09-17 · review due 2026-12-01 · UK: 20% VAT is charged on the premium (see vat.json). US: sales tax applies to the premium as well as the hammer.
| House | Effective | Bands (cumulative) | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christie'sAll departments except wine. | 2026-09-01 | 28% up to GBP 1,500,000 / USD 2,000,000 22% up to GBP 6,000,000 / USD 8,000,000 15% above the top ceiling | confirmedRelict · Grossman LLP |
| Sotheby'sAll global salerooms, all categories except wine and spirits (flat 24%). | 2026-02-13 | 28% up to GBP 1,500,000 / USD 2,000,000 / EUR 1,750,000 / HKD 15,000,000 22% up to GBP 6,000,000 / USD 8,000,000 15% above the top ceiling | confirmedThe Art Newspaper · Antiques Trade Gazette |
| PhillipsUNCONFIRMED. Do not publish the percentage until checked against Conditions of Sale. | — | Reported, not confirmed — not rendered as a figure.Phillips Conditions of Sale, current catalogue | unconfirmed |
| BonhamsSales after 1 October 2026. Excludes wine, coins and medals, motor cars, motorcycles. Single secondary source. | 2026-10-01 | Reported, not confirmed — not rendered as a figure.Bonhams Conditions of Sale | unconfirmed |
2 of 4 cards are unconfirmed and are shown as a refusal rather than a number. That is the rule, not an omission — a calculator that rounds an unknown to a plausible figure is worse than no calculator.
What changed in 2026
A published rate card is a dated measurement, not a constant. In February 2026 a Christie’s spokesperson said the house had no plans to change its rates; seven months later it changed them.
| Date | House | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-02-13 | Sotheby's | Lowest tier 27% to 28%; lowest-tier ceiling raised 60-105% depending on saleroom (New York $1m to $2m, Paris/Milan/Cologne EUR 850,000 to EUR 1.75m, Hong Kong HKD 7.5m to HKD 15m). |
| 2026-09-01 | Christie's | Moved to parity with Sotheby's: 28% / 22% / 15% on the same ceilings. In February 2026 a Christie's spokesperson had said the house had no plans to change its rates. |
| 2026-10-01 | Bonhams | New card reported: 30% on the first GBP 25,000. UNCONFIRMED. |
The artist’s resale right
In pounds, not euros, since 2024-04-01. Cumulative like income tax, calculated on the hammer excluding VAT and premium, capped at 12,500 per work, and exempt from VAT.
| Royalty | Resale price band |
|---|---|
| 4% | up to £50,000 |
| 3% | up to £200,000 |
| 1% | up to £350,000 |
| 0.5% | up to £500,000 |
| 0.25% | above £500,000 |
gov.uk’s worked example: a £200,000 resale yields £6,500. The calculator above reproduces that figure, and a test asserts it. Collected by DACS or ACS; artists cannot claim directly from the trade.
Why every figure here carries a date: a major house’s own consumer page still described this threshold in euros more than two years after the UK scheme moved to pounds.
Open the ARR calculatorThe resale right has its own calculator, band by band, with the liability and the exemptions.
Sources: gov.uk — Artist's Resale Right · Stephenson Harwood on ARR liability · Sotheby's Buy & Sell. Not legal or tax advice. Re-verify against the Conditions of Sale before bidding.