Broker fee for selling a $100,000 Ceylon Sapphire

Gem Related Discussion
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I hope that there’s maybe a handful of individuals who have had experience with this I am fixing to enter into negotiations for a silent buyer for a Ceylon Sapphire that’s from one of my sources. I will be taking the reins and responsibility and care for the stone, for the entire transaction up into the point the stone is released to the new owner I have leg work that has to be done if the offer is accepted as of right now I have 3 hours into this possible by and if the offer is accepted then I have a bunch of other leg work that must be completed. I was thinking the best thing to do is to set up an escrow or if there is a known business that that specializes in holding funds for fin fine gem purchases please let me know. I want the funds from my buyer to be put into an escrow account is there a standard percentage of that 100k that needs to go to the seller and the remaining percentage stays in escrow , or us it common to make requsst that seller ships the stone , seller will have vertified proof of all funds are in escrow. Once stone is verified accurate escrow will wire transfer in full . Even with a certification I want to make sure that my buyer feels safe because we’ve actually never met we’ve only talked on the phone and I want him to know that he is safe and the best way I could think to do that is to put everything into escrow and then I will preset an appointment with a local gemologist or appraisal company third party and and have the security detail Brinks truck whatever deliver the stone to the gemologist office then I would let the geologist go through his routine verifying the stone and I would be asking for a letter of authenticity certifying that the stone is accurately described and it is what it was supposed to be once I have that document notarized and certified it would then be sent via email to the Escrow Company and at that time to Escrow Company would disperse funds to the seller I then would have a hard security detail take the stone to the buyer or I would take the stone myself and take it to the buyer so my questions that I need answers for is that am I handling this transaction correctly what is a standard brokerage fee for $100,000 transaction and can I ask for a hiring fee in addition to the commission that would cover Say the 25 to 30 hours of work that I’m going to have setting up security detail appointments paperwork Etc

Can i negotiate a commisiom from seller side as well.

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“Brinks truck” ???..You are turning this into an unnecessary complicated deal. Keep it simple.

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I am not an expert on this kind of sale, but there are those who are, and that’s who you should be consulting rather than this forum, as this is not where the high end appraisers and sellers congregate. AGTA might give you a referral or a high end jeweler in your area could, if you know any. Or maybe GIA. They know the appropriate procedures.
Secondly, if the stone is worth this much or even close to it, getting a GIA or similar lab to ID it (they ID and characterize, but don’t appraise — any treatments, provenance, if possible, color grade, etc.) and then getting a gemologist who does these kind of high-end sapphire appraisals to appraise it would be, in my judgement, best be done before any sale. The expense is not high compared to the value of the gem, and you would be able to share the ID and characterization with the prospective buyer on the front end. Your separate appraisal could be shared with the buyer or not shared, at your option. The appraisal could justify the sale price, too. I assume you are happy with it, since you are pursuing a rather complicated deal, but if you could get more, a reliable appraisal will tell you, just sayin’…

3 Likes
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Lol :joy:, sounds like something from a Jason Stratton movie.

Just keep it simple, like advised. GIA certification is best, then, seek their advice for a certified appraisal service; know the current retail price for the merchandise; chances are that the appraiser might recommend where u’ll get your best offer, either you walk in there to close the sale or you ship insured via escrow and close the deal on receipt of the merchandise.

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I am totally unqualified to comment on the standard commissions or process, as I am not a dealer and have but a single experience attempting to sell a valuable stone (which didn’t go through for a number of reasons), so that this for what it’s worth (its totally an opinion based on a single experience, but I hope still helpful). Assuming you can settle on a workable process for all parties, and assuming the specific stone you are brokering is singular and coveted (by the potential buyer) enough that such as stone would he very hard to find/purchase without your assistance, AND assuming the seller sees things the same way, ie., that stone would be very hard to sell for such a high price without your assistance, you should be compensated well for the transaction. In other words, if this sale would not and could not happen without you, leaving both buyer and seller without a deal for a transaction eagerly desired by both parties, it seems logically that you should be paid appropriately. Say, for example, the seller and buyer each pay you a 5% commission (10% total), or even a 20% total commission. Well, 80-90% of something is way better than 100% or nothing. Of course, all this assumes you can know the answer to all those “ifs”, but if this doesn’t happen without you, and the alternative is neither buyer or seller get what they want, it does not seem egregious to command a substantial commission.

Again, this is a totally uninformed opinion, and I offer it up academically and out of curiosity to learn more about how this business works, but in my limited experience, the gemstone market is not a liquid and efficient market, like commodities or equities.

By way of a comp (which may or may not be relevant) for an item of that value sold at a Sotheby’s auction, the seller pays between 5-20% (average 10%), and the buyer premium is typically 26% for items below $1m. That’s 36%, or $136,000 total money in play, $90,000 to the seller, and $26,000 in fees paid by the buyer to Sotheby’s. And that does not include insurance, handling, VAT, etc.

I’m curious to learn if this is in the ballpark of fees involved in brokering a sale like this, and for what it’s worth, I hope it provides some useful food for thought for you.

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Im not sure how any specific stine sellers works howecer, auctions tgat do wstate sales and even an ayction house in NYC that does a lot of loose gemstines usyakky charge about 28% to 50% of the auction price they get. Inadditiin, they also charge the buyer about a 25% commission. This is stabdard for auctions of aby type and theyre usually done through Live Auctioneers.