Auction fees by platform: buyer's premium and add-ons compared
Buyer fees vary by platform: some charge a flat percentage of the bid, others use a schedule that rises with sale price, and several gate the numbers behind a dealer login. This table lines up fourteen major platforms side by side, checked in September 2026, and says plainly wherever a figure could not be confirmed.
Buyer fees by platform
This covers the buyer side of the invoice only, what a private or business buyer actually pays past the hammer price, not what a seller pays to list a unit. The buyer's premium is the platform's own cut, charged as a flat percentage, a schedule that rises with sale price, or, at three dealer-only marketplaces, a number nobody outside a licensed account can see. The gate fee covers pulling the lot and getting it to the loading area. An internet bid fee applies only to online bidding rather than an in-person sale, and it is usually smaller than people expect. Where a platform publishes a storage fee, the clock starts the day after the sale closes, not the day you happen to show up.
| Platform | Who can bid | Buyer fee model | Buyer fee | Gate / loading | Internet fee | Deposit / membership | Payment window | Storage starts | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copart | Public registration; a licensed broker may be required for some salvage-title lots depending on the buyer's state | Tiered, rises with sale price and payment method (secured vs. unsecured) | Roughly 1% on the lowest tier up to about 6% (secured) or 11% (unsecured) on standard vehicles; heavy vehicles run about 10% to 15%; see platform schedule | About $95 per purchase, plus a roughly $15 environmental fee | Tiered; close to free under $100, rising to roughly $100 to $160 at the top tiers | Membership tiers exist (Basic, Premier); current prices not confirmed, see platform schedule | A late payment fee of about $50 applies if payment is not made within about 3 business days | Not separately published; a relist fee near 10% of sale price applies if the lot is not paid for | Sept 2026 |
| IAA | Individual and licensed business buyers; some salvage-title lots may require a broker depending on the buyer's state | Tiered by sale price plus flat per-unit fees; exact tier breakpoints not published in readable form | Rises with sale price per the published schedule; specific tier amounts see platform schedule | $105 Service Fee per unit (effective July 2026) plus a $15 Environmental Fee | Not separately published, see platform schedule | No subscription cost stated to register; separate fee tiers for licensed, high-volume and non-licensed buyers | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Sept 2026 |
| Manheim | Wholesale marketplace widely understood to serve licensed dealers; no explicit public eligibility statement found | Dealer schedule, not published for public view | Dealer schedule, see platform schedule | Dealer schedule | Dealer schedule | Dealer schedule | Dealer schedule | Dealer schedule | Sept 2026 |
| OPENLANE / ADESA | Built for licensed automotive dealers buying or selling wholesale vehicles; not open to the public | Not published; the site advertises low fees without a number | See platform schedule; the dedicated fees page returned an error this check | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | Verified dealer account required; no published price | Not confirmed; a 14-day extended guarantee is a return window, not a payment deadline | Not published, see platform schedule | Sept 2026 |
| ACV Auctions | Requires a dealer's license, per the company's own homepage; not open to the public | Not published; the fee schedule sits behind a login | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | A pricing page exists but its content was not reachable this check | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Sept 2026 |
| eBay Motors | Public marketplace; register or sign in to bid, no dealer license stated | Not published for vehicle purchases specifically | No vehicle buyer's fee or premium confirmed, see platform schedule | Not applicable; not published | Not published, see platform schedule | Standard eBay account only; no separate membership tier found | Not confirmed; payment is typically arranged directly between buyer and seller | Not applicable; direct buyer-seller arrangement | Sept 2026 |
| Cars & Bids | Anyone who registers, including international bidders, with a verified email and a valid credit card | Flat percentage of the winning bid, with a floor and a cap | 5% of the winning bid, minimum $250, maximum $7,500; non-refundable once an auction is won | Not applicable to this consignment format | None beyond the buyer's fee itself | No separate membership fee found; a hold equal to the 5% fee is placed on the card at bid time | Due promptly after the auction closes; the platform's own FAQ suggests roughly one week | Not published | Sept 2026 |
| Bring a Trailer | Anyone who registers, with two-factor authentication, email and billing verification required | Percentage of the winning bid, capped; the standard percentage and minimum are not confirmed, see platform schedule | Capped at $7,500 (confirmed for reserve-not-met sales); the standard rate is not confirmed, see platform schedule | Not published | None published beyond the optional Verified Checkout add-on | No separate membership fee found; optional Verified Checkout costs about $99 (payment only) or $149 (payment plus title work) | Not published, see platform schedule | Not applicable; not published | Sept 2026 |
| GovDeals | Public marketplace; registered bidders buy directly from government sellers | Not published on the platform's own pages | Reported tiered seller commissions and a possible card or wire premium appear only in third-party documents, not confirmed here, see platform schedule | Not published | Not confirmed on a fetched page, see platform schedule | No paid membership tier apparent from public marketing; not separately confirmed | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Sept 2026 |
| Public Surplus | Open registration to the public; only vetted public institutions may sell | None found on the platform's own pages | No buyer's premium or transaction fee found, see platform schedule | Not published | Not published | Not published, see platform schedule | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Not confirmed, see platform schedule | Sept 2026 |
| Ritchie Bros | Registration is free, whether bidding in person, online or by PriorityBid | A buyer's premium is standard for the format; the percentage is not confirmed, see platform schedule | Not published; the dedicated buying-fees page returned an error this check, see platform schedule | Not published | Not published | Refundable deposit of about 25% of the desired bidding limit; verification or approved financing can reduce or waive it | Full payment due within 7 days of auction end; a 2.95% late convenience fee applies after the deadline | Not published | Sept 2026 |
| IronPlanet | Open registration to the public, free of charge; the site cites 1.8 million-plus users | Flat default and late fees keyed to a sale-price tier, plus a separate transaction fee whose breakpoints are not published | Default fee (if unpaid within 5 business days) runs $500 to $6,500 by tier; late fee $10 to $250 per business day by tier | Not published separately | 2.95% credit card convenience fee through iClosing | Registration is free | 5 business days from contract conclusion before late fees apply | $25 per day starting on day 9 after the auction closes; relocation fee if not removed within 15 calendar days | Sept 2026 |
| Purple Wave | Anyone who accepts the platform's terms; no dealer license or broker requirement stated | Flat percentage buyer's premium | 10% buyer's premium added to the winning bid | Not published | Not published | No membership fee or deposit requirement stated in the platform's own terms | Due by 4:00 p.m. on the second business day after the auction; wire, certified check or credit card capped at $3,000 | Not published; payment and abandonment disputes fall under Kansas law | Sept 2026 |
| BigIron | A sign-up prompt suggests open public registration; specific eligibility rules not confirmed | Not published; the how-to-buy and terms pages did not load this check | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | Not published, see platform schedule | Sept 2026 |
How to read this table
We checked each platform's own published page in September 2026 and named the page next to every figure in an editorial note. Where a fetch failed, a page sat behind bot protection, or a fee schedule was gated behind a dealer login, the cell says so instead of guessing, and any number we do give in that situation is written as a range or a plain "not published" rather than a false precision. A number that looks suspiciously round, like Purple Wave's flat 10% or IronPlanet's exact default-fee tiers, is that round in the company's own terms, not us simplifying it.
A separate category worth naming here: sealed-bid brokers that resell bank-repossessed vehicles, RVs, boats and equipment typically fold their margin into the sale price and the delivery terms rather than publishing a line-item buyer's premium at all, which is why none appear as a named row in this table. If you are weighing a dealer-only auction against a public one, remember that the license itself carries a cost too, even where the per-lot fee looks lower on paper. Disclosure rules that sit outside any single platform's terms, like the FTC's used-vehicle sales rules, still apply no matter what an auction house's own page says.
Fee models in one diagram
Fourteen names sort into three simpler buckets once you look past the branding to how the fee is actually built.
Changes log
- : first published.