As Grey posted about this, on MOPO. I emailed him and asked his permission before re-posting it here.
"Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve been preparing my July catalog so my time on MOPO has been reduced. I think that many of the answers that you’ve read from some MOPO members here are indeed correct. Heritage made the decision to raise its minimum Buyer’s Premium on lots selling below $100 which, by the way, I argued against, but which the executive team believed necessary due to our expense structure.
Frankly, to believe that we have little expense involved in selling these posters other than just “listing material” is a bit naïve. Heritage employs roughly 500 personnel in over ten cities with showrooms and overhead in the US, Europe and Asia. We have 30 web programmers and IT staff alone, along with accounting, photography, legal, marketing, etc. Saying this was done out of greed is again unfair; Heritage did it so that it could continue to offer lower priced lots singly rather than in bulk without losing money on them.
Posters selling for less than $100 are limited in each weekly, but some of our buyers really appreciate being able to buy just the posters they want rather than having to buy groups. And I think nearly all of our consignors prefer to sell their posters either singly or in the smallest groups possible. Of course any consignors who prefer not having the $19 come into play with their lots can ask us to group-lot any posters we think might sell for less than $100, and we will happily do so.
The buyer’s premium, as stated well by David, is indeed prominently displayed whenever you wish to make a bid or to raise a bid. There is nothing deceptive nor mysterious about that, in my opinion, and as stated so well by Rich, it is the buyer’s choice to accept or not.
I don’t believe I have more to say concerning this and for those who feel it is an undue increase or financial burden to them, I regret that, because I do care very much about my buyers (and consignors).
But again, the bottom line is that it was the only way Heritage management could justify our continuing to offer posters valued under $100, without automatically auctioning them in bulk lots that would bring at least $100 hammer per lot."