A ‘fee’ bit of advice

I reconcile the fact I could be both an unbiased independent appraiser and broker clients’ jewellery (for a percentage-based fee) this way: if I had spent a significant amount of time appraising an inexpensive item, the hourly fee would have far exceeded the broker’s fee, especially when all the client wanted to know is what they could expect to get for the piece. Consider it from this perspective: how will generating an appraisal document best serve my client or potential buyers? And what about an appraisal for resale? Well, again, who am I to set the price at which a client sells their jewellery? As I see it, experience tells me all these appraisal scenarios involving jewellery the client no longer wants almost always points to either a consultation assignment or a brokering assignment. An appraisal assignment that doesn’t serve the client’s or the potential buyer’s interest makes for neither a very satisfied client nor creates repeat business for you.

Jewellers have traditionally educated their clients in hopes of making a sale—it is just part of the job description. An independent appraiser that does not have the added benefit of other revenues like jewellery sales and repair income might ask, “If I spend all this time educating the client and they decide not to broker the piece through my office, haven’t I just wasted my time and lost money?” Just like any professional service, valuable, timely, and useful information is not free. In the event the client does not engage your services to sell their jewellery, charge your customary hourly fee for the consultation. Just be sure to make the client aware of your fees at the time of the first inquiry. One way to think of it is that even though it might take you two minutes to identify a synthetic colour-changing sapphire, for instance, it took years of experience and thousands of dollars in education costs to be able do so. I cannot stress this enough: charge for your time—most appraisers undercharge. If the consultation assignment evolves into brokering, the decision whether or not to charge the hourly consultation fee, in addition to the brokering fee, is really up to the appraiser.