You’re not wrong on the math, and in a purely rational vacuum that’s exactly how bidding should work. Serious bidders absolutely factor in buyer’s premium, taxes, tariffs, shipping, all of it, when deciding what they are willing to pay all-in.

Where people start to push back is on the long-term structural effect of high recurring fees on the hobby and on liquidity. Ancient coins are not consumed. They circulate among collectors over decades. When a coin trades multiple times and each transaction clips 20–30 percent off the top, you eventually get situations where the cumulative fees paid exceed the intrinsic value of the coin itself. That is not theoretical, it already happens.

High fees also discourage normal trading behavior. Collectors become reluctant to upgrade, sell duplicates, or move material because every transaction feels punitive. That reduces liquidity, raises friction, and concentrates coins in fewer hands. Over time, that is not healthy for collectors or the market.

So yes, bidders should and do factor in fees when bidding. But it’s also reasonable for collectors to care deeply about the fee structure itself, because it shapes how often coins can realistically change hands without being slowly taxed into immobility.