Operate under a cloak of secrecy or shout from the mountaintops to reach all interested bidders?

That’s the critical choice facing collectors looking to part with their items in a crowded landscape of collectibles sales channels: public auction or private sale?

Both paths present opportunities and pitfalls that vary depending on the caliber of the item and the present strength of the market. Navigating the decision effectively can represent the difference between an incredible sales price and an item that fails to meet its reserve at auction. 

Public Auctions vs. Private Sales: What’s the Difference?

When collectible sales make mainstream headlines, dazzling audiences with prices ending in a string of zeroes that sprawl across the page, more often than not, the sale was executed via public auction.

In this format, an item is posted for sale in an auction event that typically lasts two to three weeks, with a set ending date and time. The auction house conducting the sale will take care to promote and market the available items, seeking to catch the eyes of as many potential bidders as possible. Those bidders duel for the item, bidding until just one contestant, the eventual buyer, remains. Auction events generally unfold in the public view, whether online, in person, or both, and resulting prices are similarly common knowledge.

In contrast, private sales occur without a set cadence. As the name implies, the public generally isn’t privy to the availability of items or to the prices at which they sell. Collectors might seek to offer their wares to interested buyers independently, or they might enlist a private broker to source interest on their behalf. In either case, the items’ for-sale status is not broadly promoted, with sellers instead trying to reach an appropriate audience of qualified buyers.  

What are the advantages of public auctions?

To fulfill their purpose of achieving the best possible prices for consignors, auction houses strive to ensure that all eligible and interested bidders are aware of an item and its impending trip across the auction block. For high-profile items, houses leave no stone unturned to surface these bidders. Why go to all this trouble? It takes just two motivated bidders to achieve a transformative result. The more interested bidders are aware of a sale, the more likely they are to duel in an escalating bidding war that pushes the item’s price to unforeseen heights.

Public auctions also provide timeline certainty. For sellers with a sense of urgency, the set ending date for an auction offers clarity; the process — barring unforeseen and rare circumstances — will not extend indefinitely. Those timelines also tend to draw the most eyeballs around auction closing dates, ensuring higher visibility for items.

Though not necessarily an advantage to the seller in the moment, the transparent nature of public auctions provides valuable data to the marketplace at large about the demand for certain items and categories. These datapoints and the patterns they form can inform future buying and selling decisions for collectors broadly. It’s also worth noting that recording an impressive result in a public auction could benefit the seller the next time they consign a similar item. Bidders will consider that elevated comparable price when determining their willingness to pay.  

What are the advantages of private sales?

When a seller opts to move a treasured item privately, they exert far more control over the situation than they would when they consign it to an auction. The seller can welcome offers but is free to decline any they deem unsuitable. They’re under no obligation to sell their item should their expectations not be met. Importantly, if those expectations aren’t met, few will know about it. This discretion is a critical advantage of using private channels: failures are not public knowledge, keeping an item’s reputation intact without tarnishment.

Sellers may prefer to use private channels in moments of market softness. UBS & Art Basel’s Art Market 2025 report revealed that while auction sales fell 25% in 2024, private sales by auction houses actually advanced 14%. This choice spares sellers the uncertainty of exposing an item to the whims of auction. Additionally, it can protect the market from a heavier volume of soft sales data points, which may perpetuate further weakness. 

Private channels can also be advantageous to buyers. Some items — the true 1-of-1 materials — may never come to auction because the collector never considered selling. But if a collector is aware of the item’s location or knows how to reach its owner (often through brokers or intermediaries), they can submit a private offer that just might tempt it out of the owner’s hands. If a collector is chasing an item that they must have for their collection, this proactive approach deployed via private channels is superior to the passive strategy of just waiting and hoping for it to cross the auction block.

What are the disadvantages of public auctions?

Consigning an item to auction can be a vulnerable experience that leaves collectors holding their breath that the right bidders will emerge. If that all-important second bidder declines to participate or is unaware of the auction’s existence, one lonely bidder could walk away with the seller’s item at a mouth-watering price. However, a buyer’s mouth-watering price is the seller’s tear-jerking disaster. In that regard, success at auction can require some serendipitous timing and alignment of stars to ensure the item enters a market with robust demand and that interested bidders will join the fray.

Of course, sellers can take steps to protect themselves from the worst outcomes at auction by establishing a reserve price or, if the item is really coveted, commanding an auction house or third-party guarantee. However, while a reserve price will ensure an item doesn’t sell below a price that the seller deems palatable, it doesn’t mitigate all damage. An item’s failure to reach its reserve price at auction is public knowledge, establishing a price ceiling for that item over the near term and damaging its reputation and marketability.

Similarly, when sales are executed at lackluster prices, it can establish a softening of the market for comparable items.

What are the disadvantages of private sales?

By their nature, private sales cast a narrower net than auctions in their marketing and sales efforts, as a notify-all-comers approach would jeopardize the discreet aspect of the process.  As a result, it’s harder to ascertain that a seller has found the best possible buyer with the highest willingness to pay, though the right brokers are often tapped into the pool of buyers that would fit that description.

In general, that narrower net can induce uncertainty when it comes time to make a decision. With each inbound offer, the seller is left to wonder whether they could do better at auction or if a better offer is still to come. The auction process is more passive: a collector consigns an item and waits to see what it fetches. Every time a private seller reels in an offer, they have to decide whether it’s a trophy or if they should catch and release in hopes of a bigger haul. With many collectors harboring some emotional connection to their collections, these decisions can be challenging.

Finally, while an auction has a set end date, a private sales process could, in theory, drag on in perpetuity if the seller is dissatisfied with the available offers. An elongated timeline is no concern to a seller who has no urgency to move on, but it may make the channel less appealing to those who do.

Auctions and private sales both present opportunities and risks for collectors. To make the optimal choice for their purposes, collectors must understand their objectives, the caliber of their item, market trends for those items, and the landscape of capable auction houses and private brokers. By developing this understanding, collectors can choose the appropriate path and evade many of the pitfalls that ensnare their peers. It’s not an exercise they have to conduct in solitude; the help of professional advisors (like Destiny Family Office) can be beneficial in walking through such decisions.