Stacks or Heritage?

If I were to sell an expensive coin, let's say $40,000, in your opinion, which consigner would I get more money from? Which one takes less commission? Which auction site gets higher prices?
Thanks in advance

 

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I would recommend visiting both sites and reading the terms and conditions very carefully. There are a number of other points you are not asking about as well. Another sales venue you may want to consider is http://www.greatcollections.com/

 

In addition to the commission, you have to look at the buyers' premium. Buyers aren't stupid. Often, if the premium is 10%, for instance, they reduce their bid limit by 10%, etc. I have consigned to Stack's 3 times in a row, not because of the total fees, but because I got good service and excellent communications, and a lot of cooperation. But I can't make a comparison, because I've never used any firm except Stack's. I DO think their auction catalogs are very high quality.

 

So I would lose commission fees and the buyer premium fees on the item? Doesn't that total around 30%? If so, I would rather just sell to a dealer, or on eBay.

 

Probably closer to 25%, but yes, a significant amount. TeleTrade was once a good deal less, but no hand-holding. I don't know their rates now.

I should clarify, the buyers' fees don't come directly out of your pocket, but I would think bidders bid LESS than if there weren't any buyers' fees.

 

Short answer; Heritage.

If you have a $40k coin then you will be able to make a deal whereby you receive higher than 100% of hammer. In general, if a coin hammers (final bid) at $40k then the consignor would receive the hammer price and the auction house receives the buyer's premium (BP). The BP has inched up to 17.5% recently, but if a buyer spends more than $25k at an auction then the BP is typically reduced to 15%. In this example, hammer at $40k would yield $6k for the auction house in the form of the BP. However, with coins of this magnitude you can negotiate something like 105-110% of the hammer, which means that a $40k hammer could net the seller $42k-$44k instead of only $40k.

Heritage has the largest buyer network, the best web presence and attends all the major shows.

 

I'd probably go heritage as I think you could likely negotiate a lower sellers commission and they handle more coins and run more auctions. Coins I buy there for over $1k they give me a certificate for consigning at 0% commission in the future I like that as a potential seller. I have no knocks against stacks either they've been easy to deal with as a buyer. I'd say if I were to consign a coin of that magnitude I'd talk to both and ask them exactly what kind of deal they'd give me payment terms- very important especially if you need the money soon exactly which kind of sale they'd put it in and how much you wanted the reserve to be (I'd never se a $40k coin unreserved) even if you set it far lower then the actual value say $25k. Then I'd decide which I was most confident of getting me the most money for my coin and consign to them. I've only dealt with both as a buyer but I've consigned many things (not coins) to auction and preview and often bid at around 200 auctions a year plus bidding online at both stacks and heritage.

 

One factor that is very important but not oft discussed is what is the coin you are selling? And who do you trust to sell it at the maximum return? If I were going to sell say British coins or Colonial era American coins I would go with Stacks. 19th century stuff I would go with Heritage. Paper money would be between Lyn Knight for foreign and Heritage for US paper money.

The point is, auction houses tend to specialise in the materiel they auction - they don't publicise that of course - you just go on research of what they sell the more of.

 

They've been absorbed by Stacks........

 

What he said

 

Didn't know that, thanks.

 

I think the commission and the buyer's premium is a lot, even if I were to negotiate a lower price.
What do you think of selling it Buy It Now on eBay, or just listing it in the sale section of forums like CoinTalk? Also, how would a buyer pay such a large amount of money, would they pay by credit card?

 

On a coin like that I'd definitely go with a major coin auction or consign to a high end reputable dealer they will receive the audience feebay will not. Many serious buyers don't have the time not the inclination to wade through all the tons of crap and fakes on sleaze bay. If you negotiated it right there would be no sellers commission and the auction house would be bp only you might as Tom said even get a cut of that you'd be out no more then the costs of feebay. And with an auction you also run the chance of 2 bidders getting carried away

 

For that level of money would probably be cashiers check or bank wire

 

Do you have just one humongous coin to sell, or a collection containing a number of items over, say, $1000?

 

I don't actually have a coin in hand of that value. I'm speaking hypothetically. I might start to move into more expensive coins, and one day I may own a coin of that value. Before I consider buying a coin of value I will have to think of how I could sell it.

 

Someone in a prior post mentioned a company which gives you a zero commission on subsequent resale; that is quite an incentive, in my opinion.

 

I think I would sell it in person then, to avoid the fees. Do dealers pay fair amounts of money for coins?

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, especially since I now know this is a hypothetical question and not one based in today's reality, but you appear to be heavily concerned with fees and it makes me think you may be a bit penny wise and pound foolish.

 

Things can change at any time 20 years ago barely anyone had heard of heritage now there huge I'd concentrate on acquiring the coins first. I find both houses great to buy from tho I've never bought a 40k coin I probably bought 40 1k coins