That is very rude of Heritage. I'm surprised that they wanted you to sell them to a dealer instead of using their own auction service where they make a profit.
I got the feeling they didn't feel it was worth their time... And they were trying to toss a bone to a buddy of theirs with no real regard to my treatment. This ended up being a nearly $20k deal after it was all said and done.
That's kind of the thing about dealers though. It doesn't matter who it is, there are going to be both good and bad reports. Any dealer or company you can name, you can bet the farm that there is somebody, or even several somebodies, out there who will tell you that you should not deal with this person or that person. That is true of all of of them, always has been and always will be. And I'm not saying that the reports aren't true, I have no doubt they are true. But there are always perspectives and unknowns involved. There are also good people and bad people in any organization or company. But even when you run across one of the bad ones, that does not mean that everybody in the company would have done the same. Trying to find a trusted and respected dealer is just like it is when looking at realized coin prices, there are going to be high ones and low ones. And what you have to do is look at the entire picture, not just one coin. And then make a decision.
Doug, I respect your opinion there.. and I agree with it... mostly. If the person who did this was some low level employee... I would have the exact same opinion. This person however happened to be vice president of Heritage at the time. I think that alone speaks volumes. I'm not trying to slam the company... there are many fine folks that work there... but this is my personal experience.
l agree with both points here, only because I had the same type of experience with the largest dealer I know of in my area. I brought in a coin I had bought at a coin show that I wanted to possibly have graded, well after he looked at it, he point blank told me "it won't grade it's been cleaned" tossed the coin back on the table and basically said sorry good luck next time. Now I wasn't upset about his call on the coin, but the way it all went down was within literally just a few minutes, he never explained why or how it had been cleaned or wouldn't grade, and I understand he deals with customers who bring in coins worth thousands, but each customer is a customer, are we not the ones who buy your inventory and support your business? I'm not a dealer myself and wouldn't judge one personally, but business wise, yea Lost Dutchman in my opinion is right when your the face of the company, doesn't matter what the customer has to bring to the table, he may have only brought a side dish this time, but the next time he might bring the main course and now you won't know because you just ridiculed his mash potatoes. Sorry, food may not have been the best way to explain this, but I'm hungry this morning.
The answer is NEITHER. If you are in it for profit, find a private buyer for the coin. Finding high end buyers isn't all that difficult. Why pay an auction premium if someone wants the coin and happens to be looking for it?
Go to some coin shows and talk to multiple dealer's, see which is offering the best deals on whatever it is your trying to sell. You can also go to your local coin shops and talk to them. Join a coin club, you'll probably have better luck selling to a personal buyer rather than a dealer, your main people to pay higher premiums are collectors of a certain coin/type set to fill their collection. You won't just find anyone to pay higher prices you gotta talk to people to find out, no one just going to hand it to ya. But those have been my ways of going about it.
I did not have to say a word. I ask them about it and from looking at the list he told me they would drop down to 5%. Plus he could see some of them came thru heritage. Based off what I have learned I might try to get them to 0 if I do it again and all coins on the platinum night(not sure they would let that fly). The total consignment was estimated between 20 - 30k. Per coin estimates were between $100 and 2k. Only maybe 4-5 coins of 1k or better. There were about 20 coins they put in Tuesday /Sunday auctions that did the worst. These 20 or so coins were the more common grade common date stuff. Also if you have more questions quote my post and I will see it in the alerts. I missed this the last couple of times I checked the site out.