Teletrade auction question...

So I was looking at a few coins on Teletrade tonight, and they all went a decent deal north of where I figured they'd price in at.

http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=3004&lot=2620
Currently at $150 plus buyers premium and shipping... So about $175.


http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=3004&lot=2630
$150 plus premium and shipping; also at $175.


http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=3004&lot=2664
$160 plus BP and shipping, so about $185.


http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=3004&lot=2744

$85 plus BP and shipping... about $100.

And the auctions don't even close for about 2 and a half more hours... I really don't get it... sure, they're solid coins for the grade, but I don't really think any of them would upgrade, except for MAYBE the 1885-O. Am I out of my mind for thinking the DMPL coins should probably sell for $125-$140 each, and the PL shouldn't be getting more than $80 or so?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I see this happening often at TT. It seems as if people are bidding some items up. I often find these same items reappearing in future auctions so not sure exactly what is going on. My strategy is to decide prior to the auction what I am willing to spend and try not to go any higher. TC

 

All those current prices are around or under previous sales from them. Also if you but all of those DMPL's on ebay they would sell for more than on TT.

 

Uh... There's three nice '85 MS63 DMPL's in old PCGS rattlers for $168 on Ebay right now... came out of a lot of four listed on HA back in November. I'd know, I was his competition for them, and I had some talks with him after he listed them on eBay and asked him to drop his price to $140, where I'd buy one, but he refused... still a bit cheaper than Teletrade.

I guess the best place for my needs is HA... their prices usually end up fairly reasonable unalike TT.

 

i've noticed it on peace dollars also. I guess I need to read their rules about bidding on your own auctions.

 

Wisest way to go.... That's what I do. In the words of Mr. Popiel, "set it and forget it". And if you win, all is beautiful.

 

Looks like that 1885-O finished at $250 or so before fees... someone else must think it's gonna upgrade to a 64 too.

 

I find Heritage much more expensive than Teletrade... even more so on Tuesdays with the no BP I think TT can give some good buys.

 

Henry and I both frequent the Tuesday nite auctions.....

 

I buy a lot from Teletrade and I haven't noticed as large of a market variance as you have, but I'm sure it does happen. One thing I've always liked about them is for the most part they have good quality photos and I believe HA receives lower prices sometimes due to poor photos on certain lots. IMO

 

I see that also,,, I think all auction houses do that a bit, which is another reason I like ebay..... I just don't like to compete with the folks who are suppose to be selling the coin... that said, I just picked up a couple from HC tonight... and a couple from the bay... and looked at the TT offerings but just couldn't swallow any of the prices.... almost went after a nice greenish toned silver nickel on TT, but opted out and instead got 2 other nice certified 38d and 38s nickels from the 'bay for less than the one on TT, very happy with the buys on the bay tonight. Spent more that I wanted to on HC, so not as happy there, but hoping one is nicer than the photo and I can flip for a few buck$, and the other I need....

 

Here's how Teletrade works.

Sellers submit coins on consignment giving a brief desription which may or may not be used.

Teletrade assigns the coin to an auction and will continue to do so until the coin is either sold or the seller has had enough and asks for the coin to be returned.

Once the coin is assigned to an auction, Teletrade notifies the seller.

At anytime upto 1 hour before the actual auction starts, the seller can logon and submit his/her "buy back bid". What the buy back bid represents is the least amount the seller is willing to let the coin go for. If less than an hour before the auction begins, the seller CANNOT submit a buy back bid. The coin will start at $6.00

Once the auction begins, sellers CANNOT submit bids on their own coins (although I have not validated this).

If a buy back bid has been submitted, the Teletrade Auction machine will increment the bids on the coin upto and including the sellers buy back bid. This accounts for some of the seemingly high bids for coins which eventually do not sell.

If the coin does not sell, it gets assigned to another auction until the seller requests it be returned. At which point, the seller gets charged for his/her failed buy back bids.

Generally speaking, most bidding activity does not really begin until perhaps the last 10 minutes of the auction where all the sellers really need is for a single bidder to enter the "next" bid as at that point in time, all the buy back bids (sellers reserves) are being displayed.

My personal experience on Teletrade is that they are responsive and not totally unreasonable on their fee's for sellers.

Buyers on the other hand, must always consider the buyers fee (15% or $8.00, which ever is larger) when bidding as a $20 winning bid will amount to a $28 purchase plus sales tax (if applicable) and shipping and handling.

I do buy a lot on Teletrade and overpay on most items however I've also gotten some really good deals. But, for what I collect, Teletrade usually offers the widest selection.

Hopefully, this post will answer most of your questions and address some of the misconceptions regarding this service which from a sellers standpoint, BTW, can be significantly cheaper than eBay.

 

Does heritage work the same way?

 

I have no idea what Heritages consignment/seller agreements might be since Heritage has a $5,000 minimum consignment limit and I'm fresh out of $5,000 coins. (Or even 2 $2,500 coins or 5 $1,000 coins, or, well you get the picture.)


BUT, I do know that Heritage posts any reserves during the last couple of days of an auction. That I do know.

 

That is a very good summary, Lee.

The only thing I would add is that Spectrum -- the company that owns Teletrade -- sometimes puts their own coins in the auction. So the seller and the auctioneer are sometimes the same entity.

 

This is true but its also true of other auction venue's. David Lawrence comes to mind.

 

Agreed.

One reason I mentioned it is that I've heard (from more than one source) that an unusually large % of the coins at TT are owned by Spectrum as opposed to the other venues. I wonder if anyone has concrete info to this end.

The other reason I brought it up is that both HA and DL publish their reserves. TT does not. When the house is the consignor, they can then set a reserve and relist the item over and over. Disguising what is essentially a retail transaction in the clothes of an auction.

And that has always struck me as a tad bit on the shady side....Mike

p.s. In fairness, TT is really a wonderful company to deal with, and I have nothing but good things to say about them on the buy side. As long as you consider carefully what price you are willing to pay for a particular item, and do your homework, there are good coins to be found. I have never consigned with them, but by all accounts they are very good to work with as a consignor too.

 

What difference does it really make if your bid buys the coin?

 

Please see my edited response, as I think I addressed your concern.

In the end, it probably doesn't. It just seems sneaky and low-handed to my preference for above-board transactions. When added to the way the bids are "automatically" incremented which mimics bidding action when none is taking place, and it leaves a sour taste in this collector's mouth.

But hey, that may just be me.

 

+1