Heritage Auction - Made Bidding Mistake - Won Auction

No fault but my own in this situation.

Firstly, I assumed Heritage operates their auction bidding like eBay. Specifically, a user makes a bid that is the highest bid, but the display only shows a bid amount that is marginally above the 2nd highest. Additional bidders can keep bidding up the price while not becoming the highest bidder. Once a bid is above the bid of the (hidden) highest bid, then that bidder becomes the highest bid. There's probably a word/phrase that describes this kind of bidding.

Secondly, my bid of $500 (CDN: $450 Wholesale) wins the auction but the invoice is $656.88. WTF? Ok, I learn 20% buyers premium, $40 sales tax, $20 handling. eBay live BINs are $694 and $599. Using the filter: "Twenty Cent Pieces in Mint Location:San Francisco, Date:1875, Grade:AU 58, Certification:NGC|PCGS, Show Only:Sold,Completed":

• 620 - BIN
• 521 - 2 bids
• 858 (CAC) 24 bids

So it seems I overbid by at least $100. How can I possibly resell this coin unless it gets CAC graded? Also I artificially increased the value.

Here is the coin in question followed by Heritage comps

Here are the comps (which I just learned about):

 

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Ooops!! It is what it is. Are you happy just a little bit?

 

We all make mistakes and they can be used as a lesson for future bidding.
You have two options with this one:
1) sell at market price (take a loss) if you just want to get rid of it or need the money
2) hold onto it (it's a decent type coin) and maybe it will go up in the future. If it does not, you can reassess where prices are decide if you want to sell or keep waiting

 

I know you're disappoined, but it's a very nice coin!

 

Your bid may have been a tad on the high side but not outrageous. A 58 in a crappy blue ANACS holder recently went for $560 on EBay. Also you may have been competing with a dealer bidding on a coin to resell.

Regardless it’s better to overpay for a scarce straight graded type coin than to underpay for a common widget.

 

2020 was a long time ago in coin years, I rarely win anything at 2020 levels. The only reason you paid that much is because there was a bidder behind you who pushed you to that increment, so it is somewhat like bay. You just didn't factor in BP tax and shipping, lesson learned.

 

I don't think the end price you are paying is high at all.
The comps mean bupkus with this series, now.

 

The shipping charges are high from Heritage. I rationalize that by knowing it would cost more than what they charge me in shipping to drive or fly to a coin show and buy the piece.

I don't like auctions in general because I feel like I always over pay. Still if there is a peaking order, I hate eBay most of all. The snipping drives me nuts. I refuse to bid in eBay auctions for that reason.

I prefer to have the chance to bid again if I am outbid. Snipping prevents that. Bye-bye eBay! You are dead to me.

 

I have to admit "snipping" on ebay is horrible.. I've lost more coins to last second bids then anywhere else.. but on the flip side I've sniped more then a few myself last second.. So i can't really complain when I have already adopted their methods myself...

 

I do hope you find some solace in the quality of the coin. It is impossible to say you have underpaid or overpaid on any particular coin. coins by nature are not fungible.
Know this though. It is up to the buyer to be informed. Heritage doesn't hide it's price structure or any of its affiliated costs. check their site and you will find all fees are openly stated. The buyer must do his homework.

 

Younn be learn from your mistakes but keep the coin for a number of years and I’m sure it will be higher in value than it is now.

 

Actually, Heritage bids do go up incrementally. The increments are posted on their website. Others bid the coin up until it reached one increment below the $500 hammer where you won it.

For auction companies that charge a buyer’s fee (most do), decide how much you’re willing to pay exclusive of shipping and taxes. Then figure the maximum bid as:

(max willing to pay) / (1 + buyer’s fee as fraction).

In the case of Heritage, where the buyer’s fee is 20%: max bid = max willing to pay / 1.2

For some companies, the buyer’s fee depends on the method of payment. For example, Great Collections charges 12.5% for credit card payment but 10% for other methods.

It can be frustrating to be sniped or lose a bid by one increment. My approach is to watch the coin until the day before for the auction ends. If current bid is still reasonable, I bid well in advance of closing and bid so as not to exceed the max I’m willing to pay. Then I don’t look again until after closing. Thing to remember if you lose by one increment or get sniped is the bidder that beat your bid might have been willing to go a lot higher. Or there might have been multiple bidders willing to go higher.

Getting sniped or beat by one increment is more likely in a rising market. Lots of folks base the max they’re willing to pay on price guides or past auction results. I usually do. These prices are based on history and are often too low when prices are going up. In a rising market to win, you may have to bid a record price for the type and grade. This can be psychologically hard to do.

Cal

 

when you don’t adapt to life, life passes you by. I bought this coin on eBay one of the best I’ve ever bought. Used a snipe app.

 

Nice life lesson and truly an amazing coin!

 

Good! Go ahead and buy the great coins from eBay. Life is too short to spend time researching prices, strategizing bids and posting fair to strong amounts. Then the lot closes with my bid “winning it” only to be superseded by a snipe bid. It’s happened to me multiple times. I am FINISHED with eBay.

My attitude can be summed up with one word BITTER. This hobby is supposed to be fun. It isn’t when you have rotten rules like that running the auctions. EBay stinks.

 

I totally get that you don’t wanna do it my only point is I was able to get that specific Coin by using the sniper apps. I honestly find it easier to use them then to give bids and I definitely buy them cheaper than I would if I didn’t use the app so what I’m saying is by adapting to the system you can get really cool things and sometimes pay even less than you would have by refusing to change to the new systems
One of the nice things is that you can also change your bed if you change your mind because it hasn’t been sent in yet. However, you can’t do that if you place a normal bid. This is happened to me at least once.

i’m just saying, you should really consider getting the sniper apps and trying it at least once

 

I think you are giving very sage advice delila. They say good advice ignored has it's own cost. Unfortunately, I too cannot take it. I hate when someone wins an auction by pennies. For me, that coin would always be tainted as something I won by cheating another. I do not pursue coins on E-Bay, but thanks for the heads up. James

 

Heritage has something similar with its proxy bid system, but it doesn’t screw people the way the eBay system does.

 

Don't you have to give sniper apps your sign-in info? Isn't this a security problem?

Cal