Goes to 22% on Jan 1. You'd think that the success of Great Collections would give them and SB a hint. My more recent consignments have gone to GC. Mike
Talk about greed, don't they also charge a percentage to consign a coin. Maybe they feel everything else is going up, so let's do it because we can. I wonder how much of a bump in pay their employees got.
Yeah, my belly gets warm over that thought. The collectibles I bought might be getting boost... Hopefully it's not short lived
I held my nose when it went from 15% to 20% with a $29 minimum. At 22% the stench will probably be too much for me. If anything I'll just drop my bids by another 2%, the sellers will be going elsewhere because of that, and I'll see fewer coins I'm even interested in on there. It's always been a place for higher end stuff but I think they overestimate the number of people out there who just throw money around.
I've avoided Heritage for a long time now. Between their buyers fee and higher shipping/handling fee the total can add up to close to 30% for lower priced coins. I would only put in bids of 70% of market and walk away when the bids exceeded that. I recently sold my Indian Head Cent registry set at GC and my sellers fees totaled less than 5% (coins bid over $1K were charged no seller fee and those under $1K 5%; ~$5/coin for a listing fee). I was more than happy with all of the bids.
It's hard for me to blame Heritage. Almost every company is having a hard time controlling operating cost. What some think is greed, can also just be a company trying to keep the doors open. If they don't raise prices they have to start sending workers home. Everyone in this hobby is having to adjust prices. I believe long term collectors are probably doing better than most if they are selling. Those that are buying seem to be taking the most risk. Just my opinion.
And I'm betting that with a $5 listing fee, GC is not overrun with rotting Zincolns, parking-lot errors, "RARE NO MINT MARK" business strikes from the 1970s...
