I been plundering along fifty years buying coins here and there. Mostly with trusted dealers. Lately with some super guys here on CT and have amassed a respectable collection... Or rather more of a hoard of mostly average coins with some respectable pieces. I am at a place where I could treat myself to a dream coin and man, Heritage has been emailing me the most incredible batch of dream coins this old boy has ever seen that are currently up for auction. I should be working, but have been salivating all over my keyboard looking at these. Before I plug a big number into a couple of these I wanted to ask a few questions from those of you that are more experienced with this kind of buying. Does plugging in a big number for a dream coin early in the auction process simply mean that others will know that I am after that piece and likely outbid me early on simply driving the price sky high? Does the savvy bidder wait until close to gavel dropping to place his bid? I have heard of hiring folks to do the bidding for you. In other words, I could quite easily see myself getting competitive in the heat of the thing and bid more than I need to spend. I don't lose well. How does a person seek out this kind of a service?
Just kidding, but I myself am the most disciplined, hard-nosed, won't budge off my number bidder I've ever known.
I personally bid and forget. If someone wants it more than I do then so be it. On the other hand, it never hurts to have a third party bid for you live if for no other reason than the one you list---auction fever is REAL! The best reason for third party bidding IMO, though, is a pair of eyes that has actually seen the coin in hand rather than simply a picture and description.
Maybe it's my stroke, maybe I'm just a stubborn cantankerous SOB, but I have never even come CLOSE to experiencing auction fever. I mean, if I have it pegged at $300, and EVERY OTHER BIDDER IN THE ROOM thinks it's worth $800, it's still a $300 coin to me. And I go home utterly convinced they overpaid. It pays to be stubborn sometimes.
Heritage makes it easy in that the buyers fee shows up as you bid. With Great Collections you have to calculate that. Heritage now charges sales tax (if applicable to your state) but that does not show up until billed. On high price coins it can make a difference. I have had good experiences bidding at Heritage. Most coins that I have tracked and bid on sell pretty close to past auction prices. I do watch the live bidding but have rarely raised my bid during that. It is more to watch prices and stay current. I usually tune in around the time my coins are nearing the auction block. You do have the ability to tell it to bid one increment above your final bid.
Speaking of which, another JMI auction flyer in my mail. York, PA. Haven't yet opened it. My favorite auction company. Yum.
Heritage bidding is much different than eBay. People can't probe your high bid and then cancel. Find a dealer or someone you trust that will actually be at the auction. They're going to charge a fee to do it and if they aren't physically there it doesn't make sense to pay someone to do the exact same thing you can do at home. You're really paying more for their in hand opinion of it then the actual bidding or paying them not to bid against you really since they can't be your competition as your agent.
Yeah, but let's say you have it pegged at $300 and it is going at $310...wouldn't you go just another $10 and make it $320...AND NOT A CENT MORE!!! Seems like you feel better, I'm glad for you.
Putting in a bid early is a good tactic to discourage people that will watch the auction if they see it has no bids, or if they are interested in the coin, but only at or slightly above the minimum. If the coin already has bids, do not bid until the last seconds of pre-bidding or during the live auction. Don't put in an early bid that is too high though, or you could spark an early bidding war and give people a lot of time to think about it. The three times to bid for Heritage are very early (and modestly) when there are zero bids, right before the timer expires on pre-bidding, and during the live auction.
Nope, $310 may just as well be $300,010 for as much as it will budge me off my pre-determined maximum bid. I won’t even consider $300.02. Successful auction strategy calls for being an unemotional automaton. Streetcars, baby, streetcars.
Randy, every tactic you can think of has already been thought of and used for decades. And as you'll see in this thread and can already see there is no shortage of ideas and opinions as to which tactic is the best. But every single one of them has their pluses and minuses. This is, without question, one of the best methods there is. Which is why big money buyers/collectors use it. But that is a tactic for auctions. There is however another similar but slightly different version of it. And it typically results in even better prices. This tactic involves having a dealer work for you on the electronic dealer market. Every single day thousands upon thousands of coins are listed on the electronic dealer market - at wholesale prices. For you to take advantage of that you find a dealer, tell him what you want, and then simply let him go and buy it for you. The discount of the wholesale price even covers the fee you pay the dealer to do this for you. Net result you get the coin at retail or slightly below. The disadvantage of this method is that the coins are purchased sight unseen - meaning no in-hand viewing of the coin prior to purchase. But you do get to see pictures in advance. Both of these methods can be utilized at all times. The primary ingredient is you finding a dealer or two to work for you. And you do that by you doing a little leg work. In other words you gotta go beat the bushes, visit shops both near and far. Make phone calls, send emails - in short you contact the dealers one way or another. Work out details, just like you do with any business deal. You're a businessman - you KNOW how to do this. Then make your choice as to which dealer/s to use. But there is a 3rd way. You yourself can become a member and have access to the electronic dealer market. And yes you can do it, I've done it myself. Sure it cost money, but it also allows you to buy coins at wholesale - which means it pays for itself. The downside of this method is that you do so based on your own knowledge, not only of the coins, but of the market as well. So if you don't know what you are doing it's not hard to get into trouble and end up upside down on a coin. This is why using a dealer, who has that knowledge, is usually the best choice. With what I've said above, you have everything required to accomplish what you asked about.
And if that were NOT the case, all the less useful ones would have already died away. It's the story of all things wherein various strategies live on - pluses and minuses. Do you like to work toward "castling" in chess? Same deal.
Often when I post the obvious answer hits me like a ton of bricks..... My favorite dealer. Fellow that I consider a good friend even. He has a multi-faceted business. He has a store front where he markets coins and collectibles. And also has a second business under the same roof where he markets to the "investment coin" crowd. I would bet my bottom dollar he will be all over this Heritage auction. And I will be visiting him this afternoon to query him about just that..... Thanks for all the input.
By the way, perhaps the reason I don't get auction fever is I saw my old man get burned by it a few times on used capital equipment for the business, so I overcompensate a little. "You paid WHAT for that?!?!?"
Randy, there's something that most of us often overlook, don't even think about it. The truly great collections, sometimes even famous collections, the ones that bring great prices when they are sold, that collectors like most of use here oooooh and awwww over - do you know how they almost always get assembled ? They get assembled by that collector using dealers just as I have described above. This happens over, and over, and over again. Do you know why ? Because it works
Yup, works virtually every time it's tried. I'm not at that level of extreme rarity yet, but I already have ideas of who I want to work with, by having conversations with guys with more important collections than mine. The true "big dogs" are only too glad to share their techniques.
Only auction I ever participated in was for a car. Was to be my son's first car. I had spotted the little sedan. Had those fancy wheels that youngsters are all about. Had my heart set on the little car and another fellow did too. Much to my better judgement (which disappeared at that moment) I entered a bidding war on the car and spent more than I intended. I refuse to lose. Been a good quality most of my life. Not so much at times though.