Collector of US Coins Hugh Stiel vs Heritage Auction

I was gonna stay out of this but I just can't help it I feel the need to comment. What's going on here is people are trying to apply their own personal ideas of ethics, their personal opinions on what is right and what is wrong. And that's fine I suppose, everybody is entitled to their own opinions and ideas.

But every time a discussion like this comes up, and they come up all the time, have ya ever noticed how may different ideas and opinions there are ? There's a lot ! They can't all be right, and they can't all be wrong either. But then that's why we have the court system that we have - so they can decide, not what is right and what is wrong because right and wrong will always be an opinion, but what is legal, based on the law. That's the job the courts have - to decide what is legal and what isn't - based on the law as it is written. And then everybody has to abide by that decision.

A couple of points about what has been mentioned, the Heritage contract for one. That contract is pretty much the industry standard, every auction company there is has a very similar contract - and they all reserve the right to bid on items if they choose to do so. And everybody that signs the contract agrees to that - before anything is ever offered. If you don't like that idea then don't sign the contract, take your business elsewhere. But if you do sign the contract then you need to abide by it.

And the comment directly above mine - it hinges on ...... - no it doesn't. Every business there is involved in sales does exactly the same thing. Coin dealers make their living on that idea. Every single day coin dealers look for and buy coins specifically because they already have a buyer for that coin waiting in the wings. There's nothing wrong with that, that is the very nature of sales. You buy something because you already know you've got somebody else waiting to buy it from you. So how can it be wrong for an auction company to do it ? Especially when they have told you up front that they are going to do it - if they want to !

It seems to me that what some people always seen to forget is that they went to an auction company, or a coin dealer, for a specific reason - because that company can do something they couldn't do themselves, or at least do it better than they could do it themselves. But if the company, that they went to willingly, makes money on the deal, that makes the company a bad guy. I'm sorry but I don't get that.

To me it's kind of like saying I want a plumber to come fix my kitchen sink but I don't want him to make any money on the deal. Well, if you don't want him to make any money, that's OK, you go buy your own new faucet and you put it in. But if you call him to come do it, then don't complain when he charges you an extra $20 for the new faucet - that he had to spend his money, time and effort, on to get it for you.

Or, if you go to a jewelry store to buy your wife a new necklace, don't complain when you find out that the jeweler charged you 4 times what he paid for the necklace. You went there, you agreed to his price up front and paid the man. Do you think the guy that sold the jeweler the necklace complains because the jeweler made 400% profit ? No, he doesn't - he does his best to sell the jeweler another one ! And then another one after that !

It's no different with an auction company. You went to them ! And you did that because knew, or hoped, they could do something you could not do yourself. You agreed to their terms - in advance. So how can you complain after the fact because they made money on the deal ?

Like I said, I don't get it. But that's me I guess.

 

That's the problem with ethics, everybody has different opinions as to what is and what isn't. Over the years I'll bet there's been a thousand threads on the subject of ethics - what is and what isn't. And not once, not even a single time has there ever been a consensus ! And I strongly suspect there never will be.

 

And I'm not claiming it does !

What I am saying is if you pick 10 different scenarios, and ask 100 different people which scenarios are ethical and which ones are not - you'll get at least a hundred different answers.

Point, nobody can define what is ethical and what isn't - except for themselves.