Heritage's "Make offer to owner" program

http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1162&lotNo=3350

Here is a coin that Heritage sold after the auction bidder bought the coin. Apparently Heritage Auctions does this with most of their auction coins so that if you fall in love with a coin someone else outbid you on, you can have it if you are willing to shell out more money to get it.

Has anyone here participated in this opportunity as a buyer or seller?

Also, I have a very similar coin to this 1862 H10C. Same grade same service, similar attractive toning. If I want to maximize my profit on the piece, would I have to CAC it and then run it in a Heritage Signiture Auction? Thanks for the feedback.

 

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Heritage does not automatically list coins in the “make offer to owner” category. As the winner of the item you have to specifically select that you want to make your coin available. If you want to maximize your profits then I would indeed send it to CAC. The simple fact is that CAC approved coins are bringing more money right now. But I would try other options before running it through heritage. You could list it here or on collectors universe or both… that would save you a lot of money. Heritage charges a buyers fee and a seller’s fee. You lose money on both ends. Though, it will have a higher visibility in a larger auction. I would contact them and maybe stacks to see what they would charge you and go from there.

 

Thanks. Is Collector's Universe only for PCGS coins and what is their system for selling/auctioning?

 

Collectors Universe is just like Coin talk when it comes to selling your coins. You can sell what ever you want.

 

So do they get another piece of the action when the coin changes hands yet again?

 

Yes they do, but I do not remember how much.

 

Wait...lemme see if I understand this. A coin goes up for auction, someone wins the auction, but they don't get the coin. Is that about right? ...or am I missing something?

 

They get the coin and after they have actually taken physical possession of the coin, someone else may want to buy it at a considerably higher price. In the case in question, a H10c in MS66 with a CAC gold sticker is awfully attractive to another buyer.

 

...but the first person won the "auction"...Right? ...they paid the fees and have possession of the coin...Right? ...and Heritage says they have to relinquish ownership of the coin because someone else (after the auction) wants to buy it (from the original owner) at a higher price?

Please help me out with this...I HAVE to be misunderstanding something!! :rolling:

Doug...you're the "Adult Supervision" here...please explain this in a way I can wrap my pea-brain around!!

 

After the auction is over someone makes a higher bid to the present owner through Heritage. Everything is optional at that point, owner may not want to sell.

 

"Present Owner"...the person who won the auction? (that would make sense)

 

Phew! ...Thanks!! I knew I must have misunderstood what was being said.

 

So you were thinking that they would try to resell the coin instead of honoring the bidder's rights? Heritage may own more numismatic gold than any other company, but even they wouldn't do that.

 

It's basically a formalized way of passing along messages to current owners that someone might be interested in buying the item. You'd be surprised how many requests we got along those lines, and we sell something through this system virtually every day.

 

Not a bad system. There have been coins at a competitor of yours, (well not really a competitor, different markets), that I sorely would like to be able to contact the winners and see if they would sell. I bet this idea would help encourage more dealer bids as well, if they know they can turn around and readvertise the piece easily.

Good idea!

 

I like Heritage and I love their archives.

That said, I think the "make an offer to the owner" option just clutters up the site. The prices asked for by the owners are many times ridiculously high (and a lot, lot higher than the auction winning bid).

Otherwise, I think Heritage has a great site. Sorry.


guy

 

On the other hand, there are some rare items that some people really want, but they may be willing to pay rather than getting constantly outbid in an auction. So yes, some people want to keep their goodies, but figure if somebody else is willing to shell out enough shekels, they could be induced to part with it.

The Make Offer to Owner used to only apply to the owners of coins won through a Heritage auction, but now I think Heritage has enhanced it so that if you own a coin that was in a Heritage auction, even if you weren't the original buyer from that auction, you can let Heritage know that you now own the coin and they will pass along offers to you just as though you had won the coin. At least that's my understanding.

For example, I bought my 1964 SMS Kennedy from a fellow who won it from the Heritage auction. Now I have registered that I own that coin and can receive offers -- and of course it is my option to refuse to sell, or to sell at whatever price is offered. (And the PCGS Price Guide has doubled since the seller won the coin from Heritage.) This is all in beta test so we shall see how it works out.

 

I don't use it but I have gotten offers for my coins before. I love turning them down!! :smile