Heritage Auction?

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Thanks for clearing this up, L96.

So Heritage always/usually is just collecting the hammer (as I thought) and other fees, just like Ebay ? For the most part, they aren't buying stuff and then re-selling it (except maybe with a very unique, illiquid asset like art or a collectible).

The bottom line is...if JimmC or I or anybody WANTS TO SELL our stuff on HA, we can. Just pay the fees and/or hammer price, right ?

Just curious...if I have a very popular and liquid item, like a 1907 High Relief Saint...and let's say it's worth $40K but I need the money in a few days or a week or so and can't wait a month for consignment and/or a future auction date and all the waiting....I guess in that case (maybe) HA can buy it from me for a discount and then re-sell it later ? Or does HA never want to take inventory and just facilitate sales ?

Not a lawyer, but I don't think there's a case for libel here. I think JimmyC was just grossly misinformed on what HA does and the various prices he was quoted.

He needs to read something other than the CPG. HA and other auction sites have lengthy rules and procedures on how to sell, fees, listing requirements, consignment, etc....I haven't read them myself, I'm just a buyer.

 

thanks Gold. As i understand the buyer pays the 17% surcharge not the seller.
Pawn shops and Jewelry shops make their money on greatly inflated price.
I have a friend that got a divorce. He took his very expensive rings he bought
for his wife to the Jewelry store he bought it from. They offered him less than
10%. My friend was angry. He said how can that be right. The owner said
that is the only way he can stay in business.
Some people are desperate and may believe the hoax that their coin or
diamond ring will bring more than the reserve price that is forced upon them.
Once it is sold at the reserve price what can you do.
Now this is capitalism and I understand it.
I was surprised that Auction in my view is a hoax .
I am not an expert on coins or jewelry. I will say a 2.55 caret yellow diamond is worth a lot of money. The jeweler I saw on Thursday said if he had it he would ask $35,000. He did not say what he would pay me. Maybe 10% 3,500 like Heritage offered or even less.
To a desperate person $3,500 sounds like a life savor.
I am OK if Heritage has this as their business plan. It does explain a lot
of crazy prices they claim on their website.
Example they will say they sold a coin for $15,000. The same coin on Ebay with
the same grade is offered for $1,200.
I am not a socialist/communist. I love capitalism

 

BTW, Lehigh, I only started bidding and following HA in recent months but have been very impressed with the site, quality of stuff, how the auctions (Tuesday Nights) work, etc. Still not 100% sure on when the online and other bidding ends/begins, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Only thing was the dropping of PayPal. Didn't see the notices it was being eliminated and caused me some payment problems a while back.

 

Jimmy, if you have a diamond (yellow ? ) worth $35,000 for RETAIL, then for sure you should be getting $25-$30,000 or so as the seller. Not an expert on jewelry but there's a pretty liquid market among dealers there.

Nobody would think that they could get your rock at 1/10th FMV. Again, I think you are confusing Reserve or other prices with final realized price.

I have never sold on Ebay or HA. I pay the fees inclusive on Ebay as the seller's build them into the price. On HA, they are separated -- you have a final bid price and the "hammer" (the 20% or $19 minimum) is tacked on. I won something a few weeks ago for $100....$120 with hammer...Sales tax....S&H....total came to like $140 or so.

You get the idea.......

 

Go get him, Paul!

Chris

 

It’s been over a decade since I consigned coins to Heritage but at the time their standard fees were a 15% buyers premium and 5% sellers premium. Please bare in mind that those rates are negotiable based on the total value of your consignment and the sell through rate based on the reserves that you have placed on your coins.

I just looked at their site and it appears they have raised the buyers premium to 20%, which could mean they have eliminated the seller’s premium and shifted the entire fee structure to the buyer, but I don’t know that to be true.

Heritage does buy material directly but that decision is up to the seller/consignor. If you don’t want to sell your material directly, you can insist you using the auction venue. The problem in this case is that the coin is ungraded and probably doesn’t meet their minimum consignment requirement.

As for you question about the Saint, Heritage would either offer you a fair purchase price or even allow you to take an advance on the sale proceeds but I have no idea what % they would offer.

Lastly, regarding the legal issue, given how much chain jerking this guy has done in this short thread, I felt he should also be on the receiving end.

 

Thanks Gold,
I never heard about Hammer until you talked about it.
So you only buy from Ebay and do not sell anything to anyone?
So a employee is going to sue me for telling the truth. Is this Paul a nickname for Adam Shiftless?

 

Yep, we are gonna take your little coin and your house.

 

Not sure about your coin, and don’t really care. I think your original post was questioning Heritage as an auction site, and I think you may have been comparing them to eBay. If so, two completely venues.

On eBay you control the auction. You place the listing directly on their site, set the terms and conditions, decide on a reserve (or not, your choice). You keep the coin, handle payment and shipping. You keep the proceeds, minus eBay and PayPal fees.


Heritage is like hiring a live auctioneer. You give them the coin, they take care of the listing, advertise, manage the bidding, handle the shipping and payment collection, etc. They do this usually for a percentage of the final bid price. Some, including heritage, also charge a buyer’s premium, which the buyer pays to the auctioneer in addition to any taxes, shipping, etc. This does not affect the hammer price, but is in addition to the winning bid. The advantage of using a venue like this is they have the experience and expertise to guide you on expectations of value and salability. On eBay, the only expert advice you get is you. You essentially get what you pay for.

One other thing. In the case of eBay you can sell one or more items in individual listings. When you use an auction house (or hire a live auctioneer) they will combine multiple sellers into one auction and schedule that auction at time that maximizes bidder availability and viewing. This is why it may take weeks or months for you to get the proceeds from sale.

I hope this answers some of your original question. If not, I apologize for a long winded reply.

 

@Jimmycrawford Do you understand that jewelry from stores are marked up so high? For example you can buy very heavy 14kt rope chains.......guess for how much 4-6x the melt value.

So lets say you buy a 500 gram 14kt gold rope chain, I have seen stores asking 35,000. The melt value on a chain is 27.58 per gram=roughly $13,500. You are paying 70 a gram from the store.

When it comes time to sell it, NOONE will give you 35k or 30k, or 20k. Its pretty much worth melt, which is around $13,500.

Same with wedding rings you buy from Zales, Jareds, Ben Bridges etc. You think the 25,000 dollar diamond ring you bought from them is actually worth that? No, they inflated the price so high. When it comes time to sell, you might be lucky to get a few thousands or heck MUCH less. The diamonds on most of those are inferior and not even worth that much.

 

Thanks Omaha,
That is the questions I had and you did give me the complete answer.
I believe I will use Ebay to sell my items.

 

Welcome to CT. Please post photos so we can see what you are talking about.

 

Well Ebay isn't bad..for high-end, I still think HA is tops. JMHO.

 

By all means, use SleazeBay! That is where all of the idiots sell their junk. And, if that doesn't work, you can always slink lower to Craigslist or Etsy.

Chris

 

Jimmy, one problem we have is you haven't shown a picture of your coin. That $3000+ price you quote is for an MS-66, but if you look at the price guide at the top of the coinfacts listing you will see that for a MS-64 the guide is $200. Id your coin slabbed as a MS-66? Is it slabbed at all? If it isn't slabbed as a 66 then the value estimate the gentleman at Heritage gave you is probably in the right ball park. And as was said earlier unless you had other coins of significant value to consign you were probably below their minimum consignment threshold. I think that used to be $5K.

 

I think that $5K threshold is to get your coins into a Signature Sale. IIRC, the threshold for the weekly auctions is much less.