Is Heritage Auctions Playing Fair??

As you can see by the Title of my post iam currently disenchanted with my
Recent Heritage auction experience after losing out on a very special
Item which was originally estimated to sale for $4,000 by heritage, I
Was shocked when it only sold for half that, If that would have been
The case i would a have placed a bid!


So to confirm my suspicions i watched Heritage live for over an
Hour half and noticed only a handful of items sold for there original
Estimates, Makes you think if there trying to prop up items with
Un realistic estimates??:vanish:


Opinions anyone!!??

 

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You need to provide a link to the item so that we can see the listing for ourselves. Often times in an auction setting, it is difficult to price unique or rare items. If the item in question was rare and did not have a recent auction history, it would be hard to blame the auction house for a bad estimate of value.

 

In general, auction houses tend to estimate low. That way, when the floor auction begins and folks see numbers bigger than estimates, it gives a postive aura - excitement - to the room. For some folks, that can lead to a case of auction fever.

They are obviously not responsible for what the item actually brings. Also for obvious reason, they hope the item sells high.

The responsibility for estimating the value of the item is clearly on the bidder - 100%.

To me, the title "Is Heritage Auctions playing fair ?" is inflammatory and inappropriate. If it was "a very special item", you should have a good idea of what it's worth and bid accordingly.

I'm sorry you missed out, and hope you get another opportunity.

 

I agree the title is very inappropriate.

 

I think the operative word is "estimates" and your sample size is far too small to draw any realistic/accurate conclusions from.

You should PM CT Mod/member Cave Troll as I believe he works/worked for HA.

Makes me think you should have placed that bid? And if you would have won the lot w/ a bid @ 1/2 of HA's estimate you would not be complaining?

 

Hey guy,s iam not trying to knock anyone here! Just looking for opinions
To see if anyone had a similar experiance, And iam not going to cross
Reffrence every item that didnt meet estimates, All,s i know there was
A bunch!!

And the stuff that i bid on had plenty of history behind it, I know they
Cant control how much an item goes for, But there the professional,s
They should have a better idea!! My opinion!! It,s a free country isnt it??

 

What was the estimate range?

 

Agreed, just a bad title. What it looks like on a few items(in past) I checked the estimates where a little high. Almost like retail versus realized auctions. Some of the items I looked at were some old guns. One of the guys I used to work with (big in to guys) said some of the estimated prices were a little high and looked like dealer prices. He expected the auctions to be down a little and they were. This is all pure speculation on a couple of auctions - besides coins that I looked at. I make it a habit of almost always checking out what other things they have up for auction - never bid, but find some of the items very interesting.

 

Estimate range!

My beef centers around the original estimate of $4,000, Though
That is alot of money i was considering going ahead but then
Did a double take and decided not to bid!! It turned out not so
Good for me when i found out the item went for $1,900

If the estimate would have been a little more conservative this
Note most likely would be in my collection, With the economy
The way that it is everybody needs to do a double take:high5:

 

If you were looking at the MPC, one of the things I have noticed is that MPC prices in auctions have dropped considerably over the last few years -- especially on the high end stuff. Look at how many replacements did not sell in the auction. Either the auction cataloguers have not caught on to this yet -- Lyn Knights estimates for MPC have been high recently also -- or they are trying to prop up the market. Or the consignors are.

 

I am not an auction expert, I have never even bid on a coin auction, but most of those who seem to have lots of experience routinely tell me that heritage is one of the best. I still will not bid but thats what they tell me.

 

Would agree to a point, If the high end stuff doesnt sell then it
Just goes back in someones collection and they will just hold on
To it until the demand comes back, Iam finding this trend all across
The board not only in Mpc but all currency!

When it comes right down to it, Its a matter of supply and demand
If there,s no supply demand will eventually come back!

 

Something else I did not mention - on some coins I will bid what I can afford even if it is not close to what they have been closing for. I keep hoping I will win one of these coins at a really good bargain. No luck so far and I figure if nothing else I make some one bid more.

 

Good strategy :secret:

 

Was $4000 the high end of the estimate or the low end?

 

This was there estimate of what they thought the note would go for
But this i dont believe to be reasonable with the way the economy is.

 

For some reason you are not understanding a simple request. Heritage gives you a *range* for the estimate, not a single value. What was the range for this note?

Since the hammer was $1900 (w/ or w/o juice?), then I am guessing the starting bid was $1000, which at 50% of low estimate makes the range $2000-4000.

So the note sold for less than low estimate, but not as bad as you are making it sound.

 

There are more factors in an estimate than the item's actual worth. For one thing, we're in the middle of a deep recession and people just aren't as free spending as before. Second, it's not three weeks after a major holiday centered around spending. And finally, the estimate could have been based on past sales from years ago and not so much in today's financial considerations. Next time you go grocery shopping try to place a price tag at the end of your list and see how close you come. Since prices change daily and you add and subtract items at will, I bet your estimates are a bit off as well, even though you may shop quite often.
Guy~

 

I do the same thing and actually win about 1% of the time.

Granted, I lose 99% of the time with this method, so it may not be for everyone...:hammer:

 

Oh Well! live and learn i guess i did pick up a couple of nice items though
So i guess i cant complain to much!