Agora Auctions holding my Commodus denarius for no reason

As Zumbly said, many auction houses are surprisingly (shockingly, even) bare bones operations. When the auction involves a thousand lots, getting them in the mail takes a long time. I'm not defending them though and feel that with the hefty premiums some companies take from both buyer and seller, those auction houses should hire some staff (even temporary low-wage staff) to process the orders-- or have a smaller more manageable number of lots per auction. That might also cut down on the number of fakes which slip through.

As for Naville, I've always received my lots in a very timely manner-- much faster than with other British auction houses. Recently I had an issue with a lot and had to return it to Naville. The coin was nearly split in two between the obverse and reverse and there was bronze disease throughout the chasm. This was not apparent in the pictures due to the location of the problem. There was no hesitation in their acceptance of the return and they even credited my account before it was received, along with the return shipping cost. Communication was bit slow a few times but the lots always get in the mail promptly. Perhaps I've just been lucky.

 

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Fair enough on Naville - I have yet to purchase anything from them. Sorry, I went back to addressing the OP...

 

Oops, sorry FitzNigel. I'm so concerned with my own situation that I missed the "Agora" in your post.
Let's compare notes later, Greg, to see who gets his coin first!

 

I was initially frustrated about the wait time. Then I took ten deep breaths, reflected, and realized my frustration was due to comparison with experience with Amazon and eBay transactions. I am 35 and part of the instant gratification generation.

I think there is a quid pro quo here. The expertise and attention to detail seems to have a trade off with express shipping. Amazon does it by using robots, and I'd imagine high volume auction sites pay ~ minimum wage for employees to get things out quickly. Not making excuses (I have no skin in the game) and not denying anyone's right to their opinion (especially if you are looking to flip coins and you've lined up a buyer), just my 2 cents. An auto response email would be nice, I can see your frustration there (considering my generation takes a 24 hour no response from an email or text as a sign of disrespect).

 

Well said.

 

I am twice that and part of the generation that expects to get what you pay for. In this case, I might be easier on a one man operation who also does shows than on a place that charges 15% buyers' fees and doesn't have a secretary to answer the phone. Most of all, I get tired of the attitude from some sellers that suggest I should be glad they are willing to do business with me. A seller who runs a sale with 3000 lots and does not employ a staff for providing proper conduct business is not likely to earn repeat customers and not someone I would consider consigning my collection to when the time comes. (The sound you hear is the sigh of relief from many who were hoping I would not ask their help in selling my junk.)

Not all that long ago, technology limitations meant we would not know whether we won or lost a lot for a week after closing and then would wait for our check to clear before the coin would be shipped. Today, I have paid within a minute of closing and received coins from overseas in less than a week. Sellers who fail to keep up with modern expectations should not wonder when some customers hold it against them.

 

The market is in such a boom right now that customer service and expertise are (in some cases) taking a backseat and the results for the auction houses are minimal. I don't see this changing until the market cools down significantly and the dealers/houses with integrity are the ones left. But that will also mean a lot less material for us to browse, I think. But I've only been collecting for 11 years so maybe I've got it all wrong!

 

So I'm being accused of having no patience and being all about instant gratification....

I waited 7 days until after I paid in full to ask via email when my lot was going to ship. That was after seeing no activity on it at all for a week after they had my money in their hands. I don't think that it is unreasonable to inquire about it after a week.

My email went unanswered...not even a generic "thank you for your email, we will review it and contact you within 48 hours. I waited 48 hours for such a reply and nothing. At which time I called 5 times within the next 24 hours and no one ever answered, and I left a voice message during one of those calls, and a full day went by without answer until I finally came here and wrote the OP post.

Does any of that seem unreasonable on my part? After all, it's been 11 days now since I paid and there's been no change in status on my order.

I understand one of the owners of Agora posted earlier and said he'd look into it, so I'm willing now to give him the benefit of the doubt and wait some more. If someone contacts me on Monday or Tuesday, or there is finally activity on my lot as far as a status message saying it is being readied for shipment or shipped, I'll be very grateful and let any inconvenience or misunderstanding be a thing of the past. After all, I genuinely like Agora. Ive won 4 different lots from the auctions they hold on their site, and in the prior transactions shipping was fast. In fact, despite the frustration I expressed, I'm still bidding on some of their current auction lots as we speak. I didn't create this thread to bash them, but simply vent some frustration and see if anyone else was having the same experience, and hopefully to see how to get it resolved.

But if we get to Wednesday or Thursday of next week and nothing changed, I hope you won't accuse me again of being unreasonable if I complain for wanting what I paid for, or at the very least asking for an explanation as to when I can expect it.

 

Some debit card companies view the service like a paper check and forces the seller to have to wait until processing before they can actually declare it 'sold' and have cash equivalent safely in hand, so delay for on line purchases may be held up.

 

That doesn't apply to Agora, and has never been an issue in the past when I've bought from them or through them.

Anyway, let's just wait and see what happens. I'm confident things will be dealt with now that I've received a reply through cointalk from them.

 

Huh, I completely forgot that I also picked up a coin in that Agora auction and like you, I paid immediately. It hasn't shipped yet either .

 

That's odd ... I didn't even bid but I received two cool coins in the mail today?

 

Give it back, Jan, or I'll tell Mom!

 

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

 

Here's a positive note regarding auction house processing speed:

Thursday night I received an email announcing HJB's next Buy or Bid sale. I clicked, browsed, and bought. The coin was in the mail the next day. Kudos to the HJB crew!

 

Me too. In fact, Aaron Berk offered to send it FedEx to try to get it to me on Friday and just missed the cut off. Huge gold star next to his name in my book. Now THAT is customer service!

 

No disrespect or accusations intended, sorry if it came off that way.

 

I've always had great experiences with HJB. They set a very high bar for customer service!

 

Now if we could just get them to revamp their website. The navigation is awful! It takes manyfold more time to view coins on their website due to the number of clicks required to see the coins and the categories. Sometimes I don't even look at the entire sale because I get exasperated by the awkward browsing. It's possible that in past auctions there were coins I'd have bid on if I'd seen them.

 

I have very fond memories of visiting HJB in Chicago. I was taken through to the back to meet Curtis Clay who had brought in a range of interesting Severans for me to look at. I managed to steal an hour of his time before I had to rush off and catch a flight home.