No wonder Heritage Auctions premium is so high!

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Gam3rBlake, Sep 13, 2021.

  1. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    I’ve bought from HA several times and while I’ve always had fantastic experiences with them I’ve always wondered why they charge such a large “buyers premium” of a whopping 20%.

    Well I found out.

    I got this in the mail a few months ago for FREE (even though I didn’t request it).

    I imagine they thought I would be interested in some of these coins.

    To be fair I was. There was a lot of good stuff in there. Way outside my budget though.

    But these thick, heavy catalogues with glossy high quality photos are NOT cheap.

    Both of them combined weighed 4 pounds and not only that but HA paid to ship them to me.

    I can’t even imagine how much they’re paying the full bill to make and send these to hundreds or thousands of people. o_O

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    Last edited: Sep 13, 2021
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  3. Evan Saltis

    Evan Saltis OWNER - EBS Numis LLC Supporter

    You just received your first auction catalogue! :D
    Wait until you have a big stack! Lots of enjoyment if your internet ever cuts out. Lol
    I haven't gotten them for more than 3 years and still have quite a selection.
     
  4. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    I’d rather have a lower premium :(.

    If I could opt out for a 5% BP discount I totally would.

    To me it just seems like they’re going overboard with advertising spending.

    They don’t need to though since I already check the website regularly to look for things I’m interested in.
     
    Matthew Kruse likes this.
  5. tibor

    tibor Supporter! Supporter

    They get HUGE volume discounts not only on the catalogues but on
    the postage. They send out tens of thousands with each auction.
    They are one of the top 3 numismatic auction houses in the U.S.
    The 20% BP is in line with the rest of the auction houses.
     
    Mr.Q and Evan Saltis like this.
  6. Inspector43

    Inspector43 Celebrating 75 Years Active Collecting Supporter

    I got one unsolicited catalog. Notified them to not send again.
     
    PennyGuy likes this.
  7. cplradar

    cplradar Talmud Chuchum

    not as much as you imagine.
     
    Evan Saltis likes this.
  8. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    I hate catalogs too @Inspector43 , if that's what you mean. I use to get the Sears catalog . That stopped .
     
    CoinJockey73 and Inspector43 like this.
  9. Evan Saltis

    Evan Saltis OWNER - EBS Numis LLC Supporter

    I keep them in case I ever get something with provenance.
    I'm sure a lot of info can be seen online but sometimes you can't find the pics.

    Who knows if I'll need it or not. I have many years left on this Earth and plenty of room to store the ones I get.
     
    Pickin and Grinin likes this.
  10. Pickin and Grinin

    Pickin and Grinin Well-Known Member

    Nothing wrong with a few auction catalogs, I have bought a few from the second hand stores. They know I don't buy online. Never had, not sure I ever will. I photo coins for fun. The coin would have to be enticing.
     
  11. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    I just wish they would save some money by focusing on customers who have a history of buying stuff similar to what they are showing in the catalogues.

    They sent me catalogues containing Chinese coins & banknotes even though I’ve never bought a single Chinese coin in my life. The only coins I’ve bought from HA are Roman denarii and then one Greek Athenian Owl Tetradrachm.

    IF they sent me a catalogue of Ancient Greek & Roman coins coming up for auction I would understand why they pay the expense to do so since I have a history of buying similar coins.
     
  12. Pickin and Grinin

    Pickin and Grinin Well-Known Member

    It's not just the catalogs. I get flyers on every auction they have coming up.
    All I did was use their site for coins. In order to be a profitable auction house you have to put out the best quality in every aspect. #1 is advertising, I did that for about 5 years. Nothing the customer hated more than poor quality of paper or print.
    Once you sold them on the piece of advertising, they became hooked on the highest quality of print and paper.
    #2 is customer service.
    #3 is keeping all the employees happy.
    It probably takes 20% to make a good living. They aren't in this to take a loss.
     
  13. Matthew Kruse

    Matthew Kruse Young Numismatist

    Everyone seems to hate these giant catalogs :hilarious:

    I’ve never bought anything from HA but I wouldn’t mind flipping through a nice big catalog of coins I can’t afford :D


    (But jeez, 20%!!?!?)
     
    Gam3rBlake likes this.
  14. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    Yup 20%!

    If you bid $100 on a coin and win you pay $120 + shipping.

    If you bid $1,000 on a coin and win you pay $1,200 + shipping.

    It really gets crazy when you see coins sell for like $3,000,000 and realize the buyer ended up paying $600,000 just in premiums alone that doesn’t go at all towards the seller of the coin you buy.

    Personally I feel like 15% would be a fair premium but then again I don’t know what HA’s numbers are so I can’t say for sure.

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    capthank and Matthew Kruse like this.
  15. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    Oh yeah I forgot! None of that counts towards taxes. You also pay taxes on the full bid + 20% premium. For me in California it’s 7.25% as seen in the invoice above.

    Even worse is the 2.5% credit card processing fee. But at least I get that money back via rewards miles on my credit card.
     
    Matthew Kruse likes this.
  16. tibor

    tibor Supporter! Supporter

    Many high rollers who buy "Moon" money coins usually get special
    terms. Heritage may even have in house printing company. The
    catalogues are lavish and so are the coins they are trying to sell.
    Production of said catalogues is usually very cheap. The auction
    houses may also get special terms when it comes to postage.
     
    Gam3rBlake likes this.
  17. masterswimmer

    masterswimmer A Caretaker, can't take it with me

    Keep in mind, some of these big auction houses also charge a seller premium that we don't even see. Granted this fee is normally a graduated fee based on hammer price and the negotiated terms. However, the smaller, lower priced items there's typically no negotiating the sellers fee. The big boys get the breaks on that end of the deal. So the auction houses are making even more than the buyers premium.
     
    Hookman and Gam3rBlake like this.
  18. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    I get stacks of catalogs from overseas, some from an auction house I bid with one time and lost.
     
    Hookman and Gam3rBlake like this.
  19. Gam3rBlake

    Gam3rBlake Well-Known Member

    Do you throw them away?

    That’s what I did. I couldn’t afford those coins anyway. All of them were between $5,000 and $300,000+.

    However I have noticed the Chinese coin & banknote market is HOT right now.

    Same with Portugal and the Philippines.
     
  20. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    I haven't thrown most of them away, but I haven't exactly figured what to do with them, either.
     
  21. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    Get a load of these. Three really nice hardcover catalogs, shipped to me internationally via FedEx, by a firm I had never done business with! They've obviously mistaken me for someone with much deeper pockets!
     
    Mickey in PDX, Hookman and dwhiz like this.
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