I have been placing bids all over the world and I must say that there is a big difference in procedure, response, guidance,...

If you compare the pictures of the items (let's say coins, because banknote images are usually problemfree), many of them are simply not good. If you take Heritage Auctions as reference,scoring 10/10, and a handdrawn sketch of the coin as 0/10, you'll see that some of them hardly get a 5/10.

Which experiences have you had? If you would run an auctionhouse, what would your concerns be?

I'm looking forward to your ideas and frustrations

Or simply let us call them: Stories!

Regards,

Jos

One thing I have done is researched Heritage Auctions where they pertain to what they auction on eBay and find lots and lots of inconsistencies and discrepancies with online bidders vs. floor bidders. I have watched stuff I was interested in, for instance 1911 Italian commemoratives for the 50th anniversary of the Italian Kingdom, but the feedback was such a put off that I never would bid. I cannot imagine thinking you are the high bidder when you bid on the online auction then finding out a couple of days later that you were overlooked. In essence they have not perfected their auctions. I too would be spitting nails if I thought I was the high bidder on a 50 Lire in gold and then found out later that all my excitement was for naught.

Yes, that's a real problem. They also state that on their website. They use eBay for the publicitity, but actually it only backfires. I always place my bids on the HA website, ever since I knew about this problem anyway.

But overall, I don't think HA is that bad. They score good on other stuff, like descriptions, images, search engine, mail notification, ... Those are all big plusses for me.

Jos

About a year ago, COINage ran an article about 10 websites a good collector should be aware of. Guess the two websites they featured that I still use to this day!

Heritage Auctions was one of them. I never ever ever have bought coins sight unseen until HA. I love their images, descriptions, and value guides (I can see if other, REAL collectors paid similar amounts for similar coins recently). There are only two things I don't like about Heritage: 1) shipment + buyer's premium = way expensive for the cheaper lots (why pay $20 extra when I can be patient and find one in person) and 2) they have a very high quality inventory which means I can't find coins that don't meet their standards. That latter point stinks because I cannot for the life of me find ANY barber dimes or v nicks in XF-AU at any show or shop I go to. (They only exist in low grades or unc apparently!).

Heritage was also mentioned in the article because of the resources it has - the permanent auction archives is an exceptional resource in my opinion. It saves me money when on the hunt, but also I can spend hours just ogling over the rarest and most beautiful coins out there.

Anywho, you will NEVER find me on eBay. I'm too distrustful of everyone on there (including you!).

I've dabbled on other auction house sites but none have come close to Heritage.


Oh yeah.. The other site that was featured that I still use: CoinPeople.com! Did anyone notice a slight increase in membership around the time that issue was published? (June/July 2006)

I like CNG auctions. The catalogs are nice, well photographed, decently researched, and I'm sure the consigners are typically happy with the bidding and prices realized. All in all they are probably my favorite. Stacks/Coin galleries does some awesome catalogs, but for more avergae coins the images can be lacking in size or just not there at all.