I always thought the Heritage bp was just 15%
gtstang
Posts: 1,756 ✭✭✭✭✭
But it is a minimum $29 bp no matter what end price is. 
This one listed above has not ended but selling and buying lower priced items isn't a good option there fyi.
0
Comments
It was 15% about 10-15 years ago.
Is it not currently 15%? The screenshot of the terms and conditions I posted is current from the listing.
20% with a $29 minimum
From the posted terms above, for coins, it's 20% of the winning bid or $29, whichever is more.
Seems pretty clear.
20% subject to a $29. minimum ... for at least a decade IIRC
see bullet two, under 2. from your snip
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
My recollection is that it changed to 20% some time ago and in the past 2-3 years moved up to 25% as listed above. The disclaimer reads: For domain names and intellectual property auction lots buyers premium is 15%. Down below it states: For lots in all other categories not listed above the buyers premium per lot is 25%.
Ah, yeah I see the 20%.
It’s still 20% (not 25%) for several different categories, including U.S coins, world coins and ancient coins.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Wow, I skipped right over that 20% statement, my bad. I think it's 25% for Exonumia which is what I typically buy from Heritage.
Don't forget their high shipping charges. It needs to be factored in your bid.
The $29 minimum is recent. It was $19 up until a couple years ago.
Their shipping charges are pretty reasonable in my opinion.
Or you could buy from Amazon. They have free shipping.
Prime membership ain’t free! 😘
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
it's currently 100% or you can just pay and agree to let them keep the coin
The buyers premium is 25% for political items.
The rate on coins went up from 15% to 20% some years ago. Heritage and StacksBowers did it at about the same time.
Lol. It's amazing how easy it is to fool people by simply hiding the cost in the price. Personally, I prefer to see it spelled out including BP, shipping, taxes, etc.
FWIW I bought two $100 coins from Heritage a couple weeks ago. Total shipping was $9.50 which is not much more than The Blessed GC
I had a few items in my cart on Amazon before and after prime week. The prices went up for those items while prices went down for other "deals". They definitely make up the difference by doing this tactic. The prices went back down after prime week was over.
@jmlanzaf I'm guessing then your total cost was about $270 approximately for (2) $100 coins?
That ends up being a 30% +/- bp which seems quite high for lower valued items imo.
Obviously, the cost is higher on lower priced items. I won a comic for a $1 bid a little while ago. Total cost was $39.50 ($29 BP + shipping)
But, respectfully, you are looking at it the wrong way. My added cost on both of those orders was ZERO. The total cost was factored into the bids. I was willing to pay $45 for the comic, so I had bid $7. For the coins. The total cost was $265 but I would have paid $300 for the two coins. In fact, I've already resold those coins for a profit.
The only buyers who pay a premium are those who refuse to calculate the total cost. Which is easy on Heritage as they show you total costs with BP when you bid.
You pay the same cost on Amazon or eBay but it's just hidden in the purchase price. I add 10 to 15% into my ebay prices to cover FVF and shipping. So you can pretend you didn't pay a BP or shipping, but it's just hidden.
‘I was willing to pay $45 for the comic, so I had bid $7”.
This is obviously a poor net payout from the seller’s side, but there is a simple solution. Don’t consign items that are going to net you 15% or 20% of the sales proceeds while paying an 80%-85% effective commission rate. Instead, consign well thought out group lots that bring the commission down to “normal” levels. Make sure the sales lot fetches $250-$300+ minimum so that $29 commission becomes a non-starter. It’s that simple.
Wondercoin
This, of course. Is absolutely true. Placement is important. When I see $50 to $100 widgets at any such house, from GC to Stack's to Heritage, I really question the wisdom of it. Classic commems and low unc Morgans have very low bid ask spreads. You are much better wholesaling to a reputable dealer.
The $29 minimum is against the 20%, so $150 is the cutoff.
I'm imagining that the bulk of these types of lots that go up for sale at HA are included as part of a larger consignment that includes higher value lots. The seller is likely hitting the easy button and either doesn't have the time or doesn't care enough to parse out the lower price ranged items to maximize economic value by selling them elsewhere. Perhaps they are solving for maximizing utility including the value of their time saved from only having to deal with HA in addition to whatever financial proceeds they receive from the sale.
You can't buy cheap stuff in the Heritage auctions, and as a consigner, you can't sell it there either. Recently I saw a slabbed example of a denarius for an easy to find Roman emperor. Normally the piece would sell for around $125. The trouble is you had to pay your bid, pay the $29 minimum buyers' fee and their shipping charges which are really high. I bid $50 on it. Someone else beat me out at $55.
The consigner got a low ball price because of all of the extra charges.
‘’I'm imagining that the bulk of these types of lots that go up for sale at HA are included as part of a larger consignment that includes higher value lots. The seller is likely hitting the easy button and either doesn't have the time or doesn't care enough to parse out the lower price ranged items to maximize economic value by selling them elsewhere. Perhaps they are solving for maximizing utility including the value of their time saved from only having to deal with HA in addition to whatever financial proceeds they receive from the sale.’’
Only if you are doing your client a disservice. The proper thing to do is group lot the coins so the $29 is spread over a few items, not one. ‘’Auction agent representation 101’’
Wondercoin
Two separate arguments IMO. I can and do agree with what you are saying that ideally for the client that the auction house would group the lower valued items together. I don't think that changes how most of the low priced lots end up there in the first place though.
Jeff as- Best I know, the auction house (such as Heritage) generally doesn’t group lot items consigned to them without the consignor either doing it himself/herself ahead of time, or possibly the consignor giving the auction house free reign to group lot anything they see fit (not recommended).
Wondercoin
Thanks for this thread. Now I know why I shall continue to buy most of my coins the old-fashioned way, eyeball to eyeball. Or on ebay. At least on ebay the seller pays the 20%, comprised of ebay final value fees, Paypal ftransaction fees, postage. Buyer shouldn't have to pay any fees, in my opinion.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
You pay the same cost on Amazon or eBay but it's just hidden in the purchase price. I add 10 to 15% into my ebay prices to cover FVF and shipping. So you can pretend you didn't pay a BP or shipping, but it's just hidden.
The smart ebay buyer knows what's up with pricing. Fortunately for sellers, lots of not-so-savvy buyers are in abundance on ebay.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Prime membership ain’t free!
Maybe not but who needs it? No prime membership for me and my merchandise ordered through Amazon always gets to me plenty fast.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Heritage wholesales also. They would not put up a coin unless it were in the best interest of the client or insisted upon by the client.
You buy on eBay, you're paying the fees. They are just hidden. Geesh
The smart auction buyer also knows. If you can't figure out the 20% + shipping, maybe you better stay away. But roughly 20% of the slabs I sell on ebay came from Heritage, Stack's or GC. So you can tell me that you're going to avoid the Heritage fee, but you're paying the Heritage/GC/Stacks fee PLUS the ebay fees and the shipping (though I offer "free" shipping). So you can pat yourself in the back that you've stuck it to the BP charging man, but you may be kidding yourself.
But roughly 20% of the slabs I sell on ebay came from Heritage, Stack's or GC.
Where does the other 80% come from? Slabs you've bought on ebay? My auction win percentage on coin auctions is dismal low on ebay. I seldom participate in ebay auctions anymore. The shilling activity has taken the fun out of it. Buy it now, no so-called auction involved, works best for me there, so I really don't see how I can be kidding myself about the price I'm paying. Either the price is right or it isn't with buy it now on ebay.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Other dealers or buying collections.
You're not kidding yourself about the price you're paying but you are kidding yourself if you think sellers don't account for fees and shipping in the price you're offered.
edited to add... If you really don't want to pay for the seller's fees and shipping costs, you need to be bidding in auctions that have free shipping.
Are you offering to buy them?
I have both bought and sold them, but that was not the purpose of my post.
Has ANYONE paid "PayPal transaction fees" selling on eBay in the past two years?
Indirectly. You can still use PayPal through managed payments.
Almost goes without saying. "Free shipping" is okay but it's not a given that I pass on a coin of interest with buy it now if the seller wants me to pay a reasonable shipping cost. Would rather deal with a seller who asks for a little postage money than one who gets in cahoots with somebody in an auction to turn me upside down and try to shake as much money as he can out of my pockets in a so-called bidding war. A bidiot I am not.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein
Even if they don't ask for a little postage money, you're still paying for postage. It's just included in the price you pay and is not broken out so you can see it. Same thing with eBay fees. Sellers are well aware of these costs (you can read the complaints about them on this forum regularly) and only the most clueless sellers don't account for them in their pricing.
Some of the premiums mentioned here aren't even the highest in the industry. Mix that with high commission fees and poor representation of their material, the seller is better off going to the pawn shop down the street.
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you.
https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.
Have you ever tried to sell coins at a pawn shop....?
I will never understand why people complain about disclosed fees. The only thing that matters, whether buying or selling, is the net money into or out of your pocket. People ignore that fact by obsessing over the fees themselves.
I only care that it cost me $100, I really don't care who got the $100. And if I'm selling, it isn't better to get $50 with no fees than it is to get $200 with $100 in fees.
There's an old saw in advertising that goes something like "$10 is too much of it yields no business while $10,000 is cheap if it yields a million in business. "
Maybe I'm confused as the last time I sold on eBay I only took checks and money orders, but if I were to sell something to you would I pay any fees differently if you paid by PayPal or any other method? That is, is any seller paying PayPal fees?
You could still take PayPal if you wanted. That fee would be in addition to the ebay fee. It is not common, mind you, but you could PayPal me money and then I mark the payment received.