big auction buybacks/minimums/or shills?

sinin1

I'm curious what people feel about the bigger auction houses and their legitimizing of buybacks or minimum bids - how can you tell if you are actually placing a bid to own or if your bid may not be enough.

Case in point - Teletrade auction Sunday October 20 - there were 326 lots - 94 found new homes (although maybe temporary because of the ability to return if not satisfactory). This wasn't their typical auction where they last the low/high at each grade and by grading company (a105-p350) but one where estimates were given before the auction. You know what if the last bid was below the the bottom of the estimate range, it did not sell.

Have the gotten in to the broker business/ do they tout for a few big firms/ how many different sellers were involved in this auction - was it quite a few or only a few.

I'm interested in peoples thoughts on this - also Heritage auctions - what percentage of their coins at auction are owned by them? Anybody got any ideas?

Hey, they supply a service and if you don't like it then you don't need to use them.

Is this typical of Bowers and Merena/ Superior/ and the other big auction places?

If a $5000 coin runs through one of these places, what percentage of the time do they find new homes?
Any ideas or thoughts - I realize I've rambled.....

Placid

I would prefer a straight minimum bid rather than play the games.

boston

I've bought from Heritage and Teletrade. Haven't sent a coin back yet. Didn't feel that any were misrepresented.
Nor that the auction was manipulated. Remember that sellers can refuse the final bid, but still pay a listing charge.
(BUY BACK) Never sold, and don't know the charges.

Heritage images suck.....................
Enlarged images are improved.

Teletrade doesn't have images of many coins, but has decent images , when available. Descrpitions are often vague,
as with Heritage.

As with any auction, you pay what you feel the item is worth to you. It only causes high blood pressure to consider
otherwise.

Who owns the coin doesn't really matter. Unless you know who does and work a better deal.
Bob

BigD5

I'm not too familiar with Teletrade, so I won't comment directly concerning them, but with the other auction houses, they take consignments, and if the consignor wants a reserve on the coin, the reserve is set. When you bid, and get outbid, you may not actually have been outbid, but just haven't yet met the reserve.
I don't pay too much attention to the format. If I see a coin I like, I bid what I am willing to pay, and move on. If I win the coin, great. If I don't win the coin, I don't really care whether I was outbid, or haven't meet the given reserve on the coin. It doesn't matter to me.
I believe the coins in Heritage's Weekly Internet auctions are primarily from their own stock, but I think that depends on the number of consignments they receive for those auctions.

Gilbert

My major issue with the larger auction(s) is that they seem to ALWAYS max out my proxy bid. Without fail, every item I've won, no matter how much or how little I've bid, has gone to my max bid. In a couple I know I bid a big premium over where the market seemed to be, only to win the item utilizing every cent. Is it mere coincidence, is there always some like-minded person after the exact same item (yeah, right) OR is there some collusion goin' on? I have to wonder.

keets

hey gilbert

stop wondering!!

al h.

BigD5

I've noticed very similar results Gilbert. I keep telling myself that the major auction houses wouldn't
"mess" with my relatively small bids, and risk the consequences of being caught manipulating bids.
I mean, imagine the fallout for a major auction company if they were caught maxing out online bids? They would lose all trust in the auction community, and I can't think of anyone that would want to continue to do with business with them.

keets

BigD

considering how many members post about their suspicions with heritage et. al., i'm starting to wonder why everyone uses them. granted, they list stuff that present an oppurtunity to acquire needed coins, but when so many question the SAME thing it begins to sink in that they are guilty as charged. of course, i could be wrong.

al h.

gemtone65

One problem that I've run into on reserve bids is this: you submit the high internet bid, but the auction house may not introduce the reserve bid formally until after the live bidding begins. The potentially higher reserve bid may become slowly revealed to the floor bidders as he bidding escalates, but by then it's too late for you.

Thus, I believe it should be standard practice to allow the internet bidders to compete against the reserve bid. Otherwise, I can tell you that it leaves a very bad taste to learn that a coin on which I was the high internet bidder did not even sell!

Placid

I have only won three coins thru heritage auctions so far. Two went for less than my max bid and one I bid on live thru eBay.
The last one I won my max bid was $400 and sold for $330.