i came up with a good idea for heritage & other major coin firms like heritage that have online

barberlover

anyone who read my horror story post and later addition to that post has already heard my horror story so i won't repeat that hear. my idea to resolve the dilema of no returns policy on signature auction coins and enhanced images is as follows; from now on , while there will still be no automatic return privledge on auction coins, if you feel the image you based your winning bid on is not an accurate representaton of what the coin truely looks like you may submit the coin back to us for a review by an independent panel. if they agree with you that the coin is not accuratley reflected in the online image, we will do 1 of 2 things at your option we will either reauction the coin for you with 0 percent buyer and seller fee, or if the coin is slabbed by p.c.g.s or n.g.c. will buy it from you at blue sheet bid. i first listed this idea on my horror story post, but i think this is important enough of a subject to have its own post. i would love to here what everyone thinks of my idea, but especially if you work for a major coin firm that uses online images in there auctions like heritage.

eagle7

Hello barber lover. I missed the horror story but am wondering if you paid more than blue sheet for the coin. Probably so since the fifteen per cent was added on. I have done lots of business with Heritage and for the most part have been well pleased but I just buy Gold and a few proof coins from the late fifties thru sixty one. Heritage uses scanners, not digital cameras for most of their coins. Only on the highest priced coins do they have a good digital image and then it may not be at a good angle to really see what the coin looks like. Scanners do not do well at portraying toning, either good or bad. You really have to know what the blue sheet is on the coin and not pay much more than that. If you stick with PCGS and NGC and you dont pay more than blue sheet you dont have much of a beef In my humble opinion.

CLASSICS

something i dont like and never did...if a million dollar company , or anyone else for that matter does not stand behind what they sell , why do business with them? why should anyone have to play games, or jump through hoops..... what ever happened to... the customer is my business, and without him i have no business....and as far as thier auction pictures go, surely they can do better that that, most of the scans look like blobs showing no detail. sure the high priced coins look good, just about everything else shows nothing. its like beleive what i tell you, however if the coin isnt what they say, to bad for you? no thanks, ill thake my business elsewhere.

ldhair

One thought for what it's worth is that the monitor used to view the coin can effect the looks. Tough topic for me.

sinin1

When they have an auction -> it is not standing behind what they sell, but rather -> getting good dollars for the seller, in a timely fashion.

Those big sales sometimes take 4 months from coin leaving sellers hands to sale proceeds in sellers hands. Returns would add another 4 months?

I like the idea of a coin being resold with 0% seller premium to new owner if they are not pleased with coin. If that new owner bids his own coin up and is high bidder, they should be stuck with the buyers premium though (in my opinion).

ms71

Good idea, but they're unlikely to go for it in their volume-driven rapid-turnover mode. It would add delay and probably considerable expense. Like you, I have learned the hard way. I will never again bid on anything without a return privilege, the more I think about it the stupider I realize I was for ever doing it. I compare it to going to a coin show & letting the dealer try to sell me an expensive coin on the basis of showing me only a picture (and not a terrbly good one), then telling me I have to make my decision based on the picture & will have no return privilege. I now look upon the money spent on a couple of such purchases as "tuition', a lesson bought at a price, but a lesson very well learned. Needless to say, in a perfect world nobody would bid on items with a no-return policy & they wouldn't be able to offer them that way - but that ain't gonna happen. It's bad enough having to shell out $20-$30 for shipping both ways on one you return, but it beats having an expensive coin you don't want festering away at you! The answer is patience (another one as good WILL come along) and pick carefully those you deal with.

TomB

They have already done what you are suggesting for me. I bought a toned coin off one of their auctions and paid a decent premium for the "look", however, when I received the coin it didn't look that much like the image. So, even though they say they won't accept returns, I contacted them and they told me to ship it back and they would review the coin at their weekly meetings. Well, they agreed with me and I was only out my return shipping, they ate the buyer's premium and initial shipping as well as the cost of the coin. They don't advertise this option, as far as I know, but it is probably available to all.

barberlover

i guess you talked to the right person and i didn't because i did contact them to when it happened to me lastyear and nobody gave me that option. please tell me who you talked to at herritage because i still do buisness with them and knowing who this person is might come in handy, thanks barberlover

eagle7

Look everyone, I know that this position is not going to be popular but here it is. If I want to buy a super PQ coin for my money I go to Legend or another dealer of comparable merit and I pay extra. If I want to buy some bargain gold right now in a PCGS 64 holder to save back for later, I will go to Heritage or one of the other auctions(not Ebay) and buy them. Who cares. Either a PCGS coin in 64 is worth the blue sheet or we are wasting our grading fees by sending coins to them or NGC. Here is my point. If you buy a PCGS or NGC coin sight unseen and you dont like it, then your beef should be with PCGS or NGC not Heritage. Why not send the coin to David Hall and tell him you dont agree with the grade. If we are not willing to do that, then why do we pay him our money. Sounds like we all need to refigure this angle and work this out. I would be happy to quit using grading services but if we are going to use them then they should be responsible for the grade assigned, not whoever sells the coin in their holder.

barberlover

eagle 7, i think you missed the point of my post. if i where arguing that i thought the image of the coin was an accurate refflection of the coin, but i disagreed with david hall about the grade on the holder than my beef would be with p.c.g.s. my point was that since the image posted and taken by heritage not david hall was not an accurate representation of what the coin looked like, which made the coin look better than it really appeared. my bid would have been much lower if the image that heritage took as my only ooportunity to see the coin had been accurate in the first place. no one as far as i know, not p.c.g.s not david hall, not the owner of the coin selling thru heritage put the image of the coin up, but heritage did. they are not responsible for the grade on the holder but they should be responsible for the accuracey of the images they take when eye appeal is a major factor in the final selling price of a mint state coin.

eagle7

I do see your point and Im not totally against your point of view, to the extent that the image is your prime consideration, or was your prime consideration regarding the price which you paid for the coin in question. The only problem is that with thousands of coins to get ready for an acution, and with limited personnel and time, how can an auction company make an accurate photo of every coin. They can not. Back to this advice then. If you can not buy a coin sight seen, dont pay more than the blue sheet price for the coin. Dont get mad at the auction service, recognize the limitations of time and technology and factor that in as well. I also would like to point out that the toning on the coin does constitute a large part of the eye appeal category, and hence is a big factor in the final grade which the grading services give the coin. If the toning is dull and unattractive, then the coin is overgraded and PCGS is responsible for that if it is in their holder. If the coin is not overgraded, then back to not buying a coin sight unseen.