Teletrade new Return Policy

segoja

Have you folks looked at TT's new return policy?

Will that make you less likely to bid on coins or stay your current course?

Looks to me like they are trying to make more money returning coins than selling coins.

K6AZ

Wonderful. This is going to affect me doing business with them.

7. LIMITED RETURN POLICY. Teletrade offers this return policy as a service to its client, however, Bidders who excessively return coins may result in having their bidder account canceled at Teletrade's sole discretion. The Bidder will be notified in writing with a warning prior to account being canceled. Subject to the terms contained herein, any Bidder may return any lot purchased for any reason by telephoning Teletrade at 800.949.2646 to notify us of the return within five (5) calendar days of receipt. Bidder must ship the same to Teletrade by Registered Mail within seven (7) calendar days of receiving the shipment (evidenced by carrier's records). Upon the expiration of seven (7) days from the date of receipt, all rights of return shall expire and no returns will be accepted. All rights of return will terminate and be void if (a) payment is not made when due, time being of the essence; (b) the returned coins are not housed in their original, sealed and unopened containers in the same condition as when shipped by Teletrade to Bidder; (c) payment by check does not clear on the first deposit; (d) payment by credit card is refused; or (e) Bidder has had an opportunity, personally or through an agent, to view the coins. In no event does Teletrade refund postage and handling charges, nor does it reimburse Bidders or Consignors for postage used to ship coins to Teletrade. A non-negotiable return handling fee will be deducted from any refund for a returned lot calculated as follows: Five Dollars ($5.00) plus five percent (5%) of winning bids equaling Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) or less; Ten Dollars ($10.00) plus five percent (5%) of winning bids in amounts in excess of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00). Teletrade does not maintain running accounts for Bidders. Therefore, refunds from previous auctions may not be applied toward the balance due on a current auction.

airplanenut

Edited 'cus Eric posted before me

airplanenut

Damn, that policy really sucks!

segoja

K6AZ,

Thanks for posting the details.

James

UncleWiggly

I probably won't hesitate to bid if I want the coin.

roadrunner

Wow that's a 10% return for on coins worth < $100. And if you toss in postage you're looking at 15-20%. The policy was bad before, now it really stinks. Guess they want to be sure they have the most oppressive return policy in the business. On a $10,000 coin it costs you $500 to return it. At that price you could hire a local numismatist to inspect the coin for you, treat them to lunch and dinner, and pay for a show....and have change left for "return postage." Way to go TT.

roadrunner

ElectricEye

I guess the already high returned item fees weren't high enough ~

solid

One of the reasons I rarely bid there.

Ken

Russ

They must be getting a lot of coins back.

Russ, NCNE

shylock

Ouch. That's as good as no return policy at all. I use to avoid them because of the NY State sales tax. When they moved out to Irvine CA from Kingston NY, I bid on a lot and was still charged NYS sales tax. I was told it was a legal issue they were working on. NYS was raking it in from 3000 miles away! Ouch.

Sequitur

Processing returns is part of the cost of doing business. I make it a point to refuse business from merchants who charge these bogus "restocking" or "handling" fees.

And I'll bet the hammer price of the less-than-stellar coins wil take a moderate hit -- who wants to put down even moderately strong money on decent but not PQ coins when you'll have to fork over hard dollars to Teletrade merely to return a dud?

prooflike

I haven't been on TT for a long time, are they imaging more items now, or is it still sight unseen (and no return to boot now)

This will probably result in lower bids and then less people sending stuff there.

segoja

Prooflike,

They image every coin. Problem is some of the images are not great reporductions of the coin.

Cameo in particular come up better than they appear in person.

They still take returns, they just cost more to send back.

roadrunner

Because so many of the coins are duds and retreads, the return fees are the only place to make money....esp. when the house owns many or most of the coins. They'd probably just assume see a coin returnd 3 or 4 times and get their 20-30% that way. The most times I ever so the same coin get auctioned in the same year was an NGC MS68 1890 quarter. I stopped counting at 6X.

roadrunner

sTONER

FLUCK teletrade,,,,,STEVE

MrEureka

non-negotiable return handling fee will be deducted from any refund for a returned lot calculated as follows: Five Dollars ($5.00) plus five percent (5%) of winning bids equaling Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) or less; Ten Dollars ($10.00) plus five percent (5%) of winning bids in amounts in excess of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00).

This actually makes sense to me. First, a real auction is not an approval sale. Second, most major houses don't provide ANY return privilege on certified coins. Third, I'll bet that you could get the return fee waived if you had a legitimate beef.

Edited to say that I haven't done a dimes worth of business with Teletrade in years. I have zero ulterior motives to come to their defense.

BAJJERFAN

<< <i>They must be getting a lot of coins back. >>



You bake a cake with horseshif you get a horseshif cake. If they don't want returns then put up good pics. I know its not an approval service but if the coin don't match the pic why shud the bidder get stuck with a POS? Yeah right send a $150 coin back by registered mail. Course the fee is included when figgering the final price not just the bid.

DHeath

It just affects the degree to which a bidder is willing to gamble. Combine all the auctions with the same ownership and it's a pretty large venue.

jeffnpcb

They only sell coins from the best grading services! Why would you want to return them?

g097103

I never have bid on their coins simply because I refuse to pay a buyers fee. But that is a truly opressive return policy, another reason not to do business with them.

sTONER

just remember guys,( YOU CANT POLISH A TURD),,STEVE

Tonelover

If they don't want returns then put up good pics.

I might refine that just a bit by saying: If they don't want returns then put up good COINS.

I haven't bid there in close to a year. For me the pictures are good enough, I can see enough to tell that the coins are not for me. It's been quite a while since I've felt otherwise unfortunately.

roadrunner

Once in a blue moon TT will slip up and put a good coin into the sale that is not owned by the house. I was able to buy a nice MS66 bust dime last year that got little action. Most of their bust stuff is very lifeless. I bid assuming I have to keep the coin, so I assume the worse possible quality and plan for surprises based on what the scan doesn't show me. Early on, I returned over 90% of what they sent me and must have been their best "return" customer. It's a lose-lose game unless you just bid as if it were sight unseen.

roadrunner

mercurynut

I never liked teletrade anyway!

roadrunner

Hey, sometimes you feel like a nut....sometimes you feel like TT.

roadrunner

Dog97

So basically the only change is that they upped their return fee from 3% to 5%.

segoja

Dog97,

Thye also added a flat fee in addition, making the increase much more, particularly for cheaper coins. Even a $100 that had a return fee of 3%, now goes to 10% with the $5 fee + a 5% return fee.

Dog97

Sorry for delay, I lost thread.
The flat fee is not new, it has been in effect since 1998 that I know of, or earlier.

Wolf359

Yup. I've only returned one Teletrade coin and it cost me $50 bucks. Looked awesome unlabed PL in the photo, was a stone cold overgraded Morgan that took 30 seconds to evaluate in person. On the other hand, I've cherried some nice vams there. But the picture quality is inconsistent at the least. Heritage is much better.