Heritage Internet Auctions vs. Ebay

SDCollector

I just won a Heritage auction for the first time and it was a very positive experience. I'm working on a type set and my budget is for most coins to be in the less than $200 range. I had assumed that Heritage would be too expensive, but I took a look this week and was surprised that Heritage had a nice selection of SLQ's in my price range. I won a nice AU-53 SLQ for around $50, with BP.

Searching through a Heritage auction is much more enjoyable than searching through eBay. In the Heritage auction there were about 10 coins, slabbed by ANACS, that I looked at. In eBay there would have probably been at least 100, nearly all raw. The few times I've searched through eBay, I get annoyed at the ridiculous descriptions and lousy pictures. At Heritage, IMO, the images were very good and the zoom feature was excellent.

Of course the 15% BP is a big difference at Heritage vs. eBay. But I'm beginning to think it's worth it, even for the low-end coins that I typically buy.

Heritage doesn't seem to get the amount of discussion around here vs. eBay. What am I missing?

greghansen

The 'amount of discussion' on the boards seems to be much more related to 'how controversial' the topic is...as opposed to how meritorious or helpful the underlying information is. Since FleaBay can be controversial, lots of people post about their experiences. Heritage, which is well known and heavily used by most long term posters here, is much less controversial and therefore doesn't generate the same number of threads as FleaBay.

I use Heritage's 'My Collection' feature (which I think is a great long term marketing tool for them since it allows them to identify people with significant collections who will have to sell some day), I use their 'Auctions Archive' feature quite frequently, and I've never had a significant customer service problem in the several years I've dealt with them.

Shamika

Heritage has been known for an occasional snafu. I've had half a dozen isolated problems with them. However, I keep using them which should indicate my general satisfaction.

I'll take Heritage over eBay any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

rhedden

Bill,

You'd be surprised what ercentage of the coins on ebay just came from recent Heritage auctions. Many of the slabbed coins you see on ebay can be found in the Heritage auction archives! Whenever I see something tempting on ebay, I look it up in the auction archives on Heritage, and usually find out that it just sold to a dealer the previous month for a lot less than the asking price on ebay. This practice also saves me from buying cleaned raw coins on ebay. Just last week, I was going to bid on a very expensive 1818 capped bust quarter in AU-58 (I'm sure a lot of people saw it - B10, R6) on ebay. I looked it up on Heritage, and I found the same exact coin- in an NCS slab graded "AU58, improperly cleaned!" No mention of this by the seller! Incidentally, the coin sold for $1,200 at Heritage and $1,700 on ebay.

Ron

Placid

I like using Heritage because I don't have to worry about someone running off with my money.
Of course I do buy on eBay but not from everyone.

lava

<< <i>...Just last week, I was going to bid on a very expensive 1818 capped bust quarter in AU-58 (I'm sure a lot of people saw it - B10, R6) on ebay. I looked it up on Heritage, and I found the same exact coin- in an NCS slab graded "AU58, improperly cleaned!" No mention of this by the seller! Incidentally, the coin sold for $1,200 at Heritage and $1,700 on ebay.

Ron >>



Another fine example of why NOT to buy raw coins.

SDCollector

Excellent comments. TTT for the lunch crowd.

alergar

I used to buy on eBay. Now I mostly buy at Heritage and sell on eBay. If you are patient and diligent you can get some nice coins for good prices at Heritage. eBay has to many bidding wars go on with people that don't seem to know anything about a coins value. I just wish Heratige had more modern 1$ being auctioned, but they are not money makers yet. Remember to deduct the 15% from the amount you are willing to pay for a coin and you can do well on Heritage!!!

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