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Mastro Registration = $75 fee ??

natetrooknatetrook Posts: 613 ✭✭✭
in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum
Is that true? To register on Mastro auctions, you have to pay a $75 fee to bid?

What a racket, at least they should apply it to your first purchase. I for one won't be bidding in any of their
auctions.

Comments

  • grote15grote15 Posts: 29,756 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yes, they require payment up front in order to bid. For most of the high rollers though (not me), $75 amounts to a hill of beans. On top of that, there is the buyer's premium, too.


    Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
  • GriffinsGriffins Posts: 6,076 ✭✭✭
    Seems like a rip, but when you figure in that you get the catalogs for free, it's well worth it.
    In order to keep them coming you only need to place 1 bid in each auction, win or lose. Bid on the opening morning and you'll be sure to be outbid before your coffee is cold.

    Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's

  • gstarlinggstarling Posts: 463 ✭✭
    the 20% buyer's premium is the racket
    Currently Buying:
    2004 Tommie Harris SPX Printing Plate (White Whale will pay top $$$)
    1994 SP Football Die Cuts PSA 10s
  • GriffinsGriffins Posts: 6,076 ✭✭✭
    that's nothing compared to the insane shipping charges.

    Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's

  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,438 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I like to watch the auction...

    But, never bid - and haven't missed it - I guess with all the stuff out there - including ebay - one can live without sending 75 bucks their way?

    I like to collect the catalogs tho - they're kind of like a museum of memorabilia and I sometimes look for something as a reference.

    Does that mean that you only have to pay once - 75$ per year? Or for each auction they hold?

    mike
    Mike
  • ezyshooterezyshooter Posts: 711
    I am registered with Mastro. The fee is to cover the shipping costs of there books. Which is a one time fee of 75.00 dollars for life. So to me it is well worth it. Those things are heavy !! Since i live in Canada it costs them around 18.00 dollars each auction to send me these.
    Some of there auctions you don't have pay the 75.00 dollars. Only the premier auctions which is basically 75 percent of them.
    Steve
    Die Hard Toronto Maple Leafs Fan !!
  • TheCARDKidTheCARDKid Posts: 1,496 ✭
    I think it's well worth it.

    I've blown way more than $75 on card show admissions, parking, concessions etc over the years, with sometimes dubious results (Hollywood Park anyone?). Or a few dozen ebay transactions where the seller makes out with $1.50, 2, $2.50 profit on shipping.

    $75 one time for some great looking catalogs (I keep all of them) and access to a whole bunch of sports, non sports and Americana lots. The catalogs are a great reference.
  • BasiloneBasilone Posts: 2,492 ✭✭
    $75 is well worth it for multiple years worth of quality reference material.
  • baseballfanaticbaseballfanatic Posts: 2,415 ✭✭
    Griffins hit the nail on the head. If you were lucky enough to start receiving catalogs from the old Mastro and Steinbach days when they were free, all it takes is a bid or consignment to keep them coming....
  • NewJerseyMeatHookNewJerseyMeatHook Posts: 1,441
    Nickel and Dime.

    Tired of this.

    List on eBay. Get some competition for those who wish to consign.

    Put away the KY Jelly.
  • kobykoby Posts: 1,699 ✭✭
    What a rip off!

    No other auction house does this. The arrogance of Mastro is incredible.
  • GriffinsGriffins Posts: 6,076 ✭✭✭
    It's a ripoff if you look at it as $75. to bid in their auctions. Total ripoff. And that doesn't even take into account the 20% buyers penalty and Doug Allen's recent revelations of what they do to cards to maximize the final total.
    But if you look at it as $75 for a never ending membership in a hobby bookclub, with quality books and a lot of information you can't get elsewhere, it's a no brainer.
    There really aren't any good books about the hobby- the Standard guide is a checklist and a bad price guide, Hager's book is good but out of date and a lot of the info is of dubious origin. Message boards are good but you have to wade thru a lot of stuff that isn't always on subject.
    REA is a great catalog as well, and it's free. But his catalog is only once a year, and Mastro is 3X that- plus another 3 smaller auctions (that aren't to the same standard, but still have images). Lelands and SCP aren't nearly the same level, and the other auction houses are much smaller and would probably be classified more as magazine size than books.
    Forget the concept of paying to bid, and look at what you get. It's the same argument for joining PSA's Collectors Club. You have to join to submit, but the benefits of membership more than cover the fee.

    Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's

  • bobsbbcardsbobsbbcards Posts: 3,254 ✭✭✭
    What Anthony said.
    bobsbbcards PSA Registry Sets
    bobsbbcards SGC Registry Sets
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,438 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So, if you pay them 75$ - you get on their mailing list and receive their catalog.

    Do you still have to bid on something?

    Whether you do or not - if it's 75$ for life - and an occasion min. bid to stay active - that's cheap.

    The catalogs are works of art and great reference material IMO.

    mike
    Mike
  • shagrotn77shagrotn77 Posts: 5,616 ✭✭✭✭
    natetrook,

    Mastro has collector's auctions that are free to bid in, and if you establish yourself as a bidder there, you should be able to bid in the others, even without paying the $75 fee. That was the case for me. All you have to do is call and tell that to look up your bidding history. Hope this helps.

    Shag
    "My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. Our childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When we were insolent we were placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds - pretty standard really."
  • GriffinsGriffins Posts: 6,076 ✭✭✭
    Mike-
    In theory if you don't bid for a year they drop you from the list. I've also heard you have to bid at least once every auction (not win) to stay on the list. With the opening bids so low you can place a bid even the last week and almost always be assured of not winning.

    Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's

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