Stacks Bowers charging now for catalogues?? Thumbs up to SB, see last post.

jhdfla

Received an email today from SB asking me which catalogues I need for the 2012 Whitman Coin and Collectibles Auction, and an accompanying price schedule for each of the

three available. Having not bought anything out of one of their auctions this year I guess has disqualified me from receiving any, even though I successfully bid in six of their

auctions last year. Not that it matters all that much anyways, as everything is online if the right coin comes along I can still bid on it of course. Actually they might be doing me a

favor, I just moved my auction cats and a lot of them got tossed, they become overwhelming after a while. However, Heritage has never discontinued or asked me for payment on

any of theirs. Of course this won't influence me insofar as buying is concerned, whoever has the right coin for me will be the auction I bid in, but it might make me think twice

when I consign next time.


Edited message title...

tradedollarnut

I do understand where they are coming from BUT there is a downside. I can't count the number of times that I've seen lots of interest while browsing the physical catalog that I never would have noticed online. Seems that online I just look at the specific areas that interest me, whereas with the actual catalog I thumb through the pages.

410a

The Catalogs matter to me too. Flipping through them is the way to go the reading is much easier and more fun. It's true, there are areas I might have not look into as well. I guess it's the cost of all the printing and pictures that, not to mention the labor, that has gotten to be too much.

pennyannie

If a catalog shows up i generally find a few coins to bid on and win, if catalogs do not arrive i am a lot less likely to place any bids. At 17 percent they are going to have to send a catalog. I do feel for them though, Heritage spends a ton of $$ sending me catalogs every year.

illini420

I was surprised to get that same email, particularly after their recent increase of the BP up to 17.5%

I would understand if I didn't do any business with this company, but I've purchased several thousand dollars worth of coins from Stacks/Bowers this year alone, and have easily done over $10k of business this year with the Spectrum Group (the parent company) when you include Teletrade purchases. And now they want me to pay $300 per year to get the U.S. coin catalogs!!! No thanks.

Sure, I'll still be browsing online, but I'll surely not be buying as much. I too have discovered many great coins in just flipping through the hard copy of the catalog that I ultimately bid on and some of those I ended up as the winner. Would have never found them using the online catalog. Bummer! And especially a bummer for the consignors. I'll definitely keep this in mind when I choose to consign coins to an auction house.

jhdfla

<< <i>I do understand where they are coming from BUT there is a downside. I can't count the number of times that I've seen lots of interest while browsing the physical catalog that I never would have noticed online. Seems that online I just look at the specific areas that interest me, whereas with the actual catalog I thumb through the pages. >>




You're so right about that TDN, the same thing has happened to me and I've ended up buying a coin after seeing the catalogue even though I had looked at some of coins online

prior to receiving the printed copy in the mail. I'm sure we are not the only two who have had this experience, and with that in mind they may be hurting themselves by not

sending out the printed copies to proven past buyers.

BuffQuarter

Welcome to the world of publicly traded companies. Once that happens, customer care goes out the windows as it is all about the share holders.

Greeniejr

In their defense, it costs insane amounts of money to print and ship catalogs. I would be a little more sympathetic if they didn't raise the BP and send catalogs indiscriminately. We used to get 4 of each catalog even after telling them 1 was more than enough. Heritage dealt with the costs by buying a printing company (have they bought a forest yet for paper?) to take care of keeping down costs. I would love to know the thought process behind this.

ambro51

Your catalogs cost a small fortune to print. It's NOT getting cheaper and the bad thing is as a print run goes down costs per thousand go up. List could be saved by switching to a mailed CD instead of a hard catalog. So much so that if the printed catalog was discounted in favor of a fully illustrated searchable CD perhaps the juice could be Reduced to 12 % and they'd still make money. I know a lot of less important and mixed lots could be imaged. And I do think it's wastefu to send out free stuff that's unwanted . Easily each catalog represents $30.

jonathanb

They started charging me right after the merge.

I can't fault the business decision. It's been a while since I dealt with commercial printers, but every way I do the figuring it must cost them an insane amount to get the catalogs printed. Even if the printing was free, it would still be close to $50/year just in postage.

That said, I totally agree with TradeDollarNut -- when I get a catalog in hand, I always look at every page, at least on a quick flip. I definitely find stuff that way that I wouldn't have found otherwise. No printed catalog, no serendipitous purchases for me.

For the amount of money I spend as a bidder, I don't really "deserve" free catalogs (even though I'd be happy to get them).

I bet some people are still on the freebie list, though, if they spend enough.

jonathan

coindeuce

What ambro51 stated. This is the 21st century. If they want to produce a bibliophile edition, fine, but this is the digital age.

Barndog

just went to their website. Still had all the August auctions on the home page.

MsMorrisine

A downloadable PDF file of the each catalog is also available online, and allows you to view it virtually, page by page, on your computer or tablet device.



not sufficient??

RYK

<< <i>I do understand where they are coming from BUT there is a downside. I can't count the number of times that I've seen lots of interest while browsing the physical catalog that I never would have noticed online. Seems that online I just look at the specific areas that interest me, whereas with the actual catalog I thumb through the pages. >>


I agree completely with TDN. Countless coins have been purchased from the browse, coins that I would have never known about from my targeted searches.

RYK

<< <i>What ambro51 stated. This is the 21st century. If they want to produce a bibliophile edition, fine, but this is the digital age. >>


Forget the CD, forget the mail. A PDF file that I can open and browse in IBooks or an app like what Heritage is working on is the way to go and cheaper in the long run and quicker to get out.

Justacommeman

<< <i>

<< <i>I do understand where they are coming from BUT there is a downside. I can't count the number of times that I've seen lots of interest while browsing the physical catalog that I never would have noticed online. Seems that online I just look at the specific areas that interest me, whereas with the actual catalog I thumb through the pages. >>


I agree completely with TDN. Countless coins have been purchased from the browse, coins that I would have never known about from my targeted searches. >>



Yep. I fly a lot. I like browsing the catalogs on the planes. I have often found things that I missed online because I never browsed those sections. It's just easier to flip through a catalog and a lot more fun plus I like to make notes in the catalog.

MJ

jonathanb

<< <i>not sufficient?? >>

For me, personally? No, it isn't. I like flipping through a catalog. I like spreading several catalogs across my lap/desk/chair and comparing entries.

I can't get everything I want. Oh, well.

jdimmick

TDN,

i am the same, I usually will poke around on line and search for areas of intrest, but do occasionally miss items in sales until i get the catalog in hand. Doesnt necessarily mean I will win an item Ididnt see first online, but even if I bid, it adds one more increment $ at least to the seller, which in turn increases the percentage that the house gets. So I like getting the catalogs.

golden

<< <i>The Catalogs matter to me too. Flipping through them is the way to go the reading is much easier and more fun. It's true, there are areas I might have not look into as well. I guess it's the cost of all the printing and pictures that, not to mention the labor, that has gotten to be too much. >>

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>A downloadable PDF file of the each catalog is also available online, and allows you to view it virtually, page by page, on your computer or tablet device.

not sufficient?? >>

If it's not sufficient, you can always print them yourself, can't you?

claychaser

<< <i>I was surprised to get that same email, particularly after their recent increase of the BP up to 17.5%

I would understand if I didn't do any business with this company, but I've purchased several thousand dollars worth of coins from Stacks/Bowers this year alone, and have easily done over $10k of business this year with the Spectrum Group (the parent company) when you include Teletrade purchases. And now they want me to pay $300 per year to get the U.S. coin catalogs!!! No thanks.

Sure, I'll still be browsing online, but I'll surely not be buying as much. I too have discovered many great coins in just flipping through the hard copy of the catalog that I ultimately bid on and some of those I ended up as the winner. Would have never found them using the online catalog. Bummer! And especially a bummer for the consignors. I'll definitely keep this in mind when I choose to consign coins to an auction house. >>





I, for one, do read through the auction catalogs that come in the mail. I like the hard copy, and enjoy perusing it when I have a spare moment. I just do not drag a computer or tablet around with me. I wonder how many bidders will be turned off by this, and if they have a sales value cutoff to where the catalogs still come in the mail.

jhdfla

Received a very nice email from Adrianne at SB the other day informing me that SB will continue to send me catalogues for the next year. Thank you Adrianne and Stacks Bowers!

coinhunters

This was inevitable and makes perfectly good business sense. I rely upon the printed catalog, and prefer researching potential additions to my collection in this manner, rather than the online version of the catalog.