Heritage Auctions...how exactly does it work?

Zubie

I've found a few coins on Heritage and not sure how these work. So, you can bid on it online first, but, then it goes to a live auction at some point? Their website wasn't very helpful about how to win an auction.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thx, T

dbldie55

They have pre-bidding online. You can also bid, online, during the live portion of the auction. If this is an auction at a show with auctioneer, you will get a video feed of the live auction. Most of the items I have won, I did so with my pre-bids. I have watched, but done little bidding during the live portion.

This is for auctions that are associated with shows. They also have weekly auctions that are online only.

BillJones

The way to win Heritage auctions is to be the high bidder. There are strategies that you can try to do that. For example if you have a top price in mind, you can bid on-line and "reserve" that number. If you are the high on-line bidder, anyone who is bidding live, over the phone or on "Heritage Live" at the auction will have to bid up to the next increment or perhaps use a half increment or "cut bid." This can be quite useful for high priced items where increments become "real money." For example if you want an item that has a bid of $50,000, the bidding increment is $5,000. Getting on the wrong side of the bidding back and forth can get expensive.

swhuck

In coins, we have a couple of types of auctions.

Internet auctions occur weekly, every Sunday (US Coins), Tuesday (US coins), and Thursday (world coins). These auctions are open for exactly one week and end promptly and precisely at 10PM CT (8PM PT). There is no live bidding for our Internet coin auctions; all bidding takes place through coins.HA.com. When you place your bid in these auctions, the current bid level will automatically increase to reflect your bid, rising to the lower of their bid or an increment above the second highest bid. The site will tell you whether or not you're the high bidder when you place your bid, and you can always keep track of your bids through MyBids. All maximum bids are secret, which means that other bidders do not know who placed the bid, nor under most circumstances the full amount of the bid (exceptions can occur when the two highest bids are less than an increment apart, and smart bidders can and do take advantage of that). The high bidder at the end of internet bidding wins the item for the current bid. Maximum bids can sometimes be substantially higher than what the coin sells for.

"Signature auctions" is what we call auctions that include floor bidding. These generally have the best material, and they occur roughly monthly for US coins and about 3-4 times a year for world coins, depending on numerous factors. Signature auctions are generally open for bidding for 3-4 weeks through coins.HA.com, and they end in live sessions, usually several of them for coin auctions spread out over a few days. Bidding for floor sessions through coins.HA.com ends at 10PM CT (8PM PT) the night before the live session of the auction, with bidding for live internet sessions (usually the last session or two in the auction -- these have no floor session or ) ending two hours before the session is scheduled (IIRC, it's possible this may have changed recently). Otherwise, regular Internet bidding works exactly the same way in Signature auctions as it does in Internet auctions. When regular Internet bidding for these auctions ends, then the auction is not over. Bidders still have the chance to place bids through Heritage Live at www.HA.com/live, both proxy bids before the item comes up for sale, and individual bids while the item is open for live bidding. When the live session starts, it will open at the Current Bid amount from the coins.HA.com. Any existing proxy bid through Heritage Live will then be placed, possibly raising the bid level several increments. Then we take live bids individually, and if there is a higher existing Internet or Heritage Live proxy bid, we will execute only as much of that bid is necessary until the bidder wins or is outbid. The highest bidder at the end of live bidding -- when the lot is hammered -- wins the lot.

I always recommend that you place the highest bid you know you are willing to place as soon as you can. The earlier bid wins all tiebreakers, and this way you know your bid is entered. If you are outbid, you still have the chance to place another bid if the auction is still open. For Signature auctions, you have the option of watching your item and bidding if necessary through Heritage Live; this program will tell you if you are the high bidder and will not let you bid against yourself during the live auction.

The name of the auction will generally tell you whether it's a Signature or Internet auction. I notice that the current Long Beach world coin auction is not clear about that; it is in fact a Signature auction, complete with human auctioneer for the first five sessions (the last two have live bidding through Heritage Live only).

Please contact me personally at stewarth@ha.com if you have any further questions.

BAJJERFAN

<< <i>In coins, we have a couple of types of auctions.

Internet auctions occur weekly, every Sunday (US Coins), Tuesday (US coins), and Thursday (world coins). These auctions are open for exactly one week and end promptly and precisely at 10PM CT (8PM PT). There is no live bidding for our Internet coin auctions; all bidding takes place through coins.HA.com. When you place your bid in these auctions, the current bid level will automatically increase to reflect your bid, rising to the lower of their bid or an increment above the second highest bid. The site will tell you whether or not you're the high bidder when you place your bid, and you can always keep track of your bids through MyBids. All maximum bids are secret, which means that other bidders do not know who placed the bid, nor under most circumstances the full amount of the bid (exceptions can occur when the two highest bids are less than an increment apart, and smart bidders can and do take advantage of that). The high bidder at the end of internet bidding wins the item for the current bid. Maximum bids can sometimes be substantially higher than what the coin sells for.

"Signature auctions" is what we call auctions that include floor bidding. These generally have the best material, and they occur roughly monthly for US coins and about 3-4 times a year for world coins, depending on numerous factors. Signature auctions are generally open for bidding for 3-4 weeks through coins.HA.com, and they end in live sessions, usually several of them for coin auctions spread out over a few days. Bidding for floor sessions through coins.HA.com ends at 10PM CT (8PM PT) the night before the live session of the auction, with bidding for live internet sessions (usually the last session or two in the auction -- these have no floor session or ) ending two hours before the session is scheduled (IIRC, it's possible this may have changed recently). Otherwise, regular Internet bidding works exactly the same way in Signature auctions as it does in Internet auctions. When regular Internet bidding for these auctions ends, then the auction is not over. Bidders still have the chance to place bids through Heritage Live at www.HA.com/live, both proxy bids before the item comes up for sale, and individual bids while the item is open for live bidding. When the live session starts, it will open at the Current Bid amount from the coins.HA.com. Any existing proxy bid through Heritage Live will then be placed, possibly raising the bid level several increments. Then we take live bids individually, and if there is a higher existing Internet or Heritage Live proxy bid, we will execute only as much of that bid is necessary until the bidder wins or is outbid. The highest bidder at the end of live bidding -- when the lot is hammered -- wins the lot.

I always recommend that you place the highest bid you know you are willing to place as soon as you can. The earlier bid wins all tiebreakers, and this way you know your bid is entered. If you are outbid, you still have the chance to place another bid if the auction is still open. For Signature auctions, you have the option of watching your item and bidding if necessary through Heritage Live; this program will tell you if you are the high bidder and will not let you bid against yourself during the live auction.

The name of the auction will generally tell you whether it's a Signature or Internet auction. I notice that the current Long Beach world coin auction is not clear about that; it is in fact a Signature auction, complete with human auctioneer for the first five sessions (the last two have live bidding through Heritage Live only).

Please contact me personally at stewarth@ha.com if you have any further questions. >>



Also, bid increments are somewhat less punitive for internet auctions than they are for signature auctions.

swhuck

<< <i>

Also, bid increments are somewhat less punitive for internet auctions than they are for signature auctions. >>



Quite true. This is because the internet auctions do not have live bidding or cut bids. Having smaller increments in live auctions would slow down the live events significantly.

Zubie

Thank you, that answers my question. There is a coin that I don't want to risk losing, so, I just wanted to make sure I understand completely.

Thanks again,
T

Justlooking

I'd throw in a reserve bid for the maximum you'd be willing to pay for the coin. No sense gambling on a slow computer connection. If you get out-bid, so be it. A better one will come along.

newcollect

How would someone cancel a proxy bid

Numiven

If you bid before the live auction, ha.com knows about the bid and they can outbid you if your bid is lower than pruce they want, even though there are no others bidders on the lot.

I lost faith in ha.com as the house bids on lots if they think a lot might be sold quiet lower than market buy price, unlike a real auction.

I cant believe the crap coins they put out every sunday&tuesday sells with those high amounts and someone is paying their outrageous shipping and buying them. If dealers have those coins, they probably will not be able to sell them for years!

Ha.com auctions are not true auctions.

oih82w8

Don't forget the "juice" (buyers premium, 17.5% on coins, I believe) that is added to all HA.com auctions...plus tax in certain states...and the shipping.

davewesen

OP, have the highest bid at the end is how you win.

Their 'internet only' auctions have pre-bidding for a week, then auction goes 'live'. People can bid on future lots in live auction or current auction. They move through auction lot by lot until ends. If you are watching live the 'internet only' feed, I think you can bid 1 cut bid, but you are just hitting buttons.

If you win a lot or lots, you get an invoice the next day - can pay by credit card or get discount if you use your checking account - give them your info and is like a check - direct withdrawal. A few days after paying, your wins show up in the mail.

Zoins

If you bid on eBay, some comparisons I've found:

• HA auctions don't go off at a at set time like eBay auctions do, so if you want to see the auction complete, you need to sit through many other auctions, one after the other. They go serially and you can't predict how long any individual auction will take because bidding will increase the amount of time a coin is up.
• On HA.com, you can bid in "bid increments" so you can just keep clicking bid to increase your bid without entering a number like you need to do on eBay. It's easy to click that button one too many times in the heat of an auction but it also gives you faster reaction time than eBay since each bid will increase the time of the auction.

Hydrant

Question; Heritage Auctions.....how exactly does it work?
Answer; In their favor and to their benefit.

As Zoins says, "It's easy to click the button one too many times in the heat of the auction...." As I say, "It's easy to click the button SEVERAL times too many in the heat of the auction." My opinion is that is a feature not a bug in the system. So.....if you are a very calm bidder with fabulous self-control and you're really, really good a reading fast moving fine print on your computer, and you have an Einstein-like ability to process rapidly changing number sequences, then go for it. But if you're like me and have none of the aforementioned abilities, you might want to give it some thought before jumping in. Been there done that. Lesson learned. No more.

LindeDad

Remeber to add the juice and whatch out for the palm in the back of the room.

Bye that know that if it's too good of a deal the house has the right to bid.

davewesen

@elmiracoin said:

@swhuck said:

I always recommend that you place the highest bid you know you are willing to place as soon as you can. The earlier bid wins all tiebreakers, and this way you know your bid is entered. If you are outbid, you still have the chance to place another bid if the auction is still open.

Circular and illogical IMO.

not if you work for the auction company - best advice is if you want something just bid as much money as you have

bid early advice is actually good advice if there is crappy software or you have spotty internet coverage - Heritage has good software

Mark

@Hydrant I will disagree with you that many people find it too easy to click the button several times. But, that said, I once had a cat walk across my keyboard when I had a live Heritage auction up. My cat purchased for me a generic $5 gold coin. Looking at the price I paid, I think the cat bid one time too many. However, now when I have a live Heritage auction up, until it comes time for the coin in which I am interested, I always keep the auction in the mode such that I (or a cat) cannot bid.

Hydrant

Mark, I think you told the story before about your cat, etc. It was hilarious then and hearing it again, it still is. By the way, when I referred to people clicking the button too many times, the "people" I was referring to was me.

TopographicOceans

Besides the additional 17.5% buyers fee added to your bid, they also limit the amount you can charge on your credit card to $2,000 (or maybe it's $2,500 today?)

Everything else is paid by check or bank wire.

Traz

@TopographicOceans said:
Besides the additional 17.5% buyers fee added to your bid, they also limit the amount you can charge on your credit card to $2,000 (or maybe it's $2,500 today?)

Everything else is paid by check or bank wire.

Not for legacy clients FYI.

Mark

@hydrant I have six cats. Thank goodness apparently only one of them is interested in coins.

AMRC

**They all work like this. **

1. Do you like the coin? (Hint: Is it in the auction because it is a prize and too easy to sell, OR is it in there to clear someone's inventory because it has been hard to sell)?

   a. If the answer is no, the question is moot and click the "Next Lot" Button and repeat from top
   b. If the answer is yes, figure out what you are willing to pay for it and consider the juice. Then bid that consummate amount in either the pre-bidding, the proxy bidding, or the live sessions.

2. When the Auction is over

   a. you win it, you go "Yea!"
   b. or not, you wait for the next auction.

Go to 1.

TopographicOceans

@Traz said:

@TopographicOceans said:
Besides the additional 17.5% buyers fee added to your bid, they also limit the amount you can charge on your credit card to $2,000 (or maybe it's $2,500 today?)

Everything else is paid by check or bank wire.

Not for legacy clients FYI.

I've been buying coins from HA for over a decade.
The last coin I bought was this 1799 $10 Gold P58 for $21,150 with BP.

I couldn't checkout with a CC and they wanted a check.

I posted this thread about it at the time and no one mentioned legacy clients

DollarAfterDollar

How do they work? Slowly and quite expensive.

Traz

I don't know 'how it works', but I pay 6 month EPP's and I pay via credit card. I don't know how they work over there I just know I pay via CC and sometimes my payments through paypal, I did my Stella recently for 6 months which was like $190,000.

Traz

@DollarAfterDollar said:
How do they work? Slowly and quite expensive.

Slowly how? Sorry but Heritage and Legend are two of the fastest I've ever dealt with.