Yup! Teletrade dropped the use of reserves. Uh huh.

coindeuce · January 7, 2013 8:08AM

With auction #3412 as their first week long auction. Except opening bids on every lot are at retail.

wondercoin · January 7, 2013 8:15AM

I just took a look before you posted this. Not true. I'd tell you which coins you totally wrong on, but let me try to win them first!

Wondercoin

ajman · January 7, 2013 8:19AM

I've won maybe a half dozen lots from Teletrade in years past, but imho it has gone downhill since the departure of Ian. The prices I paid on what I won is still way over price guide values. And it seems as though most of the lots offered that I collect are other dealers and collectors rejects. Not always but most of the time.

Bochiman · January 7, 2013 8:25AM

<< I just took a look before you posted this. Not true. I'd tell you which coins you totally wrong on, but let me try to win them first!

Wondercoin >>

Do a screenshot "now" and then one when you have won

coindeuce · January 7, 2013 8:31AM

<< I just took a look before you posted this. Not true. I'd tell you which coins you totally wrong on, but let me try to win them first!

Wondercoin >>

I'll presume you are referring to moderns. I don't look at those. ever. I scrolled through as many silver dollar lots as I could before I got so disgusted I just left.

wondercoin · January 7, 2013 8:42AM

Coindeuce: Let's reach "common ground" by me acknowledging that I did not review the silver dollars as you did when I posted my comment.

Bochiman: Tied up today with an auction in NYC and in Orlando all week from there. No time for "screenshots" (if I knew how to even do them!) LOL

Anyone that puts in the time can see the "value lots" based upon the opening bids.

Wondercoin

DoubleEagle59 · January 7, 2013 8:46AM

Plus 17.5% buyer's fee (but that's not new).

coindeuce · January 7, 2013 8:58AM

<< Plus 17.5% buyer's fee (but that's not new). >>

I'm not familiar with the timeline for TT implementing the 17.5% buyer's fee, but it certainly reinforces my opinion expressed above. I would be interested to see what the weekly average sell through percentage becomes on this new business model over the 1st quarter of operation.

DennisH · January 7, 2013 9:00AM

I also went to the Morgan and VAM aisles and looked.
And left.

Same old Teletrade, except now with a bigger buyer's fee.

braddick · January 7, 2013 9:00AM

Prices do appear retail'ish for the coins I checked in on...
(They were also nothing really special about each of them- just simply sort of solid for the grade.)

DoubleEagle59 · January 7, 2013 9:02AM

At least you're not hit with an additional 13%.

This is what I pay to Customs as it enters Canada (makes it difficult for a Canadian to collect US coins).

Tiny · January 7, 2013 10:42AM

One thing that was mentioned on another thread, was why hasn't Teletrade replied to any of the
comments made about their site in the past few weeks? Mitch, I know you and I talked on the phone
the other day about their situation and again here you are seemingly defending them so don't you think
that a TT rep should chime in about these and other comments or are you going to be their lone defender?
I completely understand your views about Teletrade but they do know how to use the forum.

I will say I do like the one auction way and also really like the opening bids shown well in advance of the auction
starting rather than a mere 6 hours before closing. It tells me that I can continue to shop other auctions for what
I am looking for rather than wait for TT to open up with the high starting bids that I will not bid on.

sniocsu · January 7, 2013 10:45AM

But there are no Hidden reserves

Tiny · January 7, 2013 10:49AM

<< But there are no Hidden reserves >>

I didn't think there ever was and I don't understand why TT says there will not be any longer.
They may mean that the opening bids were not shown until the auction opened.

smokincoin · January 7, 2013 10:54AM

Here's the text, from another thread here, posted by mingot...

<< via an email:

Dear Valued Customer,

Here at teletrade, we take pride in the fact that we not only listen to our clients’ concerns, but also continue to seek ways of improving our auction process.

In just the past twelve months, teletrade has launched a brand new website, introduced email and text message outbid notifications, and added several new site enhancements, including third party market pricing information, grading population guides and detailed coin technical data and mintages. And as we prepare to bring 2012 to a close, we are committed to providing you with even more improved opportunities for buying and selling certified coins and currency in the upcoming year.
Beginning December 30, 2012, teletrade will implement the following changes:

• One Auction Per Week. teletrade will conduct only one auction per week that will focus on offering selected, pre-screened, high-quality collector coins and paper money. Each auction will open for bidding on Monday at 3 p.m. ET and bidding will close the following Sunday at 10 p.m. ET. You will never bid against a hidden reserve. Our first weekly auction will take place the week of January 7–13, 2013.

• Zero Seller’s Fees. Zero Buyback Fees. Zero Listing Fees. Qualified consignments will enjoy the lowest selling fees in the industry. If you are interested in consigning, please click here or call 800.949.COIN.

• Click here to download a PDF of our revised consignment form.

• Updated Buyer’s Fee. teletrade will change its buyer’s fee to an industry-standard 17.5% beginning with Auction 3412.

• Gold Rewards. Following Auction 3407 — Monday, December 30, 2012 — teletrade will discontinue the Gold Rewards program. All previously earned Gold Rewards points will be honored through June 30, 2013, or until the expiration date arrives, whichever comes first.

As always, teletrade customers can continue to expect industry leading customer service, professional images of every lot offered, free auction archives, and free shipping of auction purchases for first-time buyers.

We sincerely appreciate that you have chosen teletrade for your numismatic online auction needs and look forward to serving you again in 2013. Stay tuned for additional upcoming enhancements with an eye on industry leading payment terms and services. >>

wondercoin · January 7, 2013 11:37AM

"... are you going to be their lone defender? I completely understand your views about Teletrade but they do know how to use the forum."

Actually, Tiny I am not so sure. The last time Corey stopped by it cost him $250 in free giveaways for which I claimed $50 of that as well as a free PCGS-MS65 Peace Dollar for spending more than $10,000 in the auction he came on these boards to discuss. And, Corey if you happen to read this ... can you get that free PCGS-MS65 Peace Dollar in Cheryl's hands so she can give it to Jen later this week please. Very nice free gift!

Look ... the OP stated that "every lot" opened at retail. That just was not true so I commented as such. The OP followed up with a confirmation that he was only looking at a small piece of the entire sale ... silver dollars. I acknowledged that I never even bothered to look at those. Meeting of the minds. Nothing more to discuss here really?

Wondercoin

LindeDad · January 7, 2013 11:59AM

Glad I finally won a lot for less than my max bid under the old format, only the second time in about four years. As from the looks of the few that showed up on my watch list for the new format sure aren't getting any bids from me, over price guide base with 17.5% juice no way.

stman · January 7, 2013 12:08PM

<< The last time Corey stopped by it cost him $250 in free giveaways for which I claimed $50 of that as well as a free PCGS-MS65 Peace Dollar for spending more than $10,000 in the auction he came on these boards to discuss. And, Corey if you happen to read this ... can you get that free PCGS-MS65 Peace Dollar in Cheryl's hands so she can give it to Jen later this week please. Very nice free gift! >>

Sounds like the last time they stopped by was another spam thread, and perhaps the giveaways were ..... well, I'll leave that alone

. Nice promotion on the rest as always.

wondercoin · January 7, 2013 12:54PM

I guess one can't have it both ways. A President of a major company generally stops by to promote his company in one way or another. Some just do it in a more stealth way than others. When they do not stop by, other folks want them to come by more often. Oh well.

Anyway, I am planning to drink that beer with Tiny in Orlando if our schedules permit. I hear Corey (Pres. of Teletrade) will in town as well. Anyone else want to join in the fun in Orlando ... if we get enough folks who have questions, comments or concerns for Teletrade we might be able to ask Corey to stop by, make a presentation to all of us and, of course, pick up our beer tab!!

PM me if you would like to get together in Orlando for such an event. No promises Corey will show though.

Wondercoin

donthehill · January 7, 2013 1:20PM

Sadly, I too had a similar reaction when I went on to check out this week's auction; I have been a pretty consistent customer of TT for the past several years and have generally been happy with them. However, the unchanged nonhidden/unhidden reserves plus the additional fee plus the reduced opportunities (I kind of enjoyed checking out their Tuesday auctions, even if I didn't often bid), tells me that something's wrong. Methinks my TT patronage will be on the wane.

Such is life.

georgiacop50 · January 7, 2013 10:16PM

Oh great ! Yet another Teletrade thread for Mitch to defend...

This gives me a chance to re-ask the question:
Will TT still be charging a $15/ shipment buyback postage/handling fee? I no longer see that on their website.

Unknown · January 7, 2013 10:30PM

This content has been removed.

Manorcourtman · January 7, 2013 11:04PM

So is retail + 17.5% the new normal at TT? Looks that way to me. And no rewards program to boot. Good luck in 2013 TT, you are going to need it.

123cents · January 8, 2013 1:20AM

<< So is retail + 17.5% the new normal at TT? Looks that way to me. And no rewards program to boot. Good luck in 2013 TT, you are going to need it. >>

I agree!

Tiny · January 8, 2013 2:31AM

<< Both Teletrade and Great Collections are accepting ICG high value coins for their auctions though Heritage does not; that the biggest company has made a judgment is telling. Plus descriptions on auction lots at both TT and GC have gone the way of the Dodo; Heritage and other companies occasionally have verbose descriptions of higher end lots....interesting. >>

I guess you do not buy or collect coins in ICG slabs after reading you post? ICG may not be PCGS or NGC but they
have some excellent coins in slabs and I do buy them and collect them. As for the descriptions on these auction site,
have you realized that hardly any sites put a good description with their auctions any longer. I too like lots of words
telling me about the coin up for auction but if there is a good picture why waste the words as Confucius would say.
If the " biggest company " " occasionally have verbose (wordy, tidious or long-winded) descriptions " they do not
have them on all auctions.

I think the thing about it is that with all the auction sites around from TT, GC, HA and eBay plus many others you have
to shop or rather hunt to find the coins you want which to me is part of the FUN OF COLLECTING. Think about it. If there
was just one site that had every coin you want and had the best pictures of the coin with a , I like this word " verbose "
description for the coins with a starting bid of just what you are willing to pay for the coin, you know Greysheet back 20% of bid
and then think what if everyone of the auctions had BUY IT NOW ! OMG where would you get the money to pay for all the
coins you would buy? Knock over a few liquor stores or 7/Elevens or a bank ot two? Oh Yea, NO BUYER'S FEES!

Oh Yea, Remember when eBay started saying that only NGC and PCGS where the only accepted slab makers allowed to use
their names in an auction? An remember how much everybody complained about what about the other 2 or 3 they we accept
as a TPGs? I also remember that J. T. which had just come onboard with PCI did not appreciate it one bit and made it known.

Tiny · January 8, 2013 2:41AM

<< So is retail + 17.5% the new normal at TT? Looks that way to me. And no rewards program to boot. Good luck in 2013 TT, you are going to need it. >>

You know what scares the heck out of me is that and Please DO NOT REPEAT THIS, You know who sees everyone
paying a vig on coins they buy and thinks, Well Heck We Can DO That Too.

Man the BST will be the Best Thing Going, Ya Think?

Unknown · January 8, 2013 2:43AM

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melikecoins · January 8, 2013 3:37AM

I looked at the auction

I still see openning bids (way to high)
Buyers premium 17.5%
Just more the same

Glen

seateddime · January 8, 2013 6:59AM

not my first choice

or second

or third

or forth

I just mostly forget to even bother looking.

botanist · January 8, 2013 9:18AM

A few Teletrade items are still underpriced. I lost out on one this last Sunday, January 6th, when Teletrade flubbed my bid. The high bid was $575 with less than a minute to go. I had been waiting for the last minute to submit my bid of $1150. The 1150 was not a moon bid, I thought it was a conservative bid. Teletrade has a count down clock so you know how much time is left. I entered my bid, and Teletrade's website immediately confirmed accepting my bid. Except Teletrade's computer changed my bid of 1150 to the next highest bid, just one increment, which was then 600. They sold the item for 625 to somebody else. (it was lot 3031).

wondercoin · January 8, 2013 9:40AM

Bid early and bid often. It avoids situations like that. I agree there are great deals on teletrade. You just pointed out one of them. There were many that night I believe. Wondercoin

botanist · January 8, 2013 10:55AM

Bidding early is often a losing strategy. Or an expensive strategy. It often results in paying a much higher amount than you would otherwise. But what about Teletrade flubbing my bid? Has that happened to anyone else?

wondercoin · January 8, 2013 11:08AM

Botanist. Bidding early would have resulted in you winning the coin for $700 instead of where you are now. Hardly the sure fire recipe for paying too much. Also there is no evidence of teletrade messing up any bid. You suggest your snipe strategy failed and it is the fault of teletrade. We will probably never know why your strategy failed. Bid early and play it safe. I won a great philippine coin for 28 cents on the dollar that way this past week. Wondercoin.

leothelyon · January 8, 2013 12:44PM

Teletrade has been a sister company of Stacks & Bowers for some time now and I was going to say, doesn't anyone think Teletrade is looking a lot like so and so every day............but...... perhaps Teletrade should start looking like so and so..........they definitely have improved their photography since the last time I browsed their auctions......Stacks & Bowers.

For Teletrade's new setup, wouldn't it be interesting to see individual auctions ending any time of the week between 8 and 9 PM........if enough interested parties took off with bidding on a coin and ending with an animated hammer, going once, twice...SOLD! Talk about keeping a bidder on his toes........

botanist · January 8, 2013 1:19PM

FWIW Mitch, we don't know the result if I had bid early. It might have sold to somebody else for 1200. I might have gotten it for anything up to 1150. I'd very likely have paid more than if my bid had gone through in the last minute, and won. Over the years, on Teletrade, plenty of times when my bid was made 10 or 15 minutes before closing, I was then bid up by one step at a time by another bidder or bidders, to where I lost or paid my max.

In certain cases, sniping is the best strategy for Teletrade. Especially if you're only going for one lot. You can only snipe one lot on Teletrade because it has to be done by hand. Maybe you can do more than one on different computers or in different windows, but you are limited.

In cases where the starting bid is already too high, but you're willing to pay it anyway, then you should bid early, to increase the bid enough to discourage competition.

Consignors will always recommend bidding early. For buyers, sniping is usually the best strategy. My bid failed this once because of a glitch on Teletrade. I asked Corey Maita to investigate.

<< Botanist. Bidding early would have resulted in you winning the coin for $700 instead of where you are now. Hardly the sure fire recipe for paying too much. Also there is no evidence of teletrade messing up any bid. You suggest your snipe strategy failed and it is the fault of teletrade. We will probably never know why your strategy failed. Bid early and play it safe. I won a great philippine coin for 28 cents on the dollar that way this past week. Wondercoin. >>

DeliaBug · January 8, 2013 2:33PM

<< Here's the text, from another thread here, posted by mingot...

<< via an email:
• Updated Buyer’s Fee. teletrade will change its buyer’s fee to an industry-standard 17.5% beginning with Auction 3412.
. >>

>>

I'm not happy about it, but I can absolutely understand that SB, Heritage and other real firms raised their fee's. In addition to a fat Internet pipe (which is the only thing TT seems to have), they also have to pay for auction floors, print out catalogues, bring (and insure) lots to the auction site, provide some nosh, etc. That ANA Convention fee is a few hundred grand to get that honor. So what the heck kind of overhead does TT have where they could even remotely justify their 17.5%?

bestmr · January 8, 2013 3:36PM

I haven't boughten anything on TT for almost a year. Ebay gets most my money. That being said, there are certain coins that i need for my collection that appear more frequently on TT.

wondercoin · January 8, 2013 5:03PM

Botanist. I understand your last comment. But, remember, you pointed out that your max bid was not excessive and a price you would have happily enjoyed owning the coin. So, placing some bid 15 minutes before the auction ended would have been perfectly fine in my book. I would have done that, but .. to each his own.

There was a coin I really wanted to win the other day and was prepared to pay about $4,000 for it. The bid was sitting at $1,000. I made sure I threw $1,300 on it about a half hour before the auction ended just to have a live bid in the system and then I would back it up with extra bids if needed at the very end. I won the coin for exactly $1,300 and never had to bid again. Conspiracy theorists might suggest somehow I got run to exactly $1,300 and had I tried sniping it that perhaps it might have only cost me $1,100 or $1,200 instead of $1,300. And, if something went wrong at the last minute (including a bad connection, etc) and I lost out in making about $2,700 extra because I was "penny-wise" over $100 or so ... let's just say I would have felt like a horse's arse. The owner of the coin got my $1,300 where he might have only received $1,100 or $1,200 if I bid at the last second. But, over the past (25)+ years in bidding at coin auctions I have seen things go wrong to myself and others at the last minute (many times)... I am comfortable paying $1,300 (instead of $1,100 or $1,200) for a $4,000 lot if that is the result of "showing my hand" too early. In this case, you could have easily bid $750 with 15 minutes to spare and odds are good you would have won the coin at $700 or less. You would have do very well on the coin at that level.

Just my 2 cents as usual. And, this is intended purely as friendly discussion and perhaps newbies can appreciate all the different bidding strategies available in both weekly auctions and major auction events.

Wondercoin

Vbowling299 · January 8, 2013 11:24PM

wow there's an pcgs ms68 cac in that auction...if i could afford it thats the coin i would want to buy...i feel like that one was just at the SB auction recently...

botanist · January 9, 2013 12:22AM

Wonder, my reason for posting is to ask if anyone else suffered from a similar Teletrade glitsch. Anyone else have their max bid dropped by Teletrade's computer? And changed to the next bid step? Was it only me?

Best bidding strategy differs with each individual auction and precise situation. There's another reason to snipe, besides not revealing your max bid. It's to not signal interest in the lot. If there's early active bidding, additional bidders will look at the item. There's a better chance they will notice it's something good. If they were already planning to bid, they will tend to up their amount.

In the example you gave, you were probably plain lucky somebody didn't snipe and get the lot for one increment over 1300. You got away with something if the lot was well described, with a correct title, and snipes were possible. There's no need to tell stories about lucky winning auction bids. It's not a bidding strategy to recommend on Teletrade.

wondercoin · January 9, 2013 1:11AM

Botantist ... first my "lucky" lot had nothing to do with Teletrade ... it was another auction venue. Second, no one could have sniped me as I was there at the end armed with the $4,000 back up bid. The $1,300 was a "placement bid" just to ensure I was high bidder going into the final action. Again, I believe that was your mistake. Not being high bidder at $650 or $700 going into the final minute. I believe odds are very high you would have won the coin at that level (just as I did at $1,300).

As always, just my 2 cents.

Wondercoin

Yup! Teletrade dropped the use of reserves. Uh huh.

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