Has anyone written a book about auction consigning?

Coinstartled · January 21, 2018 7:19PM

Could be coins or any other collectable. I got medium toasted on a substantial consignment 15 years ago. Was happy to receive hammer, but now I realize the 105% would be more reasonable based on the value.

Negotiating is even more important now with so called buyer fees in the 17.5 to 20% range in coins and further into deep space on other collectables.

WildIdea · January 21, 2018 7:40PM

An insider guide would be nice. I'd like to know too if one was already written. A chapter at least?

Reminds me of,,,,,,you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

Coinstartled · January 21, 2018 7:41PM

Maybe the undertakers could hand them out.

BryceM · January 21, 2018 9:25PM

The tricky part, as a collector, is accurately evaluating the strength of your consignment. I’m sure plenty of estimation errors happen here in both directions, but all things being equal, the auction house seems to hold most of the cards.

topstuf · January 21, 2018 9:38PM

To Have and Have Not.

Coinstartled · January 21, 2018 9:56PM

"The day the fees stood still"

lkeigwin · January 21, 2018 10:55PM

To do better consign through a friendly dealer who already has an established auction house arrangement. I was surprised by the difference.
Lance.

ricko · January 22, 2018 7:16AM

I am really surprised at the buyer's fee's now.... really getting high. One can only assume they will rise again in one or two years. Seems there should be an impact on auction business at some point. Cheers, RickO

KellenCoin · January 22, 2018 10:06AM

It would be nice, but the process of auction consigning and buying changes all the time, so it would be difficult to write a guide that would last long enough to matter.

Coinstartled · January 22, 2018 11:39AM

@KellenCoin said:
It would be nice, but the process of auction consigning and buying changes all the time, so it would be difficult to write a guide that would last long enough to matter.

Best advice would be that all aspects are negotiable. I recall Saintguru getting his $20's placed out of sequence in an auction so that they were not lost in the waning hours when the high denoms generally are sold.

Certainly that is an unusual case with a major consignment, but stuff like over hammer percentages and discounted or fee free reserves are on the table, no matter what the fee structure is.

Dentuck · January 23, 2018 7:05AM

Take a look at the Expert's Guide to Collecting and Investing in Rare Coins (Bowers) and Pleasure and Profit: 100 Lessons for Building and Selling a Collection of Rare Coins (Shippee).

291fifth · January 23, 2018 8:06AM

Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

Coinstartled · January 23, 2018 10:24AM

@291fifth said:
Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

I believe that at least overcoming the sellers fee is readily negotiable with a less than major consignment.

RegistryCoin · January 23, 2018 11:08AM

@lkeigwin said:
To do better consign through a friendly dealer who already has an established auction house arrangement. I was surprised by the difference.
Lance.

Good advice.

RogerB · January 23, 2018 11:10AM

Blatantly helpful post by Dentuck!

291fifth · January 23, 2018 11:35AM

@Coinstartled said:

@291fifth said:
Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

I believe that at least overcoming the sellers fee is readily negotiable with a less than major consignment.

Have you actually done this?

Dentuck · January 23, 2018 12:18PM

@RogerB said:
Blatantly helpful post by Dentuck!

LOL!!! Half informative, half carnival-barker.

jmlanzaf · January 23, 2018 12:20PM

@291fifth said:
Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

I am NOT a major consignor of anything. I send about 1 coin per YEAR to Heritage. I ask for zero percent and they give it to me every time. Now, it's a $5000 coin, but that's kind of the minimum for a consignment anyway. It is far easier to negotiate the seller fee than you think.

A dealer friend of mine sends about $50k-$100k per year to Heritage. Sometimes more. Generally pretty routine stuff. He gets 103% of hammer as his standard rate.

jmlanzaf · January 23, 2018 12:20PM

@291fifth said:

@Coinstartled said:

@291fifth said:
Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

I believe that at least overcoming the sellers fee is readily negotiable with a less than major consignment.

Have you actually done this?

I have. See my other post.

291fifth · January 23, 2018 1:33PM

@jmlanzaf said:

@291fifth said:
Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

I am NOT a major consignor of anything. I send about 1 coin per YEAR to Heritage. I ask for zero percent and they give it to me every time. Now, it's a $5000 coin, but that's kind of the minimum for a consignment anyway. It is far easier to negotiate the seller fee than you think.

A dealer friend of mine sends about $50k-$100k per year to Heritage. Sometimes more. Generally pretty routine stuff. He gets 103% of hammer as his standard rate.

This is good information to know. The current (high) level of buyer's fees probably make it much more possible.

jmlanzaf · January 23, 2018 1:46PM

@291fifth said:

@jmlanzaf said:

@291fifth said:
Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

I am NOT a major consignor of anything. I send about 1 coin per YEAR to Heritage. I ask for zero percent and they give it to me every time. Now, it's a $5000 coin, but that's kind of the minimum for a consignment anyway. It is far easier to negotiate the seller fee than you think.

A dealer friend of mine sends about $50k-$100k per year to Heritage. Sometimes more. Generally pretty routine stuff. He gets 103% of hammer as his standard rate.

This is good information to know. The current (high) level of buyer's fees probably make it much more possible.

Yes, that's why they raised the fees. For small consignments, it is usually best to consign through a trusted dealer friend who gets the better rate.

Coinstartled · January 23, 2018 1:59PM

@291fifth said:

@Coinstartled said:

@291fifth said:
Unless you are a MAJOR consignor of important material you are at the mercy of the auction house.

I believe that at least overcoming the sellers fee is readily negotiable with a less than major consignment.

Have you actually done this?

Yes.

roadrunner · January 23, 2018 4:24PM

@jmlanzaf said:

A dealer friend of mine sends about $50k-$100k per year to Heritage. Sometimes more. Generally pretty routine stuff. He gets 103% of hammer as his standard rate.

For a pile of 50-150 coins/stuff that might be a good rate. But for better material averaging $3K-$20K per lot, netting out at 85.8% (ie 103/120) doesn't seem good to me.....unless he's piece-mealing that consignment through numerous auctions. For a single auction consignment at $50-$100K I would hope one could still get 108+% of hammer which nets out at 90% to consignor.

jmlanzaf · January 23, 2018 4:39PM

@roadrunner said:

@jmlanzaf said:

A dealer friend of mine sends about $50k-$100k per year to Heritage. Sometimes more. Generally pretty routine stuff. He gets 103% of hammer as his standard rate.

For a pile of 50-150 coins/stuff that might be a good rate. But for better material averaging $3K-$20K per lot, netting out at 85.8% (ie 103/120) doesn't seem good to me.....unless he's piece-mealing that consignment through numerous auctions. For a single auction consignment at $50-$100K I would hope one could still get 108+% of hammer which nets out at 90% to consignor.

You made up all those numbers. If he sends them a pile of ms65 ASE he gets 103. That's his automatic standard rate. Of course he gets 120% for an 1804 dollar

DollarAfterDollar · January 23, 2018 6:45PM

I agree with those above who stated that consigning through a Dealer who has an established relationship with an auction house that provides him with (as an example 103% of hammer) is a great point. The trick there is to limit the Dealers cut so that he doesn't eat into your check so much that you sold the coin for fun.

I think there's something also to be said for research. There are any number of auction houses across America that can maximize your sales price on coins that are say $1,000 or less. Others excel at selling coins at $400 or less and still others who sell collector coins of $100 or less at 150% of bid all the time.

You need to shop around. If you're not in the 1% why would Heritage ever get your stuff with their steep fees?

jmlanzaf · January 24, 2018 7:25AM

@DollarAfterDollar said:

You need to shop around. If you're not in the 1% why would Heritage ever get your stuff with their steep fees?

Heritage is NOT steep. That is pretty much the market. Even the local auction houses around here are at a cumulative 30% (20/10 or 10/20 buyer/seller). There are a few discount houses, but you often get what you pay for.

I will agree with you that placement depends on what the specific items are. Some things are better off on eBay, others better at Stacks, others better at Heritage, etc.

savitale · January 24, 2018 9:39PM

@DollarAfterDollar said:
and still others who sell collector coins of $100 or less at 150% of bid all the time.

Who are these ones? I've got a stack of sub $100 coins I'd be happy to get 150% of bid for.

Has anyone written a book about auction consigning?

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