| Author |
 Replies: 22 / Views: 3,746 |
|
Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
Hey-- For those of you who have bid on their site before, how long does it take before you actually know that you won an item? I tried to bid for the first time today, not knowing what to expect. With about 1 to 2 minutes left I hit "place bid", thinking that it would be like ebay and figuring that a lot of people would be bidding at the end. Well then it proceeds to take me through 4 different, slow loading screens, I'm panicking because I don't know what all this crap is, lol. Finally it takes me to the end, and it says "you've bid $2000, you've been outbid, winning bid is $1200, didn't meet reserve of $1300", lol. Auction ends, I'm like huh? So I call them up and ask them what happened, and they said you may or may not have won the auction. Uh, what? She said she'll tell me tomorrow (probably), lol. So then I asked, did you at least get my bid? Because the system acted like it did, but didn't at same time. She said yes, your bid is in...did you get a confirmation email? I said no, but I can see in my 'bids' section that I bid $2000, and you can see that I did too. She said she'll look into that. So is this how this auction site normally works? It seems very disorganized, slow, and the results seem 'questionable' as they don't even tell you whether you won or not. This was an internet only auction btw, not one that is with live auction as well. I'm pretty sure that the end result of this is going to be that they messed up my bid, and I won't get the item. I'll let everyone know the results as I find out. :) |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Wow that sounds messed up.
|
|
Valued Member
 United States
73 Posts |
Yeah, that's what I thought. She said that it takes 24 to 48 hours to resolve the bids because they have to go through and check things, lol (probably for things like my case above). It sounded like their system was unreliable so they have to go verify by hand the results. Can you imagine waiting 24 to 48 hours before you knew that you won an ebay auction? Plus not knowing the amount you were actually on the hook for (if you did win) until then? It seems so bizarre to me that in 2013 for an internet only auction that they can't tell me the results. |
|
Valued Member
United States
368 Posts |
Proxibid is the same way.....took me 24hrs to find out whether I won an item or not.....ruined it for me, I shop elsewhere now.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
Well, as an update, it no longer says I lost the auction on the 'my bidding' page, it says I'm 'winning' now. However, on the same screen, it also says I got outbid at the top, lol. So now they convinced part of the system that I did actually bid, but only part of it.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
taylor34: The way you have described your experience, it is not a good advertisement for Stack's Bowers.
That is a pity for them, because they are supposed to be one of the most reputable numismatic auctioneers in the World.
Perhaps they are beginning to think more about business, and less about numismatics, and have ended up stumbling over themselves.
I have NEVER had as confusing a customer experience with a major auctioneer, as this.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
861 Posts |
taylor34, your sxperience is only just begining......wait 'til you see how many weeks it takes before you receive the coin......assuming you ended up winning it.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
Weeks before I receive the coin? You mean they don't ship it right after I pay? Like how many weeks are we talking here after I pay, a couple? three? Surely not any longer than that, right?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
7840 Posts |
The big auction houses take 7-14 days to ship your item(s) out. I won a coin last night on Heritage and paid right away, but they will ship out in 7-14 days. Normally it is out in the mail at the end of the week. I don't remember about S&B, other than it is out of California (I think).
|
|
Pillar of the Community
861 Posts |
With Stacks, expect about 3 weeks before you receive your coins. Heritage usually takes 3 or 4 days.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
That's no problem at all (3 weeks), I can live with that. I will say that their customer service has been excellent, A++...no wait time, and very responsive.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1298 Posts |
Stacks Bowers is located in Irvine, CA. 800-458-4646, and has an office in New York, NY. 800-566-2580.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1298 Posts |
More disappointing news as a consignor. In different areas of their website, they indicate totally different information on the sale of a lot that was auctioned. One place says that the lot was sold, and another place says that the reserve was not met. Even speaking to a few represenatives I get different responses. Finally, I get an email stating that the lot was accidently hammered and the bid was below the reserve and the lot did not sell. I am a little disappointed that the coin didn't sell, but mostly upset at the wasted time I spent trying to find out this information, and the poor communication of Stack's Bowers. Seems to me they are mostly interested in "the big fish" in the sea!
|
|
Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
As an update, I did get the coin. No idea when I'll get it, but it's paid for anyways. Ham1947, seems like your experience with the system is like mine, it seems like their computers get out of sync and can't figure out the actual result right away.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
169 Posts |
i'll have to say having bid at most the major auction houses,heritage is definitely the most user friendly and quickest to let you see that you've one,still not a bit deterred from bidding at the others.they all offer some great coins and you set your own price when you bid.one experience I've had twice though with heritage is trying to bid in the last seconds on a singular item and getting booted offline or the bid wont enter.has never happened with batching bids.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
73 Posts |
As an update, I did receive the coin last friday. Took about 2 1/2 weeks from the end of my bid to get it into my hand, which isn't too bad. Would I shop there again? Yes, because their customer service was excellent. Their computer system though leaves a lot to be desired.
|
| |
Replies: 22 / Views: 3,746 |
Posted 06/25/2013 10:39 pm
