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 Replies: 11 / Views: 963 |
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Rest in Peace
United States
5375 Posts |
I'm completely new to this, and I need some advice. I considered buying something fairly high priced on there recently, but I don't know enough and figured I should probably ask around before doing anything like that so as to not make a bad mistake. Any advice from frequent heritage buyers? How to determine value? How bidding exactly works? Whether you can get deals? What their policy is if the coin appears different in photos? I have more questions but I'll leave it at that for now. Experiences (good and bad) would also be appreciated.
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Moderator
 United States
16677 Posts |
My avatar, a 1786 Vermont copper RR-7 I purchased at Heritage a few years ago. This is the only coin I have ever bought at an auction other than ebay. I will tell you this. I wanted it. Therefore, I was willing to pay the 15% buyers premium which I got nailed for. Something to consider. Heritage makes tons of money off of this. This coin has since appreciated pretty nicely, so the value to cost ratio has made up for it. Like I said, this coin was very nice for the grade, not to mention PCGS, and also, nicely centered as so many of these were not. If it's a coin you really want and know that it is "the one", then go for it. I just know that since that purchase, I have not purchased from Heritage and won't buy from again anytime soon. swcoin.ecrater.com
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Calculate the maximum you are willing to pay and then subtract the juice and shipping.
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Rest in Peace
 United States
5375 Posts |
I didn't see anything about shipping. I'm wondering also how much people bid up, and whether in the live end people USUALLY get outbid or whether the online bid is usually the top one. Things like that. I know the basics but want to know more.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2540 Posts |
There is nothing as valuabel as real life experience.
Someone here should have delt with Heritage in the past and can answer yous questions, but, I understand that live bidders do have an advantage.
That said, bid the max that you can afford, or feel that the lot is worth, and you won't go wrong.
It is important to set a limit, and not to exceed it.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
Quote:
I'm wondering also how much people bid up, and whether in the live end people USUALLY get outbid or whether the online bid is usually the top one. Not all of Heritage's auction are live. They regularly have Sunday and Tuesday internet only auctions. They even have Buy Now/Make a Bid sales after some live auctions to sell off some stuff that did not originally sell. Also, the lowest possible shipping cost for a coin is about $9 and goes up depending on how much it is worth and how many coins you purchase. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
5375 Posts |
How exactly does the buyer's premium thing work? I'll look into the internet only auction, that makes more sense for me.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1415 Posts |
Never bought from Heritage, but have done a lot of auctions. Buyer's premium is monies that is added AFTER the bidding has concluded. It is usually a percentage, in Heritage I think it is 15%. So if you bought a coin for say $75 then Heritage would add $11.25 to the price and then add shipping/insurance on top of that. The buyer's premium is a pretty standard item. In most auctions, the seller pays 15% and the buyer pays 15%. I never sold on Heritage either to know what, if any, seller's premium. Hope this helps some.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
If you think you might be doing this often, I would suggest finding something that you want and might normally buy elsewhere - but buy it on Heritage and go through the whole process - bidding, winning or losing, fees, seeing how long it takes to get it, how it's packaged, etc.
Seriously, dip your toes in the water first if you're gonna be plunking down what YOU consider to be serious cash
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6381 Posts |
I've purchased nice coins in Heritage auctions and the other posters have described the issues pretty well. Plan on that 15% buyer's fee being added to the winning bid, plus shipping and insurance, plus sales tax if you live in California or Texas. For California buyers, I know that the tax is waived if your total cost for coin(s) plus buyer's fee is $1000 or more. Sometimes your total for a winning bid may end up a lot higher than you might have guessed. My last win was a 1938-S Washington quarter in ICG MS-65. My winning bid was $130. My total invoice with buyer's fee (the "juice"), shipping, and CA sales tax was about $172, still an OK price for the coin IMO. As long as you pay attention to the grand total, it's no problem! The first time I bid on Heritage they required that I send in a 25% deposit with my mailed bid sheet to guarantee that I would pay if I won. I don't know if a deposit is still required for first-time bidders. I still check their auctions but I haven't won much lately. It seems like every coin I like sells for 10% to 100% more than what I want to pay! In the current market I think Heritage might be a good place to sell higher-end coins, but as a buyer I don't find many bargains. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
860 Posts |
Also I know that when you bid, you agree to their shipping/insurance agreement, which is on their site in .pdf and is very strongly oriented towards them ( of course). One person had a 10,000+ winning deposited on their doorstep which disappeared. Their agreement said HA responsibility ended when they gave it to the courier, but the courier only had it insured at 100.
Be sure to specify registered mail and value insurance when you bid. When you receive an invoice, checked to be sure the insurance was applied. Some people are happy to see they weren't charged much for S/Insurance which is great if you get your coins, but Horrible if they don't get to you.
Maybe this is similar for other auctioneers, but READ!! the agreements before bidding! By the way HA was very honorable and made the deal above good.
Jim
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10284 Posts |
I bid on about 35 nickel auctions conservatively with Heritage recently and was completely blown out of the water at the end. I came nowhere near getting any of the coins and I don't understand where they fetched the money they did.
It's a nice place to look at good coin photographs IMO but prices realized .... ?
I just don't know. Live auctions always seem to be like that.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 963 |
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Posted 10/22/2008 11:11 pm
