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Thoughts about Heritage Auctions?2908

past performance is no guarantee of future actions. KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user
I have a few books, art work etc that I am thinking about selling through Heritage Auctions - anyone have any thoughts/experience? I bought a few books and have seen books go for much more than I thought they would through their site myself.
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Collector vabchgent private msg quote post Address this user
I thought about trying them a couple of times to buy Books, But such as yourself, when they add the buyers premium the books seemed to be on the high side. This will be interesting to see peoples experiences with them.
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I've spent years perfecting my brand of assholery. DrWatson private msg quote post Address this user
I'm not keen on the seller's and buyer's premiums.
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Collector andy49 private msg quote post Address this user
won a book for $460, that was great
but then added buyer's premium of $89.70, shipping/handling of $14.95 and sales tax of $44.33
total = $608.98, not so great
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Collector det_tobor private msg quote post Address this user
I've sold a few things thru ebay & decided to give them a try. I went there in NY. Nice, professional set up and people.
They sold my stuff for a lot more than ebay would have done because auction house bidders can have a more expensive mind set because things are being done by a second party. This can give a better feeling for evaluations.
The % was 15%. Was it worth it ? Entirely so. If you have
something rare and in great shape, you can see a critical
difference in results.
Look at their past auction prices on what you have and then
compare those to ebay prices gotten.

This recording will self destruct in 5 seconds....what ?
never mind.
good luck.
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Collector Mio private msg quote post Address this user
A well organised shop. I have bought there many times, but not sold there. The buyer premium is a bit old-timey but if you can't figure it out, you probably should not bid there.
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Collector poka private msg quote post Address this user
Buy there frequently - using live-bid. I have experienced that if you bid a max price - quite often - if you win - you win at your max price - saying nothing more!
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Collector X51 private msg quote post Address this user
More!!!!
Post 8 IP   flag post
Collector poka private msg quote post Address this user
Refer to clause 21
https://www.ha.com/c/ref/terms-and-conditions.zx?view=terms
Post 9 IP   flag post
Collector Rafel private msg quote post Address this user
I'm not a fan of the seller's and buyer's premiums. I prefer mycomicshop.com and comiclink.com. They may not have every comic book or original art I want or need but they are very reasonable.
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Collector Despain private msg quote post Address this user
Both comiclink and Mycomicshop have a 3% buyer's premium.
Post 11 IP   flag post
Collector Rafel private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Despain
Both comiclink and Mycomicshop have a 3% buyer's premium.


You can't get much better than that. Only think that I'm not a fan of with comiclink is they charge $20 for shipping for 1 comic book. While Mycomicshop charges $4.95 for up to 5-7 comic books. With Mycomicshop I've bought over 100 comic books and original art.
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Collector 50AE_DE private msg quote post Address this user
MCS and Comiclink fees very reasonable. I have not used HA for a couple years and do not plan on using them ever again.
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Collector TommyJasmin private msg quote post Address this user
The new guy, @det_tobor summed it up well ( sez another guy with < 100 rating )

If you have high-dollar items, Heritage has the eyeballs and wallets to go with those eyeballs to maximize your gain. I had a few Oakland books, and when I let them fly I sent 'em to Heritage and to say I was happy with the results is an understatement.

I use Heritage auctions in over 90% of the sales examples in my quarterly market reports for Nostomania.

The fees are high, no doubt. But the overall quality you get can be invaluable. If you end up scanning any of those market reports you'll see two situations where Heritage is the clear best route:

1. Gerber SI 9 or higher

In a way, Heritage is the new Gerber Scarcity Index. Any time they auction a book they have rarely (or never) handled, they make a big deal about it, and buyers go crazy. A beat to hell Speed Comics 26, from my 3rd Quarter 2015 Market Report is a great example of this (where I get to pick on CGC's sloppy grading a bit too ). On eBay, this would go unnoticed. The Heritage catalogers are outstanding at setting the hook in these situations.

2. Books you need to move fast and can't wait for slab turnaround time

The graders there are respected enough that for quite a few cases, you will actually do better moving your book via Heritage unslabbed. You're all scratching your heads so let me explain. Say you got a hardcore E.C. fan. He's buying that mid-grade copy of Crime SuspenStories 17. He'd actually prefer a mid-grade copy he can trust the grade on, unslabbed, because he actually wants to enjoy the amazing Frazetta/Williamson art inside the book. See Menace 2 in this market report for a good example of this scenario.

I'm guessing most of you know as well, Borock spent his time between founding CGC and founding CBCS at Heritage. That should give you a hint as to the quality of the organization.
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I had no way of knowing that 9.8 graded copies signed by Adam Hughes weren't what you were looking for. drchaos private msg quote post Address this user
Between the buyer's premium and the pace of their "live auctions" I find their bidding process very difficult to work with.

I bought two books from them and ended up overpaying on both.
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Collector Despain private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Despain
Both comiclink and Mycomicshop have a 3% buyer's premium.


You can't get much better than that. Only think that I'm not a fan of with comiclink is they charge $20 for shipping for 1 comic book. While Mycomicshop charges $4.95 for up to 5-7 comic books. With Mycomicshop I've bought over 100 comic books and original art.


I totally agree. Plus you can avoid the buyer's premium if you pay by money order, check, or bank transfer.

I also agree with the ridiculous ComicLink shipping for one slab. $20 is insane for one book. I happened to win one auction in their past auction, and that's what I had to pay for shipping. I mean they say they can ship up to ten slabs for $20. Why charge $20 to ship one?
Post 16 IP   flag post
Collector Rafel private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Despain
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rafel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Despain
Both comiclink and Mycomicshop have a 3% buyer's premium.


You can't get much better than that. Only think that I'm not a fan of with comiclink is they charge $20 for shipping for 1 comic book. While Mycomicshop charges $4.95 for up to 5-7 comic books. With Mycomicshop I've bought over 100 comic books and original art.


I totally agree. Plus you can avoid the buyer's premium if you pay by money order, check, or bank transfer.

I also agree with the ridiculous ComicLink shipping for one slab. $20 is insane for one book. I happened to win one auction in their past auction, and that's what I had to pay for shipping. I mean they say they can ship up to ten slabs for $20. Why charge $20 to ship one?


You can avoid the buyer's premium with Mycomicshop or comiclink by paying with a money order, check, or bank transfer?
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Collector jrs private msg quote post Address this user
@Rafel, yes for mycomicshop; not personally sure about comiclink. But I like the protection afforded when paying with credit.
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COLLECTOR Foghorn_Sam private msg quote post Address this user
I know the buyers premium at Heritage is 19.5% for comic books, but what does Heritage charge the sellers/consigners for comic books?
Post 19 IP   flag post
Collector VaComicsGuy private msg quote post Address this user
I only used Heritage once and like others have already stated, I felt like a good deal became a poor one after shipping and fees were added. I use MCS a lot and have been happy with the prices, fees and way they pack the books.
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Collector det_tobor private msg quote post Address this user
foghorn_Sam, it's 15% for comics. Different categories
have different prices for sellers.
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Collector Despain private msg quote post Address this user
@Rafel Yes on both. It's in their buyers' guidelines. It's especially helpful if you buy a pricey item.
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COLLECTOR Foghorn_Sam private msg quote post Address this user
Thanks for your reply @det_tobor. I tried to find it in their terms and conditions, but must have missed it.
So they charge sellers 15% and buyers 19.5%....holy cow! Doesn't seem very cost effective except for Heritage. That means on a $1000 sell, they make a whooping $345! That's just insane.
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COLLECTOR BigRig private msg quote post Address this user
When you think of the big ticket items they have sold the numbers are astronomical on fees.
Post 24 IP   flag post
Collector Homer private msg quote post Address this user
If your considering consigning under 5k dollars worth of material they may not be interested in your consignment. If you have over 100k worth of material you should be able to negotiate a fair rate. If your between the 5-100k than your kinda on an island and you might consider working with other dealers or collectors to build a bigger war chest of books to consign at a better rate. They just finished with an 8 million dollar art and comic auction last weekend.
Post 25 IP   flag post
Collector det_tobor private msg quote post Address this user
when I was there, I asked a few of these questions, especially
about costs...
*They are a fully developed international organization
* They have a decent size staff with specialists in many
fields. They each earn a salary.
* There are offices throughout the nation
** It's how they can highlight items they are selling
* It's how big a membership / audience they have to bid on
things
* They work hard and value their reputation

Compare that to selling on eBay or using other smaller
companies. You can open price guides and find all kinds of buyers with high priced promises, but if they are going to resell the item, they "need" to make a nice profit too.
When you go anywhere to sell, research what prices they have
gotten in past sales for similar items. Good luck.
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COLLECTOR JWKyle private msg quote post Address this user
I think Heritage will get the most money out of the material they are consigned. I also believe they don't necessarily put the most money in a sellers pocket for consigned items. I have to factor in a California sales tax also when bidding.
Post 27 IP   flag post
Collector poka private msg quote post Address this user
i will definitely try HA next time i have a high value item for sale. i believe HA will try their very best to ensure that an item is sold at the highest possible price. remember that their terms of ref allows them to bid on all items and i believe that they do, especially against buyers who make a fixed highest bid. you may also experience that items which are auctioned are bring put up for auction again fairly shortly after. that could be an indication that they went too high in their own bid and ended up owing an item after the first auction.
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Collector georgefoo private msg quote post Address this user
Where did you get the 15% charge for sellers? I recently consigned a few items through Heritage worth less than $10K and the commission was much less than 15%.
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