What's going on with all the issue's w/ Auction House's this year?!?!
 

After reading the madness going on with Crazy Uncle auctions and dealing with my own issues with other Ah's, I'm left to wonder what's happening with these AH's? The top guys (REA + Goldin) are top notch as always but its some of the other's you have to watch out for. Here are my issues: 1) Mile High Card auctions- I won a lot of PSA 9/10 BK rookies and when I got it in, the best card in the lot ,of course, was a PSA 7! Which is a $400 diff from what a PSA 9 is worth and also, this card was the reason I bid more than I planned to because as I was lead to believe it was a PSA 9. Almost a week since I sent them an email and no response, 2) Hunt auctions- won a lot of BB hof RC's and one card was described as vg/ex oc condition but when I had it in hand, it was so blatantly obvious that it was trimmed by like a 1/4 inch! and another lot of BB RC's I won had the cards listed as NM overall when a good majority had CREASES and rounded corners! Same thing as Mile High, a week and no response. and finally 3) Wheatland auctions- in their May auction there were a couple lots that on the last days were edited without any note being added to the lots as to why the BEST card(s) in the lot were taken out.

After a decade of buying/selling with AH's I haven't had any issues as close to these before with AH's and now all of a sudden this year it's like they just don't care because people are gonna buy/sell with them anyways.

Somehow you didn't mention anything about like 5 of them having either been hacked, DDOS attacked, postponed, or not protecting account information properly. 2020 has been an awful year for the auction industry, except for all the record-setting numbers and all.

He also didn't mention anything about PWCC. How are they holding up in all of this? Are they like a Phoenix that has risen from the ashes?

Honestly I dont consider them in the same category as the other AH's as they sell only thru ebay but I guess since they are consignors one could lump them all together and if's that's the case you have to include Probstein as well and I won't even start with all the problems I've been having with them in just these past couple months

Hopefully, Goldin does well and ends accordingly with no mishaps. I got a email yesterday from Goldin- saying they be down for scheduled maintainance. Hope they check with their platform guys as it ends in a few days. The last few Ahs have had some nice stuff, and seemingly tho glad-- i been out of the game during this panademic.

Hi there...

So Grey Flannel auctions items at the same time as listing in the catalog, too??

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Circa-1930s...8AAOSw07ZdYFVM

https://greyflannelauctions.com/Fran...-LOT43639.aspx

Looks like they made a mistake, it's supposed to be pulled from ebay.

The reality is that this is a dirty...corrupt, greedy hobby with more crooks in it than honest joes. This is why there are more issues than not.

Wow
 

Goldin can’t wear REA’s ( Brian Dwyer REA) jockstrap. They are not even in the same sentence. They are more in line with crazy uncle and PWCC. Do the math and do some research on that. ( Don west YouTube)

Buy and sell with people who have a long history of being honest That’s my rule of thumb.

Toby Petersen

Agreed, you should always deal with a company you feel comfortable with. I will add to Dan's post that Wheatland emails went to my JUNK folder. So, I missed out on many lots that I was ready to bid on in after hours. Hard to keep up with ALL the auctions and we all need reminders.

I have had small problems with more than a few companies, but I reframe from not bidding because I don't want to lose out on an item I want in my price range. Unfortunately for the consignor as well as the auction house, I lower my bids on houses that I have small problems with. There are more with problems than not in my experience. Most of my problems revolve around packaging and/or charges for shipping. My biggest beef is to charge so much for shipping and them my items don't appear to be in as good of shape as they were pictured(and I know sometimes the pictures are not good enough and you could miss something in the picture. I get upset when they arrive in the same shape but it was poor job packaging it because it could of gotten damaged.

They said in an email shortly after the last auction if I remember correctly that they were updating and changing servers so they don't have a problem like they did last time. I didn't like what happened with the last auction but based on what happened I think they did the best they could with the situation after the problems started with their system going down.

Is it just one item or are all those items they have listed on ebay on their current auction?

If it's just one item, they probably just missed pulling it before the auction.

I disagree with your analogy! I don't think that Goldin is as good as REA, but I would say REA is like a 9 or 10 out of 10 in our industry and Goldin is like a 7 or 8. I would put Crazy at a 4 now only because they are new, so they could go up but seems more likely to go down in my book. If they were not new I would give them a 2 just above Coaches Corner's 1. Just based on my experience.

Not just Wheatland but a few of the other smaller auctions I deal with go to my spam folder and then I either miss the auction entirely or find out too close to the time of the auction so I have little to no spare money to bid on things.

An emphatic +1.

I would put them at a zero right now, since they seem to have no regard for the inherent treasures we collect or understand how to follow laws. I expect them to go bankrupt in short order.

+1
 

After reading multiple experiences, I am AMAZED that anyone bids or consigns with them.

Before you disagreed with him did you do any research on the two auction houses you compared as Toby suggested? Do you know the histories of REA and Goldin auctions? Do you know the histories of Brian Dwyer and Ken Goldin? If you have good reasons for those ratings I would like to hear them. I know the reasons Toby is referring to, and would be interested if there are other points of view to contradict that history.

Has there ever been any consideration given to a Net54 Sports Auction site? I don't mean the basic B/S/T or auction page that's active today. I mean a site that would provide similar functionally, depth and scope as the major auction houses.

The business model could be really interesting considering that lots (most?) of the product for these auction houses come from all of us. Rather than consignor > auction house > buyer, it could be something like member > selling fee > buyer.

Participating members would be entitled to a part of the “house” proceeds and/or reduced sales fees. Management would be under the control of an elected board. Buyers would receive their winnings based on the parameters set by the board (reduced fees, timely, safely, etc.). Operational activity could be managed in-house or sourced to a third-party that follows the rules set by the board.

Tom has successfully made this transition on the non-sports side of the business. He follow’s a more traditional auction site model, but has been able to offer discounted fees (at least initially) and personalized service.

Yes, I know that at this moment Leon is doing his very best to just keep the lights on here, but maybe there’s a future opportunity to take/keep more margin dollars and have more control of the overall process.

Jeff

I don't believe Net54baseball wants to be in the auction business. There are plenty out there and more starting up all the time.

Part of the problem is that so many people see an auction as little work, high reward. From the outside looking in I guess it might appear that way. I can assure anyone who might be considering it, it is NOT a get rich quick business. Between building up a consignor AND bidder base to all the work that it takes to describe and image every lot sufficiently it is a TON of man hours.

Add to that if you are a normal start-up that doesn't have a benefactor willing to risk a million dollars of his collectibles, you are likely starting with auctions that gross about 10k - 20k. That generates a GROSS profit of about $3k - $6k. Obviously everyone's expenses can be different but I will say that for me that has led to a net profit of $1k - $2k. How many of those do you need to do a year to make a living?

That may help to explain why some small companies take short cuts and/or act in a fashion that is ethically questionable at best and criminal at worst.

In a sense I am lucky because PA is a license state. Going to school and putting in the time to learn BEFORE running auctions made a BIG difference, and it's still a struggle, but at least I went in with my eyes open.

It really is a case of the old saying "It's a tough way to make an easy living."

I am only going on my history bidding and looking over their auctions as I do not know the histories. I have been watching their auctions even when I don't bid on anything, I like to watch items I would be interested in or really like to see what they sell for. I have limited experience in winning items from both. Goldin I have bought more items but I think REA gets better prices on items I would be interested in and Goldin I feel I am able to buy more items at prices I feel comfortable with.

I have bought quite a few lots off Goldin in the past few years once I started to get back into the hobby after a lapse of several years after the death of my wife. I am currently unable to bid with REA because of my screw up in a very late payment that I just totally dropped the ball on when I forgot to pay before I tried to go totally off the grid for about three months. I did pay and got my item but when I went to bid in the next auction when I was back, the system told me my bidding privileges were revoked. I do understand, not mad at them at all, disappointed as they do have many items I would be interested in but even when I watch them, most of them go above what I would be willing to pay. But even on their auctions, there are usually one or two items I could buy if I could bid. It's not that bad, I really spend too much money on auctions anyways.

Another auctionhouse doing bad things (in case you missed it):
https://www.blowoutforums.com/showth...ght=traditions

Heritage
 

At least we don't have to worry about Heritage after their 4 million dollar government handout.

You got that business model right. Don’t be a gold miner, be Levi Strauss: no need to start an AH when you can sell ad space to the start up AHs.

How is the final day of the Goldin auction holding up? Is it really the final day, or do the new "impregnable" cloud servers fail?

So, yeah, about that...

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1395468
Another auctionhouse (and grading companies) getting fraudulent consignments. Ugh.

I'm dumbfounded.

That is nearly as bad as sending over 1 billion dollars of stimulus checks to dead people, which surely should have brought smiles to the battered faces of all the Zombies out there.
I hope Heritage had the decency to return the 4M. If not, I am through with them. John

Return it? They applied for it.

PSA was guilted into returning theirs...

They pulled these cards based on those threads, so good news.

Well, let's all give them a round of applause for seeing it and taking them out of the auction then! (clapping)

Now, Grey Flannels Auction closed at midnight eastern time I believe, with the 10-minute rule for the entire auction to close at once. So I went to bed at 4 am because I was tired, winning two lots, and got outbid at about 8 am on one of the two items. LOL