Heritage Auctions, revisited

[earlywynnfan]

The other Heritage Auctions thread appears to be derailed to the point of no return (I know, I helped.) So I'd like to bring it back to the forefront again. I just had a lengthy, quality phone conversation with Chris Ivy.

Two issues from HA stuck in my craw. The first was their "house bidding" policy, where the House may bid on items to win them and re-sell them. I understand both sides here. The house is trying to flat-out win some deals if they can to profit the house; this means I can't win as many deals to flip to profit my house. I don't love this rule, but I don't necessarily think it's improper, except two things: do they actually limit themselves to only bidding one week before closing, and do they pay the 20% hammer fee, just like I do. According to Chris, yes, all bids are placed 7 days prior WITHOUT the knowledge of any in-place ceiling bids, and yes, they do pay the buyer's premium. (The latter means that the house actually loses money, since they don't get their buyer's premium from an outside source, which means they're already behind in trying to make a profit.) Now how do I know this actually happens? Well, as Chris said, you have to have faith that an auction house actually practices what their rules say. I have no reason to doubt him based on my personal HA experiences (which are fairly limited). This House Bidding policy falls somewhere between "completely wrong" and "absolutely wonderful." Our own values will have to decide where, and I'm sure we'll all bid accordingly.

The second issue came from their term #21:
21. The Auctioneer, its affiliates, or their employees consign items to be sold in the Auction, and may
bid on those lots or any other lots. Auctioneer or affiliates expressly reserve the right to modify
any such bids at any time prior to the hammer based upon data made known to the Auctioneer
or its affiliates. The Auctioneer may extend advances, guarantees, or loans to certain consignors.

This reads to me that any employee can consign an item (they can, I suggested they label the items as such, a la Mears) and the employee can then bid on an item, which to me is extremely close to the textbook definition of shill bidding. Chris told me that it doesn't work that way. If an employee logs in and tries to bid on their consignment, the system won't let them. The only thing an employee can do is set a reserve. So no, the employee can not "up" the hammer price. (Can they get their cousin Joe to do it? Absolutely, but HA will fire them if they find out, and this could happen through any auction house. At minimum, if Cousin Joe wins the item, they're on the hook for fees on both ends, shipping, and their item back.)

I am glad I reached out to Chris to get my issues answered. I found him very helpful. Please note that what I've written is my summation, so please don't use any of these as "Chris Ivy said..." While I didn't appreciate Jonathon's tone or replies in the previous thread, I at least now have a better understanding of what they do.

Also, FWIW, I'm a little disappointed that a thread of 9 or so pages (before derailment) went on and I'm the only person who called the company directly -- besides Leon.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com