What would you think if you got this reply from a major auction house?

[Scocs]

I don’t understand how they don’t list the individual card #s in the auction description!

That’s like going to a restaurant and on the menu they state “We have LOTS of food.”

[Peter_Spaeth]

People here rarely seem to name who they are complaining about.

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

People here rarely seem to name who they are complaining about.

That's true, but it's a pretty tight community, which I appreciate. If you name someone, someone else comes to their defense and it can, on occasion, escalate.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

People here rarely seem to name who they are complaining about.

Originally Posted by bbcard1

That's true, but it's a pretty tight community, which I appreciate. If you name someone, someone else comes to their defense and it can, on occasion, escalate.

Lets not forget that the slimy sellers always threaten to sue when called out.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Lets not forget that the slimy sellers always threaten to sue when called out.

I would not worry about that. You only need to add 'In my opinion' to any statement and there would be no standing for a suit.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Michael B

I would not worry about that. You only need to add 'In my opinion' to any statement and there would be no standing for a suit.

In my opinion the threat to sue is a scare tactic. Even if what is being said is true who wants to have to pay a lawyer to go to court and prove it. That has been my experience anyway when I have been threatened with being sued.

The company threatening to sue also has the advantage of being able to write it off as a business expense if they actually fallow through.

[Fballguy]

I just started looking at the various auction houses in the past year or so and I was surprised to see how poor some item descriptions are.

I always think of the poor schlub whose prized possession is being so poorly advertised.

And it's not just a particular one or two. It seems to be an issue at many. Definitely food for thought when it comes time to sell my collection.

Another, observation...I get the impression most of these "big" auction houses try to operate on a skeleton crew staff. If customer service goes out the window just because you're in the middle of doing the one thing you're in business to do, you've got issues.

[SullyV]

I once sent an email to a large AH and got a reply that it would be a few days before they got back to me. Whatever, I finally received a reply and they said that my consignments were not worth enough(figured they were both ~$500) since they were only taking items in excess of $1,000. I found it funny that I had won auctions from them that sold just recently for $360, $408 and $216.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

If it were me, I might consider a smaller auction house where I would get tons of personal attention...

[SMPEP]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

If it were me, I might consider a smaller auction house where I would get tons of personal attention...

Do you have one you can recommend?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by SMPEP

Do you have one you can recommend?

Well-played








(dick)

[SAllen2556]

A certain auction house once explained to me that to describe every item in a large lot (that I was consigning) takes away some of the "mystery", and they felt they could get a higher price if the description remained somewhat vague.

I didn't agree, but what the hell did I know? And I was ultimately satisfied with the results they got. But I wonder if this might explain why they are reluctant to provide a detailed description - sort of the old "grab bag" idea that adds an element of gambling to the bidding process.

[slipk1068]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

People here rarely seem to name who they are complaining about.

Originally Posted by bbcard1

That's true, but it's a pretty tight community, which I appreciate. If you name someone, someone else comes to their defense and it can, on occasion, escalate.

A few AH's are above reproach to many. Say something negative about an AH owned by someone's buddy and it's Dog Pile on the Rabbit.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym31m_9iErY


.

[JollyElm]

It takes no time at all to list the card numbers, especially in the 2 examples you referred to. Typing out the numbers of 13 or 18 cards would literally take less than a minute. LESS THAN A MINUTE. It is just beyond silly that they're giving you the runaround like that. And like everyone has already said, how comfortable could you ever be as a consignor if the AH won't even take a moment to provide the most rudimentary facts regarding a lot to potential bidders???

[steve B]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

It takes no time at all to list the card numbers, especially in the 2 examples you referred to. Typing out the numbers of 13 or 18 cards would literally take less than a minute. LESS THAN A MINUTE. It is just beyond silly that they're giving you the runaround like that. And like everyone has already said, how comfortable could you ever be as a consignor if the AH won't even take a moment to provide the most rudimentary facts regarding a lot to potential bidders???

I'm so happy for you that you have typing skills. I on the other hand do not. 18 items would be a bit longer assuming accuracy counted.

[Buythatcard]

If an AH does not have time to describe all their items, then they are taking on too much. Instead of listing 10,000 items, try cutting it down a little.

[bbcard1]

At the fear of outing myself as one who dabbles in new and shinny stuff, I once sold a lot of 100 uniquely numbered cards (first and last serial numbers like 001/199 or 299/299...firsts and lasts something for some unknown reason I have always found appealing) with a fairly well respected action house. I documented each card, the player, there year and brand, and the number on an excel sheet which would have easily been linkable to their web description. It included virtually all star players and many hall of famers. They basically included a picture of four cards, a generic description (lots of stars) and that was about it. I am not sure I should have tried selling such a large accumulation, but they certainly didn't work very hard for me.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

People here rarely seem to name who they are complaining about.

Yeah I don't get it. If I'm upset enough to create a thread I certainly won't be afraid to name who I'm upset with. Plus when a big seller or auction house is named they often come on to present their side and usually find a way to resolve the issue.

[bobbyw8469]

Another, observation...I get the impression most of these "big" auction houses try to operate on a skeleton crew staff. If customer service goes out the window just because you're in the middle of doing the one thing you're in business to do, you've got issues.

Sound like most businesses!! It's all about the bottom line. Where I work at, we are so understaffed it's not even funny. My boss has turned away good people looking for a job with phrases like "Are you sure you want to work here"? It also doesn't help that his paycheck is directly associated with the bottom line. Meanwhile, the poor souls left behind are being worked half to death to make up for the missing bodies.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Scocs

I don’t understand how they don’t list the individual card #s in the auction description!

That’s like going to a restaurant and on the menu they state “We have LOTS of food.”

I guess it depends on how many cards there are. If it's only a few, making a list seems like the sensible thing. But if it's me, and I'm listing something like I used to on Ebay, stuff like "400 different 1981 Topps" I'm not making a list. I usually didn't even have the lot assembled until after it sold After it sold I'd pull the cards from the few thousand I had. (Allowing me to take wantlists and maybe make sure more of a certain team were included than if I just did it randomly)

I'd think that to a big auction house, a boxful of lower grade commons from the 40's-50's is sort of like a big batch of 80's cards was to me. Stuff to sell, but not worth the time to list individually.

[SMPEP]

The important thing to file away is ... this is NOT who you turn your collection over to sell.

A major auction house (who will remain nameless) once sold a lot with a few W572 strips in it. I bid exactly what the strips were worth based on what they said was in the lot and historical sales - and one guy came over the top of me and went one bid higher. No big deal.

The buyer contacted me after the auction and mentioned that he received extra strips and cards (including several extra HOFers!) from the auction house when he got the lot from them.

In my opinion, this major auction house committed fraud against its consignor. If they had disclosed those extra strips and cards, my bid would have been at least $500 higher. Would I have won? Who knows.

But the consignor lost money. That is certain.

And this auction house won't get my business. That is certain.

Cheers,
Patrick