Too true. Mr. Mint only had Zubes, his Pancho Sanza, while Goldin has many dubious assistants.

The 1099s aren't the issue with eBay, the cost is. eBay has gotten ever grubbier, to the point where DIY selling there isn't worth it. Even when I had my store and my top-rated seller status, the combination of closing fees payment processing fees charged on the hammer AND the shipping AND the sales tax, and shipping costs, put me at nearly 15% of the hammer price OOP. Well, for 5% more I can send the same cards to REA for the Encore auction and avoid the time suckage of retailing dozens of items? Plus, no whining, no lost items, and no returns? That's a no-brainer for me.

I enjoyed Goldin's auctions in the past. I've won many times at reasonable price and I've had customer support issues that were dealt with quickly and professionally.

That said their auctions have gone way down hill as of late. I don't even look at the weekly auctions anymore because it is filled with 2000's base cards graded PSA 7. Also its not very easy to sort out 4000 listings a week.

I really enjoyed the monthly auctions from Goldin - much more so than these weekly things - which i think are born from the deal with PSA where you can send your cards to grade and then send them directly to goldin to be auctioned.

It has caused a whole lot of riff raff to be listed and lessened the offerings.

The search feature on their site is brutal.

Try searching "m113" and see what you get...

Not sure how "2020 Panini Immaculate Collection Rookie Pigskin Logo #RS22 AJ Dillon Relic Rookie Card (#1/1) - BGS NM-MT+ 8.5" is among the results...

With all the money of Nat and his group behind them, you would think it wouldn't be that hard to fix this?

Exactly one of the issues I had. There is no good way to search in an organized fashion and the when you do specific searches you get back tons of stuff that presumably has nothing to do with the search. Been happening on ebay too the last couple of years.

Think it is intentional to put things in front of you even if you do not want them. You get what you are looking for as well as what they don't want you to miss.

Perhaps you are right, but it seems most people just get pissed off.

Agree with you that ebay searches have been flagging extraneous stuff too, although it's usually not that far off, like if you search for PSA 8s they might throw some 7s into the mix. Not like Doug's example.

I tried searching "Ruth" & couldn't believe all of the lots that came up.

Search engines have gotten progressively worse on almost all platforms through the years. I run a couple of my own websites with search engines built into them, that I rely on through my web hosts, and 10 years ago I would have said I was happy with them. Now I have to give hints to people for complicated workarounds to get relevant results, that may or may not work…depending on what been fiddled around with lately in the guts of the engine.

Software in general seems to be getting less and less intuitive and innovative for the common user. I suspect it has a lot to do with large corporate entities in the tech world exploiting the practice of copywriting and patenting specific lines of common code, which attempts to keep everything in house, stifles innovation, and throws a monkey wrench into already existing platforms and infrastructure.

Ruth Buzzi PSA 9 was sharp.

So tempting.

There is a set of cards I regularly search for on eBay, and over time my list of 'exclusions' in the search bar has now grown to this (in order to JUST see the cards I'm actually searching for):

-(dean, sheffield, calender, amberstone, usaf, losers, pottery, nasa, china, buick, saucer, rosemary, rainbow, caron, granada, baby, mclaughlin, relish, salt, billy jack, steel, license plate)

Personally I don't care what the BP is, I'll bid what I want factoring in the BP to the total cost. My issue with Goldin, besides the search functions, is the request for banking information before being able to put in bids totalling over $10k. I'm not a high roller by any stretch, but I know my limits and if I have to come back multiple times waiting to be outbid to put in placeholder bids, forget it. In today's market $10k in bids is not that much but there's no way I'm giving Goldin any of my personal financial info in order to bid. I know there are others like me as well on this subject.

I hate to be a nitpicker, but as a Lit major in college, I am obligated to point out that Don Quixote's sidekick was Sancho Panza.

Pancho Sanza?

Forget it, he's rolling.

It isn't about the bidders--they are irrelevant--it is about setting a higher baseline for Goldin's share of consignors' money.

I like him. I really like him.

I'd take the under on that bet

Just be thankful you are not one of those persnickety picknitters...those are the type of folks that are bound and determined to go tilting at windmills.

Brian

100 posts and no pre-war cards? C'mon guys.
 

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My understanding is the Vault is a different animal than their regular auctions.
.

My experience with Goldin has been fine.

I just consigned one small item to Goldin ($70 total), and it was a very smooth process.
I have purchased a couple of things from the weekly auctions; S&H is on the higher side but the items come quickly and without issue.

My biggest complaint overall is that when you are looking for specific items to complete a set, there are now SO MANY weekly auctions, monthly auctions, catalog auctions, platinum auctions, golden halo magical auctions, super-amazing auctions, encore-to-the-magical auctions, pink unicorn auctions, etc from each company that it is a full-time job just to search the auctions.

I didn't find it to be that big of a deal. I did it. Take a bank statement that has some larger account on it. BLACK out any personal information like account numbers, address etc and send it in. I thought it was dumb, but also not that big of deal in the grand scheme of things.

I can see why they want it. I'm sure it is a way for them to avoid people just shilling up big money cards and then not paying. Limit the buyer pool to people that can pay. You can't just walk off the street at Christie's and bid $100,000 on a work of art. You have to be qualified.

Does any other AH ask for a bank statement?

I did a web traffic search today and was somewhat surprised to learn that PWCC has more than double Goldin's monthly traffic. Which leads me to wonder how much they may have *actually* been acquired for? (I maintain that it was still for a significant sum despite their financial woes at the time). Estimates I've read for the CU acquisition of Goldin are around $200 million. I don't know if that's accurate at all, but if PWCC gets double Goldin's traffic, then they are almost certainly worth more than that.

Yes. Its very common. Not so much in cards, although some do. But you bet that many AHs selling historical and entertainment items require this, and I expect all card AHs will require proof of ability to pay over a certain minimal amount. And the should.

If I understand DJ's issue, it seems the issue here is that with Goldin, each bid placed is cumulative, so that you hit your $10k limit after placing a number of initial placeholder bids and do not have "capacity" until you are outbid and your aggregate bid amount goes below $10k. I do understand why this is the case -- $10k is $10k, whether one card or 100, but I also see why/how its annoying.

Yes, and it's not just Goldin. I won something from Heritage once and now I get constant emails about their weekly igneous rock auctions and whatever else...

C’mon Peter…

We all know that you’re approved to bid on PWCC’s premier auctions. And that requires a thorough financial exam prior to approval.

After my little kerfuffle with PWCC, I am now allowed to bid in their weekly auctions. But, as already said, to bid in their Premier Auction I must produce financial condition proof, eg. bank statement, brokerage account, 401 account, etc. Screw that.

I am really getting old. I could barely bring myself to click 'bid' on a $32 card last night. They don't need to worry about me bidding over 10k on a baseball card.

There's a big story about the A's only spending $90 on Cabrera's parting gift. I still think a $90 bottle of wine is a fancy gift.

I don’t understand the disdain over an auction house making new customers prove their financial wherewithal to bid in an auction. If a bidder doesn’t pay, it’s a real pain for the AH and the consignor gets screwed. Plus, I think it’s pretty standard business that if you are going to extend credit, which is pretty much what a legally binding bid is, you want to know the person to whom you are extending credit is creditworthy. You don’t have to give a social security number or any info other than a bank statement showing you have the financial wherewithal.

Also, remember the customer is the consignor, not the bidder, and the AH should take reasonable steps to protect the items they sell for their customers. Maybe if they weren’t dealing in other people’s stuff. But AH’s are selling other people’s stuff. As someone who has consigned to numerous auction houses, I would sure want to know that the high bidder on my stuff can and will pay.

Finally, I wonder whether this is more because Goldin or PWCC is requiring this info vs more loved AHs like REA or LOTG.

I don’t know, I don’t think it’s a big deal and a pretty good business practice to make sure bidders can afford to close before you allow them to bid on your customer’s stuff! Seems like a minor inconvenience for the ability to bid

I concur with your thinking here. If I were the AH, I would want to know that buyers can pay. Hell, as a bidder, I want to know that the goons bidding against me aren't just yanking my chain with no ability or intention of actually paying.

I do think that the general disdain tends to be a function of other AHs in our space not requiring it. So when it is required, we get all hot and bothered. "Don't these people know what a big deal I am??!!!"

That and the means verification process itself tends to be rather uncomfortably personal. It's not common to have to share a bank statement with a vendor, and that can feel a bit invasive, particularly for a group that is trying to entice us to participate in their auctions.

Then again, most vendors require payment before they even serve us. So I suppose this works better than having to pre-submit our banking information or a credit card for an automatic charge if we win.

Appleby's is worried that people will walk a meal. They might comment on your knock-off Izod shirt. Nice, high-end restaurants don't worry about it.

Never signed up. What have I missed?

When I've applied to bid with AHs, they've asked for references from other AHs. I assume they followed up. Since I could easily and painlessly supply a long list of well-known AHs I've bid with (and paid when I've won,) that was always enough.

I think having a history of paying for items won is a better reference than simply having dough in the bank. Not to mention, an image of a bank statement can easily be altered.

Now I put REA and HA if they ask. A long time ago, when Lew Lipset used to sell on ebay, I bought a few cards from him on there, I would write his name down as a reference. I wonder if they ever called him to ask who I was? :)

Same experience and same thought here. And most AHs apparently agree.

To cut to the chase, no effin way am I give Goldin or anyone else my banking information.

You want my banking statement? Sure, after you give me your banking statement.

I mean...you could've been the proud owner of this authentically altered yet highly graded piece!

LOL. What's that line about lying down with dogs?:D

+1 agree I have had several ask for my bank info for high bidding limits especially on higher end cards

I never had to show Goldin any bank statements to get my credit limit increased. I only needed to send them invoices from other auction houses for similar amounts that I wanted to my credit limit increased to. The only places that I've had to show bank statements to get additional credit were PWCC and Grey Flannel.

Cheap gift - and Cabrera is an alcoholic.

He didn't play for them. It's a symbolic gesture. I would understand if the Tigers dfa'd him and gave him a bottle of wine. For all they know he's a diabetic, and shouldn't give him a cake, they don't know him.

Maybe it could have been a more thoughtful gift, like this Nieman signed litho I bought all in for $82 on HA. Eck is there like a Sancho Panza.



On the 22%, it's okay as a buyer, I guess.

EVERYONE in baseball knows that Cabrera is an alcoholic. He's been in treatment, the Tigers famously had non-alcoholic champagne in the locker room, etc.

Truly cringe-worthy gift.

In April, the Astros gave him a bottle of wine, a bottle of champagne, and a cowboy hat. There are articles from the Spring that go on about how classy it was.

Sorry, OP, I can continue in the watercooler section on this topic if you guys want.

My reaction to PWCC's request was more knee jerk than anything else. Pre-Fantastics, I bid, won and paid for items $10,000 or more from them multiple times, which their records should show, so I was a bit miffed when suddenly I had to prove financial well-being. Obviously, this is Fanatastics strengthening
internal controls and/or I must have really pissed off Brenda.
I generally only share my financial documents with my accountant and investment advisor. There are so many scammers, grifters and con artists out there who live only to obtain innocents' documents and use them for some nefarious purpose.
I can live with occasionally bidding in just their weekly auctions, which have improved, e.g. a beautiful '15 CJ Eddie Collins PSA6, which I won a couple of months ago.

The Golden search options should include an option to sort by title (like Heritage) so I don't have to scroll through 1000 modern cards to look for something I might have interest in.

Can't you just black out any info you don't want them to see (like account numbers)?

I suppose I could but just won't because of the way I feel.

Another thing with Goldin is they seem to extend their auctions, sometimes multiple times, with no warning. Sometimes 7-10 days before an auction ends a few days will be added and then possibly later on, another day or two added. Have only started to recently see this with them.

Yes. I've been asked for it from Memory Lane / and one other

Yeah, that scenario chaps my ass big time. If someone looks at an auction and doesn’t like the amount of bidding activity …. So be it. Not a reason to continue an auction for more days. If you advertise an auction date stick to it.

Speak of the devil…

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I remember, with their old site, the several times they extended auctions because of technical issues. Now, they're extending auctions at will. I just received this in an email:

Yes, thats one of them Im talking about. But that auction was originally scheduled to end on Wednesday, September 27th and then was moved to Saturday, September 30th, and then moved to October 1st. So, that movement from the 30th to the 1st is an error in their own making or maybe they just wanted to move the auction out of that whole week. Either way, these are things that should be known before starting an auction.

Anybody know what's going on with Goldins shipping times? I have a friend who's been waiting over two weeks for his win to ship, and I've been waiting nearly a week and a half for mine. That is unacceptable for a large auction house. I've never had it take longer than 3 days, and I've bought from many different AHs.

I don't know the "what" of what is going on, but I've bought a few things over the last couple months and it has been about 13 calendar days post-auction (if payment is made right away) until a shipping label is created. I fully agree that's way too long to ship stuff that you already have in your possession.

Same here. Below is what I received after contacting them via email about the delay.

Thank you for reaching out to us. I apologize for the delay in your items being shipped to you, but I am happy to verify that your order is being processed and that the shipping label has been printed for your order. Our shipping team will be packing and preparing your order as soon as possible. The shipping team has experienced a delay in order processing due to an issue beyond their control. They are currently working overtime to correct these delays starting with the oldest orders. Your order should be shipping out within the next week and your tracking information will be confirmed in a separate correspondence and visible directly through your Goldin account. I appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this. Please let me know if I can assist with anything further and I will be happy to help. I do hope you enjoy the rest of your day! Regards,

Sounds like that good for nuthin' Bobby, the Procurement Director, forgot to order the packing tape again.

Brian

I got that same exact response. Been waiting the same time Lucas has. First and last time on Goldin.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Just got this email from Goldin about my winnings from 2 weeks ago. It's literally just 2 cards. Not only have they not shipped yet but now they are going to ship separately. Cannot even imagine why that would be necessary unless they can't find one of the cards right now, lol.

"William,

We're reaching out to update you on the delivery process for your winnings from our recent 2023 September Elite Auction. Your winnings will arrive in more than one package, and the packages may arrive several days apart. Once each package is shipped, you will receive an email from the shipping carrier with your tracking number.

Thank you for your continued trust in Goldin."

Bwahahahhahahha!! I don't trust Goldin as far as I can throw them!

That is completely ridiculous.

Items are shipped from their warehouse as well as from the PSA Vault, so sometimes you get two different tracking #s for one order. And they might not all ship on the same day.

Yeah, that could be an explanation. I'll see if I can tell a difference in the origin location when they do ship.


ETA: I guess that would mean that they don't even have one location they can ship from in a timely manner.

All I can say is that good for nuthin' Bobby is in charge of supplies at BOTH locations, and the shipping department folks at each place are sitting around and twiddling their thumbs until that much delayed packing tape order arrives.

Brian

"Never get cheated": no, wait, that's a different one...

To be fair to Goldin, I think this really depends on how the payment is made. If you send the payment by personal check or ACH, the auction house needs to wait for that payment to clear which often takes 2 weeks. This is common for all auction houses across the board. I sent my payment to Goldin via wire, and they took one week to ship after my payment. I thought this was a reasonable shipping time. I would also expect around a week if you paid by credit card.

The part that I do think is unreasonable for Goldin which I mentioned earllier in this thread is that in their invoice, Goldin states that if they do not receive payment within a week, they will start adding late payment fees. I still believe this is completely unreasonable, and they should revert to the industry standard of 2 weeks to receive payment. Often times, if you drop a check in the mail, it will not even arrive at the destination in one week, so I think this is unfair.

always comes down to what the sales are...really doesnt matter all the speculation...maybe they use some of that extra money to advertise or harass people on the phone to check out their auctions more..

I did pay by card the day after winning, so as soon as possible. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and waited a week and a half to post about this. What made me really make the post was my friend who won an item from the 28th and paid asap had been waiting even longer. Obviously if he was still waiting, mine from days later was not getting shipped anytime soon.

Taking 2 weeks (2 and a half for some at this point) to ship auction winnings that were paid for the day after winning is unacceptable. They have a warehouse and a full team dedicated to shipping items. Many one man shows that run auction houses ship next day after payment!

I don't even think ebay allows this long, and they have the most lenient shipping rules of anyone.

I suspect my post here sped things up, as it should've. I would definitely be more understanding if Goldin came out and said something, maybe half their shipping team quit with no notice. I'd obviously be more understanding, but no statement was made.

I wrote to Goldin to delay my package and got a confirmation they would. Answe to not ship out to last week of October. Received a notice from UPS yesterday that my items were delivered. No idea who signed for them since nobody is home and most likely they have been left outside in a public place for the next 1+ weeks. Will see what happens when I get back but a complete failure on the shipping team.

I will say, and I'm not one to jump to Goldin's defense ordinarily, shipping requests introduce the potential for failure. Most if not all auctions have systems in place for shipping and anything that throws a curve into that system introduces the potential for failure.

A customer asks us to hold a shipment, or to send something to grading for them or any one of innumerable other small seeming changes and there's nothing in our software that deals with those requests so we add notes and send an email to the shipping person etc. but you are still introducing the opportunity for human error.

That doesn't mean we don't do our damnedest to get it right, but of the shipping problems we've had, 99% have come about because something out of the ordinary pattern that our system is made for is requested.

The real question will be, if the package is missing, will they cop to the fact that they made a mistake and take care of you. Let's hope so.

I sent my items to their vault while I was away and then requested my shipment from the vault when I returned. It was actually cheaper too.

What is salt in the wound for me is their turn around time! I paid via ACH on October 5. They told me I could expect my items to be delivered mid-November!!!! How is that even possible?

Hello all
I am writing to reply to obvious concerns about current shipping turnaround times at goldin.
I will be as brief as possible.
I am very aware of these issues.
I have prioritized TRADING CARD SHIPMENTS above all else.
Whatever timelines you may have been told if you corresponded with CS at goldin, please disregard. This will be fixed ASAP and timelines drastically moved up .
Keep in mind that many items , especially in weekly auctions, are stored in and shipped from the PSA vault. For those items, there is no way to avoid 2 different shipping locations and 2 different ship dates. That said all available resources are being put into effect to speed up everyone’s ship timelines with the goal being by the end of October elite, we are back to our normal shipping schedule and turnaround times you have been accustomed to in dealing with us since 2012.
If you wish, you can stop reading here, below is more detail.

As some of you know (i realize many may not ) I very recently took back the reigns as CEO of Goldin. The prior CEO had the vision of being everything to everyone, and being able to sell $15 cards the same way as $15,000 cards. (that clearly was never and is not my vision). Weekly auctions were built and the company accepted items with no minimums, anything went. This lead to some auctions containing as many as 7000 lots, and came at us EVERY WEEK. These massive weekly auctions with low value lots severely backed up every aspect of goldin. That CEO is no longer at goldin, and I took back over. The first thing I did was put measures in place to stop the influx of very low end items clogging the pipeline. (It’s not as easy or as fast as it sounds ) but those efforts are working. Bottom line, I do NOT think $10-$100 items is in our wheelhouse, and I always envisioned a Tiffany/rolls Royce style company with white glove service to match. That is NOT the type of service you are getting today if you are in this shipping backlog and I clearly understand that. With that said, please know that the we have stopped the cause of the backlog, and will be working as priority #1 to clear it asap, with my stated goal of being able to ship October elite (which closes October 28) in our normal shipping time.
In addition, with respect to the vault shipped orders, I am working with PSA to put a system in place so that for our elite auctions (everything besides the ‘weekly’) 100% of the items will ship from our building. This will allow goldin to have better control over the produce and stop the multi shipment from multi locations. This likely will not be put in place until November or possibly December however.
My email is ken@goldin.com
If you have a specific issue, or question you would like answered, please email me directly. Please do not PM me here, as I rarely log into my account to read them, and I cannot reply with a copy to others in my company to help you like I can if you email me.
Thank you for your patience in our dealing with this cleanup, and it will be short lived. I clearly recognize slow shipping and unhappy customers is not the ingredients to running a successful business.
Thanks
Ken Goldin

My winnings from the Prestige auction this weekend were shipped today...