Heritage auctions a joke
 

I just won one psa card for $65
Final cost 97.50
Thats right 97.50
14 bp
13 s&h
5.50 sales tax
Now i know we've discussed them before
Obviously could be shipped insured for $3.50
Also if you win a card for less than 70 you still have to pay 14 bp
So if ypu win card for 50 bp is 28%
Also another "criminal act" they charge sales tax on the bp and the shipping and handling
I didnt know i was purchasing the bp and the handling
Why didnt the south florida collection go to them...thats part of it
Along with the fact they have the worst website ever designed

Hunt’s has something to say about that! I like Hunt’s but their website feels like it is from 1995.

It's not criminal, its the law. Sales tax is based upon what a buyer is paying, in total, and not what the auctioneer is charging his client, nor what the seller is receiving.

Normally, auctioneers where a buyer’s premium is charged include in their terms and conditions that the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium constitutes the total purchase price. Sales tax is charged on the total purchase price.

Additionally, as I understand it, shipping is not taxable if listed separately, but handling or servicing is taxable. So when you have a combined shipping and handling/servicing charge, shipping becomes taxable.

Neither of those two acts are criminal, in fact its quite the opposite that it would be criminal for Heritage to NOT handle their invoices in that manner.

Which costs did you not know about when you bid on the card you won for $79?

Larry I agree those costs seem excessive but they are clearly spelled out in the auction specifics. You are free to bid or not bid so I don't see there's really much of a valid gripe.

and it can be explained again - read the T&C and know the tax laws for your state before you bid and if you don't like it, don't bid.

$14 bp - "Minimum Buyer’s Premium per lot is $19, except for Sports Collectibles lots wherein the Buyer’s Premium is $14 per lot." - https://sports.ha.com/c/ref/terms-an....zx?view=terms

$13 = $6.40 for shipping to residential invoice under $199 + $6.43 for the first item (sport card graded) - https://sports.ha.com/c/shipping.zx

5.50 sales tax - HA can't break the law - http://floridarevenue.com/faq/Pages/...D=1277&IsDlg=1

I paid them via paypal on May 21st. Haven't heard a word. Called them yesterday and they confirmed my item hasn't shipped yet. Now that's a joke.

Using this logic, nobody should gripe about paying their taxes. It's all spelled out for you. Not to start this again....but just because something "is"...doesn't make it ok.

Along with the fact they have the worst website ever designed

I couldn't agree more. I belong to every auction house imaginable and Heritage by far is the most difficult to figure out! It is so confusing.

Griping about taxes is All-American; but griping at a private company for complying with the tax laws is misplaced. You need to bitch out the state government, not Heritage.

The shipping and minimum buyer's premium are killers for low price auctions. Moral of the story, only buy big time cards from HA.

Why don’t you just say you feel ripped off
 

Even though everything is disclosed? Or did you not read up? Or did it just not sink in?

My last purchase through Heritage was a while back and the total juice- sales tax, S&H, premium, exceeded 28% of the bid price. At the end of the day I realized, even though I bid what I was comfortable with, that the whole experience with Heritage left a bad taste in my mouth and I did not see the value in the “service” provided by Heritage. Just the way I see the world.

I have not done business with Heritage since, especially after thinking through their disclosure of employee right to bid. Just because it is legal does not make it right.

In my experience they are uneven. It tends to be better if you have won lots before, or win something more substantial, but not always.

You don't have the option to pay or not pay taxes, you do have the option to bid or not bid. Griping about something you have no control over is a bit different than griping about something you can avoid.

Heritage
 

Everyone here knows what its about
GREED...
why charge the same bp for 50 card as a 70 card..GREED
.btw...after i saw the invoice it took 20 minutes on their website to find their rules
Ive been bidding in all auctions as u guys know for 20 years...
So i ended up paying 50% over the price of the card
Imagine winning a 50 card in NY
50 +14 +13+6...$83
66% over the price of the card
GREED GREED GREED

The site explicitly tells you how much BP is going to be added to your "bid." It does the math for you. What more can you possibly want?

Heritage
 

No gripe just passing along information
We all know why heritage is in texas...so they can break the laws of the other 49 states
Btw...what law requires them to charge sales tax to out of state residents of certain states?
Congress has yet to pass an interner sales tax law
Also why do i have to sign into paypal to sign into heritage? Whats that all about?

I log into Heritage directly without signing into PayPal.

You can't avoid it if they have an item you want and nobody else does.

It's funny that people defend the right of AH to price gouge...but more than likely would be outraged at the Gas stations who charged $10 for a gallon of gas and $7 for a bottle of water a few years ago during Hurricane Sandy. Maybe if the gas stations only charged $8.33 per gallon with 20% buyers premium it wouldn't have made the news.

Big difference between necessities and collectibles. Just because nobody else has it doesn't mean you have to buy it.

The buyer's premium is the Auction House's premium. Charging "shipping and handling" on top of that is BS. Give me a break. Charge for postage. Your time getting it in the mail and .7 cents worth of foam peanuts and 3 cents of cardboard is what you are making your 20% for.

Yeah...It's my first time with them and not a huge purchase.

+10000

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Heritage has an office in Florida now, so they now collect sales tax on all Florida wins.

Patience. You may be rewarded with a huge supply of packing peanuts. :D

Now you sound like my wife. ;)

It comes down to what you collect and opportunity. A card collector can pass on a card because there's no shortage of cards (in most cases) and there will be plenty of opportunity to pick it up in the future. So I buy your comment here.

But, memorabilia in many cases is a once or twice in a lifetime proposition. So there's a greater "need" to pick it up when you see it because it might not come around again. You can poke holes in the definition of need in this context...but we're collectors. It's in our blood..and when we see an item that's attainable we feel the "need" to acquire it. Otherwise, you're just a window shopping.

I can only hope...I like to recoup as much of the BP as I can in recycled shipping supplies. ;)

LOL if I am remembering correctly each time I have won the card or at most two cards have come in a huge box stuffed with peanuts. Now the value might not cover the entire BP, but at least part of it.

I hear you, yeah on cards there are very few I would call a once or twice in a lifetime proposition.

Larry,

What is the sales tax in your location in Florida?

Are You Kidding Me?
 

Do you work for free? Are you kidding me or what. The 20% BP has to cover a MASSIVE amount of overhead including employee salaries, benefits, rent, Internet/software, catalogs (incl. catalog postage), advertisement, etc. Look at the “big” picture before making unrealistic assumptions.

Not to mention that most businesses presumably want to do better than break even.

Perhaps someone can create auction software that would only display the final cost of placing a bid...including BP, S&H, sales tax based on buyer’s location, etc. And, behind the scenes, the software would compute everything to ensure minimum bid increases are still enforced.

Also, the person who consigns the items could access a screen which only displays the amount they would realize for the items they sell, considering the particular deal they struck with the AH.

The best part...no mind-numbing arithmetic to keep track of. Who wants to devote time to the grueling process of addition (or even worse, MULTIPLICATION) in the middle of all this excitement?

No, I don't. Nor do they. If they are getting 22% or 20%, why do they need to charge a "handling" charge on top of that. Please explain.

Not like they are making anything.

I charge my clients an agreed up on rate. I don't then charge them extra for "handling" something.

Are you suggesting that the $25,000 they get for putting a $100,000 card in a box is meagher compensation?

Why do law firms charge for courier services, copying, other "disbursements" etc. in addition to hourly fees? You may not but many do.

Taxes aren't voluntary, I don't understand how you can't see the difference.

If they have an office in a given state they are required to charge sales tax in said state. I feel like we've been over these points ad infinitum.

I gotta stop reading this thread.

I wouldn't buy gas at a station that charged those rates. Wild huh?

Heritage blows - I agree
 

Sent an email about consigning to Heritage, Goldin, Lelands, REA, MEARS, SCP, Memory Lane, and Love of the Game, partly so many as a test.

Heritage, SCP and Love of the Game didn't even respond.

Goldin, Memory Lane, Lelands, REA, and MEARS all replied whether they wanted the item or not, some did, some did not. It's called common courtesy and the Customer Service to get me back.

The others I can cross off the list.

email me. I bet you get a response! :)

Auction Feed
 

Don’t ever start an auction business. You’ll go under in 3-6 months. It’s a BUSINESS, not a soup kitchen!

Heritage might piss off a few people around the edges, but they're obviously doing phenomenally well. If they perceived they weren't, then maybe they would revise some of these horrible charges.

I keep coming back to the fact that customers vote with their wallets. If these practices were so outrageous the companies in question would go out of business, like the hypothetical $7 per gallon gas station.

Yep...All the things Ebay has to pay for as well.

Volume.

During Hurricane Sandy your options were severely limited. So you don't have to buy in either scenario...but if you choose not to, you go without.

Auction Houses
 

Exactly Peter!

I buy from Heritage, and still gnash my teeth at some of the charges.

I stay at hotels where they charge stupid things.

I also lease cars where stupid mysterious charges show up on my invoices.

Not happy about them and have no problem telling the powers that be that they piss me off. Freedom of speech lives.

Ebay is not an auction house. Ebay is a platform an auction house (or private person) uses. Ebay is the equivalent of SimpleAuctionsite or CreateAuction. Seller's simply use Ebay's platform.

How does REA get by with no shipping or handling fees. (I don't think.)

Poor guys must be starving to death.

The BP is known and experienced bidders factor the cost of the BP into the final amount. My problem with almost all of the AH's is the outrageous S&H that most charge. These are the unadvertised charges that seem arbitrary and really drive up the cost of bidding. How about at least giving us a range of your S&H fees, so it is not a surprise after the auction is over?


Jeff

The industry standard is mediocrity...though some here sound afraid to admit it. Until someone comes along and forces them to improve it will be status quo. They've gotten away with since ancient Rome I hear. ;)

REA.

As a courtesy to bidders, REA will be paying for all packing, shipping, and insurance charges for winning bidders, pro-vided payment is received within 14 days in accordance with section 26 of these terms and conditions, with the following ex-
ceptions: 1) International shipments. If you are shipping to an address outside of the United States, you must pay all packing, shipping, and insurance charges. If you are an international bidder who desires to have your item shipped to a US address, we will gladly do this for you and offer free shipping where applicable. 2) Unusually large or heavy items inherently requiring significant special packing, crat-ing, and shipping (such as stadium seats and large photographic displays). These lots are clearly identified in their respective descrip-tions as requiring special packing and shipping charges. Winners of these lots will be billed for packing, shipping, and insurance charg-es with a separate shipping invoice (to allow us to communicate with winners to be responsive to their shipping preferences).

It is very disappointing to learn that I am competing against collectors who do not factor in the BP, S/H and Sales Taxes when they bid. If we both value the same card equally, I will always lose because after the fact the collector didn't realize he was paying more than its worth!

I recently dropped out of bidding on an item in Heritage because the same grade of the same card was available on ebay for less -- but only if you realized that the BP, S/H and Sales Tax was going to push you over that line. And it finally explains why that phenomenon occurs.

How is REA doing with their no handling charges? Maybe I will run an auction house after their model.

Wrong. It's an auction house. Probably the biggest in the world.

So now you're comparing price gouging during an emergency to an internet sports memorabilia auction? Analogies are not your strong suit.

Rea
 

With all due respect, ONE Auction house has ultimately decided to absorb the shipping related costs against their revenue. ONE out of the “x” number of a seemingly infinite number of auction houses. I tip my hat to Brian for somehow getting to a level where he can absorb these costs, but that doesn’t make it the standard and/or appropriate practice for a profitable business model. Shipping and handling is a significant cost with regard to postage fees, INSURANCE, and labor costs. I was a Controller at MetLife for 20+ years and perfectly understsnd the rationale for monitoring expenses vs. revenue. Bottom line is the success of any business practice all boils down to their respective earnings results.

It is impossible to say without knowing how much REA averages on the seller's premium.

Auction House Bidding
 

+1000. It simply amazes me that there are still collectors who don’t bid according to the buyers premium that is part of the item’s total value/cost. Once again, the buyer’s premium does NOT impact the buyer; it negatively impacts the CONSIGNOR. If there was no Buyers Premium, the hammer bids would simply be 15-20% higher.

With all the money you made in the REA auction Larry maybe Heritage just thought you could afford it :)

If I ran an AH or was employed by one, I would appreciate the optics of a stupid handling charge on top of a commission on top of a shipping charge. If you need money that badly, I'd bury the cost in the BP or shipping, and not have yet another line item appearing on the customer's invoice. It has nothing to do with controlling costs, but in avoiding common sense things that suggest to your client's price gouging.

If you including the internet and breakfast into the price of the hotel room and don't charge $15 for each believe me you will get a lot fewer complaints. It's called common sense.

And refuting them is not yours. ;)

I'm sure the AHs are barely making ends meet with their inflated buyer's premiums and oh so exorbitant extra slow shipping charges.

False

It's not part of the total cost...It's an add on. In almost all cases the item can be had for less on eBay.

Auction House Costs
 

True, but the customer/client typically will never be satisfied and then complain about the augmented hotel rate! Bottom line is everyone wants something for nothing, and for the most part, that is NOT the world we live in.

Any of the auction houses can absorb these costs if they want to. Assuming that buyer's premiums are equal, the auction houses can just make it up with their seller's premium. For example, if REA can charge an extra 1% seller's premium across the board in one of their $10,000,000 auctions then I would bet that extra $100,000 more than covers that free shipping.

At the end of the day, as long as the charges are disclosed, then a buyer should just figure out what is the NET number that he is willing to pay for an item and discount that number by the different charges and bid that number.

Unfortunately in my case this is not the case. If it were I would just be buying on eBay.

They're running a business, not a charity. I fail to understand how some of you simply can't grasp that concept. Read the T&C before bidding. If you don't like them, don't bid. There are several auction houses I won't place bids with because the terms are unfavorable to me.

Note to all auction houses;

Remove ANY listed charges from Steve's invoices including shipping and handling, and triple his BP.... he'll be happy with paying a lot more in the end as long as an additional "line" doesn't show up on his invoice...

"It's called common sense"

Ok since I've posted this both Love of the Game and Heritage have replied, so not sure if this post did the trick or what, but giving them the benefit of the doubt regardless, I do apologize to both as they too have now replied.

Only SCP has not. Problem out at the beach instead of in the office this past week.

Oh and Heritage said they have a $5000 minimum consignment, that's news to me as I have consigned to them 3-4 separate occasions in the past and never met that $$$ amount. Close but not 5K. Hmmmm.

That is completely false in my experience. PWCC holds half the highs on commodity cards I would bet.

Auction House Costs
 

With all due respect you are 100% incorrect. Fur example, if a card is worth say $100, a collector typically bids roughly $80 because they know with the BP they will be paying close to that $100 value. If there was no BP (like eBay), they would bid up to $100. That is COMMON knowledge, and I would estimate that at least 90% (conservatively) of Collector’s realize that concept.

I agree, with all the money they pull in , you would think they could design a website which is easy to understand and use. So confusing.

There is no web site more transparent than Heritage. Every bid shows what your bid is both with and without the buyers premium. The solution for the OP is easy. If you don't want to pay the fully disclosed charges in the future, don't bid. My guess is that somehow Heritage will make it through without you.

Hey, Larry, how about answering this?? Because YOU clicked the bid button, which stated exactly how much you were paying with buyer's premium. To complain about it now makes you look like a whiner.

First off greetings to everyone as I am a fairly new member and have not yet made a post. I do surf the pre WWII forums since I collect T206 and other oddball old stuff. I buy from many auction houses and I think Heritage is the only one that uses a flat buyers premium up to a certain dollar amount that then switches over to a percentage. All they are doing is protecting the profits, which is all fine and dandy.

My issue is with the shipping. Yes the packaging will be the only thing left if a nuclear bomb falls on my house, but they are still making a nice tidy profit above and beyond the buyers premium. I looked through some old invoices.

Auction House Date Card Quantity Value Cost for Shipping
Heritage 5/30/17

First off greetings to everyone as I am a fairly new member and have not yet made a post. I do surf the pre WWII forums since I collect T206 and other oddball old stuff. I buy from many auction houses and I think Heritage is the only one that uses a flat buyers premium up to a certain dollar amount that then switches over to a percentage. All they are doing is protecting the profits, which is all fine and dandy.

My issue is with the shipping. Yes the packaging will be the only thing left if a nuclear bomb falls on my house, but they are still making a nice tidy profit above and beyond the buyers premium. I looked through some old invoices.

Auction House Date Card Quantity Value Cost for Shipping
Heritage 5/30/17 1 $126.00 $10.30
Heritage

Sorry for the double post and cut-off:)
Heritage charged me $8.00 to ship two cards value at $74.00 on 5/15/17. On 7/16/17 they charged me $12.65 to ship one card value at $52.00. On 10/28/17 Sterling charged me $18.00 shipping for twenty-nine card value at $1200.00. Both auction houses packaged well and the stuff got here quickly. To Heritage's credit they do list everything on website. You just need to be careful when calculating the total value of a bid.
Michael Schlegel

Heritage
 

1st of all the thread is for information purposes only
Those who cant read or understand shouldnt respond
Everyone knows theres a 20 % buyers premium...duh
Show me where it says
Sorry but we need to make money on postage and charge tax on it
Either way not the point
Point is now everyone is aware of the fact...period
To the person who thinks their website is good...congrats...youre a unique person

i think you are the last person who should criticize people who don't "read or understand"