Are some AHs getting too big for their own good?
 

This is not a prewar item, but it is a large AH that sells prewar stuff (sometime), so I figured why not; move if necessary:

What am I missing here? Or is this auction house too big/busy to competently read and report the clear number stated on a PSA flip?

Clearly graded PSA 9, but touted as PSA Gem Mint 10 in the title and in the first sentence of the description.....

https://goldin.co/item/2020-panini-a...gem-mt-107udw4

Probably just got by the copy editor.

Looks like they changed it

Nice! Good job Goldin.

Glad they changed it
but in part some of these AH's maybe growing faster than their infrastructure and experienced staffing can handle.
As new money comes into collectables and more items are hitting the auctions the AH's are getting to much volume that they cannot effectively handle. So if their staffing is not enough (or not trained enough) and/or if their systems and processes in place cannot handle it(the intake of items, the categorizing and describing the items, the posting, the selling, the shipping etc) then their resources are stretched and sadly things falter as a result.

Guys, humans are humans, and we all miss things and make mistakes. I doubt anyone would ever think an AH would intentionally do something like that. The real test is when something is pointed out to them, how quickly and effectively was the error/problem fixed. Sounds like Goldin passed with flying colors.

If this turns out to be the worst problem/error they end up with in this particular auction, I bet they'd be ecstatic.

Great job by Ryan for publicly pointing out a major error that could have resulted in a mistake costing many thousands of dollars. The power of Net54 is felt once again!

I disagree. Why not just email the auction house and point out the mistake? There is no reason to post it here other than trying to make the auction house look bad. Someone just made a mistake when listing the card. We all make mistakes.

With 5000 lots, and no rhyme or reason to the lot order, the least of the issues is a wrong title. Just my opinion after scrolled through 25 pages of cards with a 52 mantle somewhere in the middle of cards from 2022

I'm going to trust Ryan's hobby wisdom and savvy on this one.

Agreed.
Every single auction house has made a mistake, some far greater than this. And when I helped run one I made mistakes. It's how they are handled that really counts (as long as there aren't too many mistakes, then it's a management issue)....
.

Notice I did not mention the name of the AH in my thread header or even in my post. And I promptly gave them props, by name, when they corrected the listing. I was not trying to make the auction house look bad. Rather, I was posting a sincere question based on a clear and obvious mistake that a 5 year old should not make - the flip is clearly a PSA 9, yet the title said, in all bold, “Gem Mint PSA 10” and the first sentence of the (short) description had the same mis-statement. And, the value difference between a 9 and a 10 is, I assume, exponential (by multiples). I would think that such obvious mistakes are made bc AHs are understaffed (or don’t have enough competent staff) in relation to the volume of auctions and items in an auction. As others have discussed, this is hardly the first or only time an AH has made a mistake (even a butt-ass obvious and material mistake) and it seems it’s happening more frequently across other AHs.

So I used this example to start a discussion as to whether certain AHs have grown too big, too soon, that it affects quality, customer service, etc

Trust me, when I want to make someone or something look bad, I am very clear about my intentions and I am not passive aggressive - you idiot :) (intended as a joke, kind of)

And BTW- I have had nothing but good experiences with Goldin. I bid confidently with them when they have items I want and I believe they are a solid outfit.

What bidder would have gone by the title and not the card pictured without at least checking?

You didn't name the auction house, but you linked directly to their auction. Thank you!

I saw this item more than two weeks ago:

https://www.cleansweepauctions.com/item-740193/

The item is described as being signed by basketball HOFer Bill Russell. Problem is, it is signed by Dodgers' shortstop Bill Russell.

I sent an email to the AH when I first saw it, and have gotten no reply; neither has the AH corrected the item description.

Steve

Was that rhetorical or can we answer?

An interesting debate which only brings up extra questions for me.

Why would there be a price difference between a 9 and 10 if it's a 1/1 as claimed?

Why would the grade matter at all for a 1/1, it's not like anyone is going to search out a nicer one. (barring the company folding and file copies getting out like with Fleer)

My limited experience with this AH is similar. Had an issue and question, contacted and sent a note via their internal "Contact Us" form, and crickets.

Too many other AH's to spend my money with.

Just to follow up:

I just got an email from the AH. They confirmed that the ball in question is signed by Bill Russell of the Dodgers, rather than Bill Russell of the Celtics, and removed it from their auction. They said my message went to their spam folder, which is a bit concerning, as I sent the message through their website "Contact Us" system. But they did finally see it and remove the bad listing.

Steve

Sort of on-topic... :)

But how long does Mile High normally take to ship out their lots?
I won my first auction lot with them in their auction that ended 3/31.
They sent the invoice out 4/1 and I paid it via PayPal that same day.

Now 11 days later and I haven't heard anything regarding it shipping out or anything. I sent an email as well, but haven't received a reply to that.

Are they typically this long? Like with Heritage, it took them 3-4 weeks to ship my cards...while other auction sites are much much quicker.

Thank you for your help in advance! :)

When I read the first sentence, I thought you were talking about the graders at the TPGs. :p

1934 Goudey #37 Lou Gehrig / "PSA 8".

A truly breath-taking card.

If you were the consigner, how pleased would you be when you read the description of the card written by the auction house - plus they stuffed the card allllll the way down at Lot #1533:

https://goldin.co/item/1934-goudey-3...a-nm-mt-825qjt

Description
Presented is one of more than 4,000 items in our 2022 Jackie Robinson 75th Anniversary Auction, closing between April 30 and May 2, 2022.

Perfect example. They can’t take the time to even simply state in the description what will likely be a $30k+++ card?

Not a goldin fan at all but come on mistakes happen. So tired of people expecting humans to be perfect.

Only 4-5000 lots every month or so. Plenty of demand out there:confused:

"Mistakes" ?

C'mon. If someone had a typo on a $200 card, fine. That is a simple mistake.

But to bury and gloss over a PSA 8 Goudey Gehrig? WTF? It's either lack of expertise, or a blunder in someone's chosen profession.

The placement seems to be moderately random, or at least their categorization scheme escapes me. Reminds me a lot of Hunt. Still, there are period pieces all around that auction lot number, including Ruth and Joe Jackson cards. So really don't know what was going on there, but I seldom follow Goldin auctions closely.

As for complaints about the lack of description, I consider those to be just whining. How many threads have we seen where people bitch about the lengthy, overly verbose descriptions that "exude" the "dripping color" and "razor-sharp" qualities of some "pristine specimen" and ask that they just be shown a large clear scan with a note of any flaws that might be difficult to see. This is a PSA 8 card of an all-time great player from a rather commonly seen set. If someone doesn't know what the hell they're looking at with this card and can neither calculate possible value or know who to ask/where to look, I have zero sympathy and would suggest they not bid.

I think you're right to an extent but they could have at least put a pop report for the card so the registry folks could get a better picture of its condition scarcity.

Has 54 bids as of this AM. Seems like quite a few people found the card and are interested. Oh and with the BP -- it's at over 33K. Sounds like the consigner is going to do just fine.

Per PSA auctions sales, there were three (3) sales of PSA 8 of 1934 Goudey #37 in 2021, all considerably more than $33k:

$138,000
$157,200
$132,000

It's still early in the auction, and too soon to state the consigner will have his/her expectations met.

Consign a $250 card? Eh. Mistakes are fine. "It all evens out".

Consign this card, I would expect the highest expertise in the hobby.

That is a pretty significant card to have no description at all. I agree someone was pretty negligent in letting that go through.

I would be livid if that was my Gehrig consignment, would pull it from the auction if possible, and send it to HA, REA, or LOTG. The treatment of the consignor and that card is insulting and disrespectful. So yes, I suppose auction houses can get too big and miss things, the Gehrig is a perfect example.

The Gehrig's description has been updated to what you would expect.

I was curious, so I clicked on the link. As mentioned, they have changed the description (maybe it was a placeholder?). But could they also have changed the lot # in the middle of an auction? It is Lot #75 (right between two Ruth cards) not Lot #1533 . It also has the most bids of any lot in the auction (I clicked on the left arrow but nothing happened, so I assume this is the lot with the most bids). I would not be livid if this was my consignment (at least not as the lot is currently situated and described).

I'm curious if the litmus test for a good AH is accepting consignments of what is clearly an exceptional card, burying it to lot #1533 giving an insulting description to the card, and only changing things when they get called out on this sub. Is this particular AH so big that they can't take the time or train their staff to get it right before the auction opens? Is that acceptable? Reading some of the comments here it seems so. I would bet dollars to donuts that Brian, Al, or the folks at HA would not treat this card the same way. It smells of Hubris to me but maybe I was raised on old school values.

I do not believe in any way that the initial treatment of the card was acceptable. I was just posting what I found currently as an update. I'm an REA man myself, I have never consigned with Goldin.

Edited to add: when I said "could they also have changed the lot # in the middle of an auction" I did not mean to question whether the lot was originally #1533. I could have phrased that better, so if that was taken as questioning the original post, I apologize.

And good for Net54 if we brought this to Goldin's attention!

What is the likelihood that whoever handled this Gehrig for the AH was not impressed since it wasn’t a “PSA 10” compared to other Lebron, Trout & Brady cards of the same auction ?

So they buried it at Lot #1533 and started bidding at $100?

This is typical for Goldin.

There is no rhyme or reason for their placement except for the extreme high end stuff.