Heritage Auctions PROBLEM/QUESTIONS/HELP

[whiteymet]

Gentlemen:

I am the OP. HOURS after my post here I finally received a reply. A coincidence? I think not.

I received a reply saying they took the item out of the frame. And they went on to answer my questions. However they sent no photos as requested,Their answer negated a reason for me to see photos.

The item had been trimmed and is missing small printing on the bottom proving that it is an original. They say "given the provenance of the item we believe it is 100% authentic" but because I brought this up before bidding they will allow me to retract my bid.

I don't think I want to pay $8500+ for a trimmed item that is missing the proof that it is original. You can see the item here:

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-c...5#50023-256001

Thanks for all your imput.

[Stampsfan]

Well, it sold for $8,100 and everyone is welcome to make an offer to the new owner.

I wonder who that new owner is?

[perezfan]

It would be a funny experiment to click that box. I wonder if Heritage would disclose the issues, and continue with the sale?

Typically, you must offer the "owner" a pretty good chunk above what he paid for the item. But in this case, there's really no sale, and the item is not as described. So what would their minimum sale price be?

I'm guessing they'd need to consult their consignor to negotiate something.

[sbfinley]

The customer service aside, the lone time I inquired to an auction house about removing a frame to assess an item's condition, the AH responded that it was their policy not to remove items from frames because of the risk of damaging the item. I assumed this was normal AH policy across the board no?

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by Stampsfan

Well, it sold for $8,100 and everyone is welcome to make an offer to the new owner.

I wonder who that new owner is?

The sale figure showing up on the listing was my bid of $6750 plus the B.P. for a total of $8100.

However with the postage ( $226.79), and the tax ($551.65) and a late fee recently added of $266.35, my "bill" is now $9144.79!!

I did rescind my bid as HA offered, and received an email from their credit dept saying they would take the invoice off my account, but as of tonight it is still showing up when I sign in.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

The sale figure showing up on the listing was my bid of $6750 plus the B.P. for a total of $8100.

However with the postage ( $226.79), and the tax ($551.65) and a late fee recently added of $266.35, my "bill" is now $9144.79!!

I did rescind my bid as HA offered, and received an email from their credit dept saying they would take the invoice off my account, but as of tonight it is still showing up when I sign in.

Fred:
I'm sure Heritage will eventually fix that. But wow, that's a lot of additional expense.

Steven:
Yes, it's pretty much an Industry standard that auction houses won't remove items from existing frames. Most also have disclaimers stating they are not liable for any damage in shipping, due to the fragility of the frame/glass.

But in this case (since Heritage had agreed to do it up-front) they had to live up to their commitment. It was actually commendable of them to do this, and I wish more AHs would do the same. Quite often, paper items are not framed/mounted properly, and are taped/glued on the reverse side to the extent that the piece is either compromised or completely damaged.

Heritage did the right thing in agreeing to remove + examine it, but their communication process was pretty abysmal. At least they provided proper recourse in the end.

As a final thought... I consign often to LOTG auctions. Al has stressed that he prefers all such items be removed from their frames for sale through LOTG. I believe there are 4 major reasons...

1. Significantly reduced cost in shipping
2. Less risk of damage in shipping (glass can break, and thus damage the actual piece)
3. Customer can mat/frame to their liking, upon receipt of item
4. Far easier to examine and assess the actual condition outside of the frame.

Framing and matting very often covers up flaws such as rips, tears, holes, tape, adhesive, glue, alterations, etc. Removing the frame enables you to know exactly what you're bidding on.