Heritage Auctions

[barrysloate]

This should be an interesting thread.

[Bicem]

Sketch. Any chance of not doing this?

[Jay Wolt]

Although legal I'm sure, it doesn't seem all that ethical.
Unless I'm missing something.

[Jaybird]

It's lame. Anyway you slice it, it is bidding against the lifeblood of an auction house (its bidders). You may be making the consignor happy by inflating the prices but you sure aren't making any friends with the bidders.

And I, as a consignor, wouldn't want to do business with an auction house that was alienating bidders. The fact that it is in the rules doesn't matter. It isn't right.

[Bugsy]

I also think any seller, be it a large house or a small-timer on eBay, placing a bid on their own listing is shill bid. You want to have a price floor on an item? Put a reserve on it before the auction even begins...

...but this conversation is re-creating the wheel, no?

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...=shill+bidding

[Jlighter]

I don't think it is that big of a deal. They are bidding with the intent to own. This means they think the price is too low. Its not like their shill bidding thousands of dollars on a Mordedcai Brown which will never be sold for a profit at that level. I do believe that it should be disclosed on a auction lot if Heritage is bidding, it very well may be, I'm not that familiar with Heritage.

[E93]

Despite the clarity and ease of Heritage's website (extreme sarcasm) I could not find their auction rules. However if I remember correctly they allow house bidding without restrictions. They also allow employees to bid with insider knowledge of other bids and bidders. The representative on this thread may claim that they only place house bids seven days in advance of closing - a problematic policy at that - but there is nothing in their own rules to limit house bidding to that in any way. Personally I do not feel comfortable bidding in this sort of situation. If I have misrepresented due to my faulty memory, please clarify where I am wrong.
JimB

[HRBAKER]

They tell you what they do and to Jim's point they don't seem to limit themselves in the fine print unless he missed it. They make no secret about it, if you don't like it don't bid with them. I don't like it and I don't bid with them.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by Jlighter

I don't think it is that big of a deal. They are bidding with the intent to own. This means they think the price is too low. Its not like their shill bidding thousands of dollars on a Mordedcai Brown which will never be sold for a profit at that level. I do believe that it should be disclosed on a auction lot if Heritage is bidding, it very well may be, I'm not that familiar with Heritage.

The fine print says they reserve the right to bid, it does not say they must bid only 7 days before the auction ends, that is their own self imposed rule that they can disregard at any time without breaking their disclosure in the fine print that 99 percent of the bidders haven't read. It should be in bold print on each auction listing./

And Jonathon, if it is Heritage's policy to limit themselves to 7 days before the auction ends, why isn't that in the disclosure?e

If a babe ruth bat is expected to sell for a million dollars and heritage's wholesale limit is 650,000, and they know for certain , 100% that the end bid will be above that price, do they still place the 650,000 dollar bid 7 days before auction ends if the price has not hit that level yet? Remember, they know the big boys who are interested in this piece, they probably sent out golden engraved invitations to them.

do they put in the 650,000 bid anyway, granted they want to buy it at that price, but they know for a fact it will go higher. The secondary effect of placing the bid they know the can't win is to bump up the price sooner in the auction. They can always say they wanted to buy it at 650,000, but since the knew they couldn't ever win it at that price, do they place the bid anyway? Is it ethical for an auction house to place that bid they know they can't win on a hot item they know will go through the roof?

That's the slippery slope of auction houses who want to be dealers as well. Why not just be an auction house? How do customers benefit by competing against the auction house itself for items? The auction house has all the inside informtion, the customers don't.

[Publius]

I closed my Heritage Account over a year ago because of shifty rules like this, poor customer service and a horrendous website. I would never consign to Heritage, or obviously bid on anything they have for sale. I'm a drop in the bucket, but drops eventually add up to a waterfall.

Joe Squires