Heritage auctions a joke

[Snapolit1]

[QUOTE=CW;1782549]Maybe this is worth a new topic, but for those who don't like Heritage's site or find it hard to navigate, what specifically is so difficult? You say it sucks, but what sucks about it?

When you do subject matter searches, it's very hard to tell whether what they are showing you is for sale now vs. what's for sale in two months vs. something they sold 2 years ago.

I like the guys who bought something for $70,000 last December but they will entertain an offer for $290,000. Yep, sure you would buddy.

[x2drich2000]

Heritage's shipping & handling is clearly provided on their website. Not only do they now have a calculator on each item to automatically show you the estimated shipping, they have a whole page dedicated to show how the amount is calculated. https://sports.ha.com/c/shipping.zx If you are being charged something different, I would either a not say anything if it is less, or call them and find out why it is more. Everytime I have talked to them on the phone they have been extremely helpful.

As far as their site, I think it is one of the better sites. Bids are clear, BP is shown so I don't have to think about it, it is easy to search their archives or see what is coming up, etc. One of the features I think is unique to them that I really like is the ability to bid on multiple lots at 1 time. If I'm bidding on 50 or 100 lots to get my initial bids in it, it sure beats having to go into each lot individually to place the bid.

[OriolesHOF]

I've always had a good experience with Heritage. I'm not a tech guy but I find the site easily navigated. In fact, I regularly refer to the archives for non Heritage auctions. With regards to shipping rates, I consider them a bit on the high side but I accept it because I find their packaging of my winnings to be exceptional. Some other AH's, not so much. Fifty plus years ago, my mother packed my daily egg salad sandwich school lunch with much more care than some packages I've received from some auction houses.

[keithsky]

Heritage auctions aren't too bad in my opinion pretty easy to navigate around. They're shipping leaves a lot to be desired as far as when you pay and when you get your item but other than that I'm happy with them. The worst is Hunts auction. Its terrible it's like going back in time to the 1980s on their website. You would think the amount of money they generate with some of the major auctions that they have that they put a little money into their auction website. There's usually one picture per lot which when you have something like a baseball bat game-used you want a few pictures of the bat they only show one not sure why it's so hard to take multiple pictures of certain lots so you can get a better view. If you email them and want more pictures they will send them but why in the heck do you have to keep doing that every time you want to see something you're interested in. If you take the time to send me pictures when I ask for them why not just put them on your website. Definitely the worst one to navigate around in my opinion. The descriptions are vague and not enough pictures for each lot. Their Louisville Slugger auction every November they have some fantastic stuff but one picture for a lot it's ridiculous

[CW]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

When you do subject matter searches, it's very hard to tell whether what they are showing you is for sale now vs. what's for sale in two months vs. something they sold 2 years ago.

I like the guys who bought something for $70,000 last December but they will entertain an offer for $290,000. Yep, sure you would buddy.

Fair enough, thanks for clarifying.

I just went to the sports page and did a search on "Lou Gehrig". I get these results which show how much time is left in the auction. You can also select between the two tabs for "available items" or "sold items". As you scroll down, yes, eventually you will get into sold items or items that are "coming soon". I think it's just a matter of getting used to glancing over to the right to see if the item is current, sold, or coming soon.

Hunts site is pretty bad, even Huggins and Scott sucks somewhat because certain searches do not give you a thumbnail image, but Heritage's site is pretty good, in my opinion (Ch.uck W.o|f)

[perezfan]

I used to dislike the Heritage Website a lot.... until I played around with it for a while and learned some of the features. Now I'd have to say it's my favorite Auction Site of all. Very informative, and easy to navigate (once you invest a bit of effort to learn it).

In addition, Heritage ships to me before I've even paid, and their packaging is stellar (important for the kind of stuff I buy). I find their shipping charges to be very much in-line with the other "big boys" in the hobby, with the exception of REA of course.

As for the worst...

Completely agree with Hunts, who typically shows you one single panel of an autographed Baseball (among other atrocities). For group lots, they'll often picture 4-5 items out of a dozen, and leave you guessing about the rest. And their search function is a joke... you will befuddle their 1980s technology if you try to use more than one key search word.

Also eBay's Mobile Site is worthless. You cannot do sh!t with it, and even when you click on "Classic Site", it automatically defaults you right back to their crappy mobile site after a couple more clicks. They need to scrap it!

[Fballguy]

So I won two items at Heritage...a few days apart. I called and asked if they could combine shipping on them, which they agreed to. I make paypal payment on the 21st of May and 10 days later, I finally receive notification of shipment.

And the very next day I receive a large box from Dallas, TX. I put the box aside in part to pleasure delay and in part because i was enjoying my Friday afternoon and didn't want another AH screw up to change my mood.

Ultimately...after a beer and a glass of wine, I figured it was time. The box seemed appropriate...more than appropriate actually for what I had won. So I was optimistic. But upon opening the box, amidst a sea of packing peanuts and double boxing, I find, only the item pictured below. Thirty 1950 Bowman football cards. Plus the invoices for both items. You've got to be kidding me. They forgot to include my second item? A football pennant? You'd think 10 days would've been enough time for them to double check their work.

So I go out to the website and realize...despite combining shipping...and despite using a box big enough to hold 20 pennants....they sent the pennant separately. And that second package is yet to arrive. Which is odd because it was shipped at the exact same time from the same location.

Assuming the pennant arrives today, not much to criticize here except the slow shipping but I think the picture below explains why shipping charges are so high.

[JollyElm]

I have no idea how pertinent this is, but here's the info for anyone interested. I'm awaiting receipt of a high number 1961 PSA 8 Mickey Mantle All Star card I got off of ebay with the 20% discount coupon code. In looking at recent graded sales of the card, something jumped the f_ck out at me!!

I saw that a PSA 6 went for $864 at Heritage Auctions (highlighted in red)!! YOWZA!!!! Here is a copy and paste of a chronological list of 6's sold (from February on) this year. Look at the price disparity between that one card and all of the others!! When I clicked on links to view the cards, they all seemed completely similar to each other. None had such ferocious 'eye appeal' or centering, etc., that it would warrant paying three times what everyone else was paying. And a very similar 6 sold for $247.50 only two days after Heritage ended and one sold a week earlier for $240 (FWIW, an 8 is a BIN on ebay for $615.55 and a 7.5 for $600). I know absolutely nothing about Heritage Auctions and don't have a dog in this fight, but, man, something does not seem right here...at all.

DATE PRICE GRADE LOT # AUCTION HOUSE AUCTION / SELLER TYPE CERT
6/5/2018 $247.50 6 362334896731 eBay probstein123 Auction 40813246
6/3/2018 $864.00 6 41049 Heritage Auctions Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles Auction Ended Jun 3rd Auction 27574548
4/27/2018 $240.00 6 152987726535 eBay gleherrin_0 Best Offer 31685826
4/15/2018 $292.00 6 142746810628 eBay pwcc_auctions Auction 26033888
3/20/2018 $300.00 6 282888881390 eBay trepidation34 Buy It Now 28652074
3/15/2018 $375.00 6 302666108544 eBay jl4jc2001 Best Offer 28971850
3/9/2018 $319.99 6 112850757046 eBay amerlegends Buy It Now 28687728
3/4/2018 $245.50 6 263513056059 eBay vintagecardboardforme Auction 25835103
3/4/2018 $294.00 6 192460131594 eBay pmsbcc Auction 28648880
2/27/2018 $244.00 6 362247417468 eBay probstein123 Auction 28468211

[Fballguy]

This is exactly what I'm talking about but some would rather be ostriches and pretend it's not so. I did the same research with a different card and got the same results. It took about 5 minutes...which is apparently too much for some here.

But let the believers believe...the buyers premium suppresses bidding to the point of equilibrium.

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I have no idea how pertinent this is, but here's the info for anyone interested. I'm awaiting receipt of a high number 1961 PSA 8 Mickey Mantle All Star card I got off of ebay with the 20% discount coupon code. In looking at recent graded sales of the card, something jumped the f_ck out at me!!

I saw that a PSA 6 went for $864 at Heritage Auctions (highlighted in red)!! YOWZA!!!! Here is a copy and paste of a chronological list of 6's sold (from February on) this year. Look at the price disparity between that one card and all of the others!! When I clicked on links to view the cards, they all seemed completely similar to each other. None had such ferocious 'eye appeal' or centering, etc., that it would warrant paying three times what everyone else was paying. And a very similar 6 sold for $247.50 only two days after Heritage ended and one sold a week earlier for $240 (FWIW, an 8 is a BIN on ebay for $615.55 and a 7.5 for $600). I know absolutely nothing about Heritage Auctions and don't have a dog in this fight, but, man, something does not seem right here...at all.

DATE PRICE GRADE LOT # AUCTION HOUSE AUCTION / SELLER TYPE CERT
6/5/2018 $247.50 6 362334896731 eBay probstein123 Auction 40813246
6/3/2018 $864.00 6 41049 Heritage Auctions Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles Auction Ended Jun 3rd Auction 27574548
4/27/2018 $240.00 6 152987726535 eBay gleherrin_0 Best Offer 31685826
4/15/2018 $292.00 6 142746810628 eBay pwcc_auctions Auction 26033888
3/20/2018 $300.00 6 282888881390 eBay trepidation34 Buy It Now 28652074
3/15/2018 $375.00 6 302666108544 eBay jl4jc2001 Best Offer 28971850
3/9/2018 $319.99 6 112850757046 eBay amerlegends Buy It Now 28687728
3/4/2018 $245.50 6 263513056059 eBay vintagecardboardforme Auction 25835103
3/4/2018 $294.00 6 192460131594 eBay pmsbcc Auction 28648880
2/27/2018 $244.00 6 362247417468 eBay probstein123 Auction 28468211

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

This is exactly what I'm talking about but some would rather be ostriches and pretend it's not so. I did the same research with a different card and got the same results. It took about 5 minutes...which is apparently too much for some here.

But let the believers believe...the buyers premium suppresses bidding to the point of equilibrium.

Wait what? you were complaining about BP. The post you quote is talking about the rules of Heritage which certainly seem to imply that their employees can shill and pointing to his example as evidence. Yet "This is exactly what " you're talking about???!!! Seems like an entirely new (and much more disturbing) topic to me.

[bensie]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I have no idea how pertinent this is, but here's the info for anyone interested. I'm awaiting receipt of a high number 1961 PSA 8 Mickey Mantle All Star card I got off of ebay with the 20% discount coupon code. In looking at recent graded sales of the card, something jumped the f_ck out at me!!

I saw that a PSA 6 went for $864 at Heritage Auctions (highlighted in red)!! YOWZA!!!! Here is a copy and paste of a chronological list of 6's sold (from February on) this year. Look at the price disparity between that one card and all of the others!! When I clicked on links to view the cards, they all seemed completely similar to each other. None had such ferocious 'eye appeal' or centering, etc., that it would warrant paying three times what everyone else was paying. And a very similar 6 sold for $247.50 only two days after Heritage ended and one sold a week earlier for $240 (FWIW, an 8 is a BIN on ebay for $615.55 and a 7.5 for $600). I know absolutely nothing about Heritage Auctions and don't have a dog in this fight, but, man, something does not seem right here...at all.

DATE PRICE GRADE LOT # AUCTION HOUSE AUCTION / SELLER TYPE CERT
6/5/2018 $247.50 6 362334896731 eBay probstein123 Auction 40813246
6/3/2018 $864.00 6 41049 Heritage Auctions Sunday Internet Sports Collectibles Auction Ended Jun 3rd Auction 27574548
4/27/2018 $240.00 6 152987726535 eBay gleherrin_0 Best Offer 31685826
4/15/2018 $292.00 6 142746810628 eBay pwcc_auctions Auction 26033888
3/20/2018 $300.00 6 282888881390 eBay trepidation34 Buy It Now 28652074
3/15/2018 $375.00 6 302666108544 eBay jl4jc2001 Best Offer 28971850
3/9/2018 $319.99 6 112850757046 eBay amerlegends Buy It Now 28687728
3/4/2018 $245.50 6 263513056059 eBay vintagecardboardforme Auction 25835103
3/4/2018 $294.00 6 192460131594 eBay pmsbcc Auction 28648880
2/27/2018 $244.00 6 362247417468 eBay probstein123 Auction 28468211

You should look at more cards. I've found that a lot of times, the closing price of heritage auctions is lower than eBay by a considerable margin. Sometimes auctions go bananas and there's no explicable reason for it. I had a 1955 Jackie Robinson that went for well over 2x market price. It was off center too, so not likely it went to a card doctor or something...