Heritage Auctions PROBLEM/QUESTIONS/HELP

[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.