Goldin Increasing Buyer's Premium

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by Yoda

After my little kerfuffle with PWCC, I am now allowed to bid in their weekly auctions. But, as already said, to bid in their Premier Auction I must produce financial condition proof, eg. bank statement, brokerage account, 401 account, etc. Screw that.

I don’t understand the disdain over an auction house making new customers prove their financial wherewithal to bid in an auction. If a bidder doesn’t pay, it’s a real pain for the AH and the consignor gets screwed. Plus, I think it’s pretty standard business that if you are going to extend credit, which is pretty much what a legally binding bid is, you want to know the person to whom you are extending credit is creditworthy. You don’t have to give a social security number or any info other than a bank statement showing you have the financial wherewithal.

Also, remember the customer is the consignor, not the bidder, and the AH should take reasonable steps to protect the items they sell for their customers. Maybe if they weren’t dealing in other people’s stuff. But AH’s are selling other people’s stuff. As someone who has consigned to numerous auction houses, I would sure want to know that the high bidder on my stuff can and will pay.

Finally, I wonder whether this is more because Goldin or PWCC is requiring this info vs more loved AHs like REA or LOTG.

I don’t know, I don’t think it’s a big deal and a pretty good business practice to make sure bidders can afford to close before you allow them to bid on your customer’s stuff! Seems like a minor inconvenience for the ability to bid

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

I don’t understand the disdain over an auction house making new customers prove their financial wherewithal to bid in an auction. If a bidder doesn’t pay, it’s a real pain for the AH and the consignor gets screwed. Plus, I think it’s pretty standard business that if you are going to extend credit, which is pretty much what a legally binding bid is, you want to know the person to whom you are extending credit is creditworthy. You don’t have to give a social security number or any info other than a bank statement showing you have the financial wherewithal.

Also, remember the customer is the consignor, not the bidder, and the AH should take reasonable steps to protect the items they sell for their customers. Maybe if they weren’t dealing in other people’s stuff. But AH’s are selling other people’s stuff. As someone who has consigned to numerous auction houses, I would sure want to know that the high bidder on my stuff can and will pay.

Finally, I wonder whether this is more because Goldin or PWCC is requiring this info vs more loved AHs like REA or LOTG.

I don’t know, I don’t think it’s a big deal and a pretty good business practice to make sure bidders can afford to close before you allow them to bid on your customer’s stuff! Seems like a minor inconvenience for the ability to bid

I concur with your thinking here. If I were the AH, I would want to know that buyers can pay. Hell, as a bidder, I want to know that the goons bidding against me aren't just yanking my chain with no ability or intention of actually paying.

I do think that the general disdain tends to be a function of other AHs in our space not requiring it. So when it is required, we get all hot and bothered. "Don't these people know what a big deal I am??!!!"

That and the means verification process itself tends to be rather uncomfortably personal. It's not common to have to share a bank statement with a vendor, and that can feel a bit invasive, particularly for a group that is trying to entice us to participate in their auctions.

Then again, most vendors require payment before they even serve us. So I suppose this works better than having to pre-submit our banking information or a credit card for an automatic charge if we win.

[RCMcKenzie]

Appleby's is worried that people will walk a meal. They might comment on your knock-off Izod shirt. Nice, high-end restaurants don't worry about it.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by raulus

I concur with your thinking here. If I were the AH, I would want to know that buyers can pay. Hell, as a bidder, I want to know that the goons bidding against me aren't just yanking my chain with no ability or intention of actually paying.

When I've applied to bid with AHs, they've asked for references from other AHs. I assume they followed up. Since I could easily and painlessly supply a long list of well-known AHs I've bid with (and paid when I've won,) that was always enough.

I think having a history of paying for items won is a better reference than simply having dough in the bank. Not to mention, an image of a bank statement can easily be altered.

[RCMcKenzie]

Now I put REA and HA if they ask. A long time ago, when Lew Lipset used to sell on ebay, I bought a few cards from him on there, I would write his name down as a reference. I wonder if they ever called him to ask who I was?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Mark17

When I've applied to bid with AHs, they've asked for references from other AHs. I assume they followed up. Since I could easily and painlessly supply a long list of well-known AHs I've bid with (and paid when I've won,) that was always enough.

I think having a history of paying for items won is a better reference than simply having dough in the bank. Not to mention, an image of a bank statement can easily be altered.

Same experience and same thought here. And most AHs apparently agree.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Same experience and same thought here. And most AHs apparently agree.

To cut to the chase, no effin way am I give Goldin or anyone else my banking information.

You want my banking statement? Sure, after you give me your banking statement.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

To cut to the chase, no effin way am I give Goldin or anyone else my banking information.

You want my banking statement? Sure, after you give me your banking statement.

I never had to show Goldin any bank statements to get my credit limit increased. I only needed to send them invoices from other auction houses for similar amounts that I wanted to my credit limit increased to. The only places that I've had to show bank statements to get additional credit were PWCC and Grey Flannel.

[Yoda]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

I don’t understand the disdain over an auction house making new customers prove their financial wherewithal to bid in an auction. If a bidder doesn’t pay, it’s a real pain for the AH and the consignor gets screwed. Plus, I think it’s pretty standard business that if you are going to extend credit, which is pretty much what a legally binding bid is, you want to know the person to whom you are extending credit is creditworthy. You don’t have to give a social security number or any info other than a bank statement showing you have the financial wherewithal.

Also, remember the customer is the consignor, not the bidder, and the AH should take reasonable steps to protect the items they sell for their customers. Maybe if they weren’t dealing in other people’s stuff. But AH’s are selling other people’s stuff. As someone who has consigned to numerous auction houses, I would sure want to know that the high bidder on my stuff can and will pay.

Finally, I wonder whether this is more because Goldin or PWCC is requiring this info vs more loved AHs like REA or LOTG.

I don’t know, I don’t think it’s a big deal and a pretty good business practice to make sure bidders can afford to close before you allow them to bid on your customer’s stuff! Seems like a minor inconvenience for the ability to bid

My reaction to PWCC's request was more knee jerk than anything else. Pre-Fantastics, I bid, won and paid for items $10,000 or more from them multiple times, which their records should show, so I was a bit miffed when suddenly I had to prove financial well-being. Obviously, this is Fanatastics strengthening
internal controls and/or I must have really pissed off Brenda.
I generally only share my financial documents with my accountant and investment advisor. There are so many scammers, grifters and con artists out there who live only to obtain innocents' documents and use them for some nefarious purpose.
I can live with occasionally bidding in just their weekly auctions, which have improved, e.g. a beautiful '15 CJ Eddie Collins PSA6, which I won a couple of months ago.

[ejharrington]

The Golden search options should include an option to sort by title (like Heritage) so I don't have to scroll through 1000 modern cards to look for something I might have interest in.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Yoda

My reaction to PWCC's request was more knee jerk than anything else. Pre-Fantastics, I bid, won and paid for items $10,000 or more from them multiple times, which their records should show, so I was a bit miffed when suddenly I had to prove financial well-being. Obviously, this is Fanatastics strengthening
internal controls and/or I must have really pissed off Brenda.
I generally only share my financial documents with my accountant and investment advisor. There are so many scammers, grifters and con artists out there who live only to obtain innocents' documents and use them for some nefarious purpose.
I can live with occasionally bidding in just their weekly auctions, which have improved, e.g. a beautiful '15 CJ Eddie Collins PSA6, which I won a couple of months ago.

Can't you just black out any info you don't want them to see (like account numbers)?

[Yoda]

I suppose I could but just won't because of the way I feel.

[philo98]

Another thing with Goldin is they seem to extend their auctions, sometimes multiple times, with no warning. Sometimes 7-10 days before an auction ends a few days will be added and then possibly later on, another day or two added. Have only started to recently see this with them.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by philo98

Another thing with Goldin is they seem to extend their auctions, sometimes multiple times, with no warning. Sometimes 7-10 days before an auction ends a few days will be added and then possibly later on, another day or two added. Have only started to recently see this with them.

Yeah, that scenario chaps my ass big time. If someone looks at an auction and doesn’t like the amount of bidding activity …. So be it. Not a reason to continue an auction for more days. If you advertise an auction date stick to it.

[CardPadre]

Originally Posted by philo98

Another thing with Goldin is they seem to extend their auctions, sometimes multiple times, with no warning. Sometimes 7-10 days before an auction ends a few days will be added and then possibly later on, another day or two added. Have only started to recently see this with them.

Speak of the devil…

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by philo98

Another thing with Goldin is they seem to extend their auctions, sometimes multiple times, with no warning. Sometimes 7-10 days before an auction ends a few days will be added and then possibly later on, another day or two added. Have only started to recently see this with them.

I remember, with their old site, the several times they extended auctions because of technical issues. Now, they're extending auctions at will. I just received this in an email:

[philo98]

Originally Posted by Mark17

I remember, with their old site, the several times they extended auctions because of technical issues. Now, they're extending auctions at will. I just received this in an email:

Yes, thats one of them Im talking about. But that auction was originally scheduled to end on Wednesday, September 27th and then was moved to Saturday, September 30th, and then moved to October 1st. So, that movement from the 30th to the 1st is an error in their own making or maybe they just wanted to move the auction out of that whole week. Either way, these are things that should be known before starting an auction.