Best Auction Platform

[calvindog]

I like Heritage the most as well. I don’t need to log in twice on my phone to get logged in. The site has a lot of info though and sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to use all of it. I still can’t figure out a way to search just the “make an offer” items.

[BioCRN]

PWCC/Fanatics lets you sort by "Earliest Year" as well as sport-type categories. That is very useful to me for browsing rather than specifically looking for something.

The opposite end is Goldin which too often doesn't return proper search results even when using exact terms. Browsing is hard to narrow down and searching often gives results that are not what you want. You search for "caramel" and you get results for "Carmelo Anthony" because the engine decides you can't spell or know what you really want.

A lot of the other auction houses use a couple very similar setups and even if they're not awesome, you get used to using them.

[vintagerookies51]

Heritage was overwhelming at first trying to navigate, but agreed I really like being able to see what's up for auction months in advance. Makes no sense to not be able to preview the auction until it actually starts, leaving you 2-3 weeks to try to gather the funds if your grail card happens to be in there.

[Keith H. Thompson]

except REA. I use a 29 inch Apple Mac, and with a minimum of clicks I can bid on or watch every single item I wish in an organized way that seems easy. Just yesterday I went through every single one of the 3700 or so items. I miss stuff in Heritage because of the overwhelming material in so many different categories.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I like Heritage the most as well. I don’t need to log in twice on my phone to get logged in.

Glad to hear I'm not alone. Worthless phone login on most sites is killing me!

[Kco]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I like Heritage the most as well. I don’t need to log in twice on my phone to get logged in. The site has a lot of info though and sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to use all of it. I still can’t figure out a way to search just the “make an offer” items.

logging in twice for Lelands/REA etc is quite honestly the most annoying feature, even when I elect to stay logged in I am logged out in 20 minutes. Additionlaly, I like being able to key in an amount in Heritage above the minimum next bid vs in preset increments. Their app is also very handy and easy to use.

[Stonepony]

No matter how you rank them, put Hunt at the bottom.

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by Stonepony

No matter how you rank them, put Hunt at the bottom.

Being more of a memorabilia guy, Hunts is a "Top 2" auction house for me. They consistently get the stuff I love to collect. But their site is indeed awful...

If you're bidding on a $2,000 glove, you want to see both the front AND back sides. If you're bidding on a $5,000 Team-signed Ball, you want to see more than just one panel. If you're bidding on a Game-used Bat that they say is cracked, you want to see the actual crack and how severe it is. If you're bidding on an antique trophy with repair/restoration, you need to see a detailed image of the restored portion.

You should not be bidding if you have to guess at these things. They've had decades to figure this out, but just can't seem to do it.

[BRoberts]

Originally Posted by perezfan

If you're bidding on a $2,000 glove, you want to see both the front AND back sides. If you're bidding on a $5,000 Team-signed Ball, you want to see more than just one panel. If you're bidding on a Game-used Bat that they say is cracked, you want to see the actual crack and how severe it is. If you're bidding on an antique trophy with repair/restoration, you need to see a detailed image of the restored portion.

Your complaints, which are 100 percent valid, have nothing to do with the bidding platform and everything to do with the ineptitude of the auction house.

[ruth-gehrig]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I like Heritage the most as well. I don’t need to log in twice on my phone to get logged in. The site has a lot of info though and sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to use all of it. I still can’t figure out a way to search just the “make an offer” items.

Looks like you can search "make an offer" items by active and inactive members under the "highlights" filter. Screenshot attached

[MVSNYC]

Heritage

[joshleon]

I wish REA would make an app. Many times it’s log in twice and a text confirm. Such a pain

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

Looks like you can search "make an offer" items by active and inactive members under the "highlights" filter. Screenshot attached

Thank you!

[Mark17]

Heritage best
Hunt Live auctions second best
Hunt internet auctions worst

Everyone else somewhere in between.

[ricktmd]

Heritage does have a good platform as does Clean Sweep. Many of the auction houses use the same software and are all the same or very similar. What I don't like (and hope this is not straying from the question to far) are auction houses that mix up modern, pre war and post war. I get the featured items might be a mix but I like what REA and Heritage do with listing items in order from the oldest to the newest. Certain auction houses mix modern in with pre war and I wont even look at their sites as its annoying to be forced to scroll through cards you don't collect. Ebay has started that. A baseball 1901 search yields modern cards

[trambo]

I like most of what Heritage has with their website but because they auction so many things, it can be overwhelming when someone mentions a specific auction and what's in it. That said, their functionality of hiding items you've bid on makes it a better experience to me than any of the other sites. If the create auction sites (REA for one) would do that, I'd probably give them a higher ranking as it's tougher to navigate a bunch of items in that platform.

All in all, I think the least favorite to me is probably the Hunt Auction platform. Tough to navigate all the way around.

My $.02 (maybe my $.05).