How to get ripped off by SCP Auctions & Sotheby's

[Archive]

Posted By: Dan Bartenbaker

i won the 1909 pittsburg pirate pocket mirror in sotheby's halper auction and was charged $100 for shipping,totally outraged i paid it any way to get my item,then proceded to tell them that the standard shipping fee for an item this size is always around $5.00. it took them a year to refund my $100.00 also historic auctions in st.pete,fla. had for auction what they said was a 1934 team composite of the 1934 detroit tigers,not being the right size i thought maybee thephotography studio back then made another smaller size,much to my dismay i found when i recieved the item it was a photocopy off the original,complete with lines where creases should be and was glued to a mat so i left as is,called,and called,and called but the right guy james was'nt never in,so i got lucky and tracked him down at national in cleveland and made sure i got paid in person. the trend here is that some auction houses are not taking the time to authenticate certain items and are taking consignor's word that it is original,thus leaving bidder holding the bag. i won't be bidding in another of there auctions again,thanks for taking time to read this.