Heritage Auction

[Matt]

Not to distract from the interesting legal discussion on the table currently (Rob - that might be the best pop-culture reference on topic I've seen in a while), but I'd also like one other question answered:

Originally Posted by Heritage Sports

The issue is not when the bid was placed, although placing the bid early without knowledge of any other bids on the item is an important distinction, the real issue is the intent. We are placing a bid at which we are willing to pay for the item. Shill bidders are bidding on material with no intention of winning or paying for the item, simply with the intention of pushing up the prices. If we win the item, then we pay for the item with the buyer’s premium included and most importantly: The consignor is paid for the item at settlement.

Thanks for responding. You said you pay the BP on lots you win, thereby removing any advantage you would have in the bidding. Who do you pay the BP to?

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Matt

Who do you pay the BP to?

The right hand, of course.

[Bridwell]

When I won a card last year, they charged me a 19.5% buyers fee and also 8.25% sales tax since I live in Texas. If their 'internal' bidder bidding against me wins the lot, does he pay the sales tax? Usually if an item is being bought by a wholesaler for resale in Texas, they can agree to waive the tax. From my point of view, the 'internal' bidder at Heritage may have an advantage of 27.75% in bidding against me.

[benjulmag]

As I see it, Heritage is in fact "paying" a BP for items it buys itself even though it is paying it to itself. The reason is opportunity cost. Say it buys an item for $10,000. The BP would be $1,950. And say the underbid was $9,500. The BP for that underbid would be $1,852.50. By buying the item itself, Heritage is forgoing that $1,852.50. That forgone BP is a real cost to them, an opportunity cost in economic parlance. Even though it is real, though, it is less that than the BP a non-Heritage winning bidder would be paying. In the example I give, Heritage's BP is 18.525% ($1,852.50/$10,000). So they do have a bit of a competitive advantage over the underbidder. If Heritage really wants to make this clean from a PR perspective, they might consider remitting the $97.50 to the consigner. That way, via the $1,852.50 BP "paid" via opportunity cost and the $97.50 extra paid to the consigner, they really are "paying" the full BP.

[Matt]

One other point - the "intent" argument is slippery. You contend your intent is to win the lot which is what differentiates it from shill bidding, where the intent is to drive up the price. While I don't doubt you would be happy to win the lot at the wholesale prices you are bidding at, I'd imagine that the fact that if you don't win, the bid was driven up, isn't a terrible consequence from your perspective; your consignor is happier and you take in a higher BP. I'd also suggest that a shill bidder has a price that he'd rather have his item back at then sell it, in which case, his bids seem similar to what you are doing.

[Clementefan]

As someone who has spent his second career in mediation and arbritration trying to get warring parties to an acceptable peace may I put in my two cents as per the Heritage - gordonanalytic situation. I find that cooperation and cooler heads leads to productive results. A couple of points:

1. "A teaspoon of honey helps the medicine go down."
I find that with animated/agitated people like gordonanalytic that the best approach is to cool them off. Like putting ice in a cup of hot coffee.
This can be done with a simple "I am sorry, what can we do for you...?" as opposed to what allegedly was reported..."if you escalate the matter then we will no longer do business with you." That sounds like an ultimatum.

It is a fact that patients who get along with their doctors are much less likely to sue them for medical malpractice. The same with customers and retail establishments. If the customer feels that the retailer has listened and offered some help then the angry customer tends to cool off. On the other hand, an angry customer will no longer do business with the retailer and will tell many other people about his/her poor treatment.

The retailer loses the customer's business today and tomorrow. And the retailer could lose business from the customer telling other people about his poor experience with that firm. On the other hand, the customer loses the utility/value of having done business with the retailer.

In other words, a "lose - lose" situation. No winners, just losers.

The way to create a "win - win" is to find out what each party can agree upon.

Is the issue money? reputation? respect?
Perhaps people from the board can offer an opinion.... How much would a fake Mantle signature affect a 1953 NY Yankees team signed baseball? A few hundred dollars ? I don't know. But it cannot be too much money.
With that dollar amount there must be some creative way to resolve the matter.
Jon - is gordonanalytic a repeat customer... with 200 (?) emails it would indicate that he/she has done business with Heritage.
gordonanalytic - what exactly are you looking for?

2. "Everyone gets dirty when mud is being slung around."
gordonanalytic - repeatedly badmouthing the retailer will not help the situation. Think about it... if someone repeatedly insulted you would you be willing to work them to a satisfactory resolution. Probably, possibly unequivocally... not.

The same behavior applies to the retailer,.... Jon. Stating something like "200 email messages" is a convenient round number which implies exaggeration. It is meant to discredit the customer, but in fact it indicates lazy research. How many of the emails were in response to a question from the retailer?

Anyway, everyone looks bad with bickering...

[Duluth Eskimo]

Why are we allowing "Gordon" to continue this smear of Heritage? Although a little bit smart-a$$ at first, Jonathan was very up front about the whole matter. Gordon is just upset that they do not want to auction his item. SO WHAT! Do what everyone else does and take your business someplace else. Furthermore, why let someone like Mike Gutierrez affect how you feel about your item. I personally think Gutierrez let's many outside issues affect his judgement on items. Not to mention that he used to be employed by Global. I saw many things that were (IMO) no good pass through Global when he worked there. I choose not to do business with him or to him. Why not just let the water pass under the bridge and move on. At no time did Gordon dispute any of Heritage's claims that he has been harassing them. That is out of line, PERIOD. He is acting like they stole money from him or something. I believe it is time to move on to ANYTHING else.