Are they online retail stores or auction houses!?

I have been buying from both Teletrade and Heritage for almost 10 years each. I hate to say this but I feel more and more that both are no more than retail companies. I say this because you do not see who you are bidding against. You only see the end result.

If you are bidding against someone else, once in a while you catch a break and buy an item for a little less than the last highest sale. But with both Teletrade and Heritage you always seem to pay the highest or near record highest prices. If these were true auction houses they would be transparent and open about the bidding processes and allow us to see who we are bidding against.

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I remember back 10 years ago you could bid on any date or Mint Mark coin on a Heritage auction. You could actually get a bargain once in a while. But things change and now its hard to find a good selection or a coin you are looking for in the holder you want.

One other reason I stopped buying from both of these companies is that you find at times, the pictures do not reflect the coin's actual appearance. I have been burned by both a handful of times and now rarely buy from either company.

The art of coin photography and the ability to accurately show the true coin surface is not all that hard. But with the demands for good quality coins its very hard to find/buy good clean coins, so the so-so coins are also sold. I find some coins are not as they really appear. Shame on them.

I guess you can say I am a little sour on the whole coin hobby these days.

So I have started to sell all of my coins including my nearly complete set of 1909 to 2011 cent collection. You can find me selling on eBay.