Does Heritage Blacklist people?

[MikeKing]

I think I must have been blacklisted by Heritage. I hardly ever recieve a catalogue, and when I do, it's only because I had to have someone intervene on my behalf. Even that doesn't work anylonger.

 

Also, they won't give me the terms they used to, when I offered them coins up for auction.

 

I even wrote Greg Rohan about it...twice...and never got a response.

 

WHAT"S THE STORY????!!!!!!????

[MunkyMan95]

I've spent several thousand dollars with them over the years, and I still never get catalogues.

[michael]

pm sent

[IGWT]

Why would Heritage blacklist you?

[MarkFeld]

Have you returned any auction purchases and/or declined to pay for any items you have won, previously? I think I have head about customers being cut-off for that.

[Schatzy]

I've spent several thousand dollars with them over the years, and I still never get catalogues.

 

Same Here!! I have never got anything from HA besides the coins I bought.

[James_OldeTowne]

Although my purchasing has dropped off considerably for the year, I haven't really noticed a change in my status with them. That said, the number of catalogs I get has dropped dramatically, which I attributed to cost savings.

 

Could it simply be an unintended change to "customer settings" on their end?

[RareSov]

I get catalogues all the time, in Australia, and I've made purchases a few years ago and gone quiet then only a couple more things. Not like I've bought 5 figure coins or anything either.

 

Every big auction, costly catalogue posted to me with costly postage. I don't complain and they keep sending em

[DC Dawg]

I thought the drop in catalogs was due to their cost cutting efforts and that they keep pushing everything onto the web. Nowadays I receive postcards pointing me to the web. With a few exceptions, I don't mind not receiving the catalogs. I give most of them away--although I saved the catalog from a Large Cent collection (it has interesting write ups) and the sale of astronaut and space memorabilia.

 

Scott

[MikeKing]

Have you returned any auction purchases and/or declined to pay for any items you have won, previously? I think I have head about customers being cut-off for that.

 

oh no, never.

 

I had one argument with an employee there, at one of their auctions. My apology was not accepted. That's as far as any negative interaction I've had with them.

 

I've auctioned off thousands of dollars in coins and bought tens of thousand of dollars in coins from them, and still can't get a damn catalogue from them...and I don't mean ONE, I mean the continual flow of catalogues I used to get. Nevermind the terms for auctioning. Awful. Not really good business, I think, for them, but on the other hand...who am I? Nobody. Really. They've got multimilliondollar stuff going on there. However, a collector is a collector and indeed the source of their income. Out of prinicple, collectors, particularly those who are known to them and honorable as well as frequent participants of their auctions, should be treated well. So what do I do? Use another auction firm. Tend not to buy from Heritage any longer, and have a bad taste in my mouth. Not really the feeling I would want in a customer, indeed, perhaps loyal customer, DURING a particularly bad economic climate...if this was my business. And I am self assured enough that if in bad times I honored my customers, my business would inevitably grow even larger. So I really find the whole thing objectionable.

 

I seriously think I'm either blacklisted after this argument or they are just generally treating collectors like sX Xt.

 

 

[MarkFeld]

Why not call customer service, explain what has happened and ask if there is a problem you should be aware of?

[jtryka]

I honestly don't know if they blacklist people, but as for the million dollar coins, that gets them one nice payday, but I think it's the smaller purchases that pay the bills day in and day out. Personally, I don't pay much attention to the catalogs and such, so they may have declined, but I don't know. As for the consignments, I've never consigned to any auction house, but I don't think their guy has called me much in the last few months. Perhaps I've been blacklisted too, not that I can honestly say I notice or care...in any case, I wouldn't take any care of it unless you notice they block you from bidding on their auctions, then I would be upset!

[michael]

i dont get any catalogues it would be nice but i dont get them

 

but it is easier to go on-line and get them for free then i can pan and zoom and lighten and darken and get pop report and prior sales information on coins in this particular grade if not the same coin being already sold and prices realized from past heritage auctions on top of numismedia pricing guides pcgs price guide and coin values

 

so screw the printed cats

 

 

unless they care to send them to me but they dont so again i can easily live without them and again online is mucho better for cat viewing

[HiHoAudio]

I still get Heritage catalogs but fewer than I did in the past. I think they are trying to save money. Who isn't these days?

 

I usually submit at least 25 bids per auction, and I'm lucky if I'm successful on 10% of them. But I believe they notice that I am an active bidder and respond accordingly.

 

I do save all of the coin auction catalogs, as I consider them reference books. And I still like books...

[MorganMan]

I agree that catalogs are becoming a thing of the past. Why should they pay postage on something that is already outdated by the listings on the internet the day they arrive at the customers house.

 

Quite frankly, a catalog would just be someting else I would have to throw away at a later time and tote off to the trash can.

 

Plus, I can get the most recent auction histories online from them, which you cannot in the printed book.

 

As for your question, I have ordered from them several times and have never recieved a catalog, so no, I do not think you are blacklisted.

 

MM

[Conder101]

But the printed catalog is a WHOLE lot easier to browse through. I can scan whole sections in a printed catalog faster than I can pull up half a dozen individual lots online.

[x2rider]

I enjoy the catalogue a lot more in a book form than online . Pics tend to be nicer to the eye too.

I hunt more towards the back of the book though in the poor mans section but sometimes take a walk on the other side of the tracks and fork out the dollar

 

I paid for a subscription for my catalogues but with it I got a voucher to the value of to spend on auction wins so I sort of get them for free

 

Cheers

[James_OldeTowne]

I agree that catalogs are becoming a thing of the past. Why should they pay postage on something that is already outdated by the listings on the internet the day they arrive at the customers house.

I agree with Conder. I find a printed catalog far more utilitarian than an online catalog, most especially at a live auction itself.

[MarkFeld]

I agree that catalogs are becoming a thing of the past. Why should they pay postage on something that is already outdated by the listings on the internet the day they arrive at the customers house.

I agree with Conder. I find a printed catalog far more utilitarian than an online catalog, most especially at a live auction itself.

James, you quoted another poster above (who has a different view than yours on the subject), not Conder.

[MorganMan]

But the printed catalog is a WHOLE lot easier to browse through. I can scan whole sections in a printed catalog faster than I can pull up half a dozen individual lots online.

 

 

You can download the whole catalog as a PDF and browse through it on your PC. Looks just like the printed one....

 

Go to a coin, under the description, you will see "download pdf of entire catalog" option.....

 

MM

 

[BillJones]

I don't think that they black list people as much as they stop sending catalogs to people who don't buy anything or don't spend enough. Catalogs are very expensive and showing coins via the Internet is a lot cheaper.

[Conder101]

You can download the whole catalog as a PDF and browse through it on your PC. Looks just like the printed one....

True, and I can browse the printed catalog faster than I can download the PDF. And it is still easier to browse the printed catalog than a PDF file. With he printed catalog I can flip through ten or more pages looking to see if there is anything I want to take a closer look at, than the PDF file can go from one page to another.

[swhuck]

I don't think that they black list people as much as they stop sending catalogs to people who don't buy anything or don't spend enough. Catalogs are very expensive and showing coins via the Internet is a lot cheaper.

 

This is correct. The criteria are a little different for every catalog as to who automatically gets them. We constantly change things based on what we think brings in maximum value for minimum cost.

 

[rons]

Now there is an answer straight from the horses' mouth. Thanks for the input and clarification

[CHABSENTIA]

That probably is the most likely case. My problem with them was a little different. I lost a coin and the winner had the same exact bid as mine. I out in the bid several hours before the auction closed. It was also above the existing bid. When I sent an E mail to Heritage I was informed that when I put in my bid that the bid increased but that there was a previous bid that was the same as mine and since it was before my bid that it was the winning bid.

 

 

I respomded that if I had put in a bid to David Lawrence, Teletrade or Ebay and a previous bid of the same amout was there previosly that I would be instantly notified that the same bid already existed and I needed to increase mine. The only time when this would not occur would be if it was in the final seconds of the auciton and since Hertiage had not done this then it means that multiple people can put in the same bid at the same time. Heritage didnt respond. Why would I put in a bid that might exist already and not find out about it until the end of the auction which could be three days.

[swhuck]

That probably is the most likely case. My problem with them was a little different. I lost a coin and the winner had the same exact bid as mine. I out in the bid several hours before the auction closed. It was also above the existing bid. When I sent an E mail to Heritage I was informed that when I put in my bid that the bid increased but that there was a previous bid that was the same as mine and since it was before my bid that it was the winning bid.

 

 

I respomded that if I had put in a bid to David Lawrence, Teletrade or Ebay and a previous bid of the same amout was there previosly that I would be instantly notified that the same bid already existed and I needed to increase mine. The only time when this would not occur would be if it was in the final seconds of the auciton and since Hertiage had not done this then it means that multiple people can put in the same bid at the same time. Heritage didnt respond. Why would I put in a bid that might exist already and not find out about it until the end of the auction which could be three days.

 

With secret maximum bids, there is always the chance that your bid will tie someone else's previously existing bid. This is in fact, rather common, and Heritage Auctions has long recognized the earliest bid as a tiebreaker.

 

There are two scenarios where you can place a losing tie bid:

 

(1) Regular Internet bidding. If you place a tie bid this way through an item page, the screen that comes back after you place your bid will tell you in large, red, friendly letters that, "Your secret maximum bid for $xx has been outbid," exactly as with any other losing bid, rather than, "Congratulations, you are the high bidder on...". This page has a box that says what the current bid is and where you can increase your bid. (If you place your bid through batch bidding, the results will be in red, rather than green; here as well you have the option to immediately increase your bid.) This page will come up at any time you place your bid.

 

Any bid placed through regular Heritage Internet bidding will immediately increase the current bid on the item. This means that if you place a losing tie bid this way, you will be able to see that the new current bid on the item is exactly equal to your bid. This ensures that there can be no more than two Internet bids for the same amount on the same item, and it is also a dead giveaway that one more increment will make you the high bidder. (I once placed bids on three similar items simultaneously, and tied all three of them. The price was right, so I rebid. The price was still right, so I lost all three. )

 

Two other ways to tell if your bid is high or not -- we will send a bid confirmation notice to you if your bid is high; we do not send such notices if your bid is immediately outbid. (This is if you have elected to receive such notifications.) MyBids will also always tell you whether you are the high bidder.

 

(2) Heritage Live bidding. If you place a proxy bid through Heritage Live, it works essentially the same way as if you were handing a bid sheet to someone at the live auction to place for you. Between the time you place such a bid and the time the item opens up for live auction, all Heritage does is have a record of a bid -- there is no change in the bidding level, no e-mail confirmation, and no notification whether you are the high bidder, whether you are the low bidder, or whether you are losing a tie. Any notification of the result of your bid takes place only once the item has been opened up for live bidding. However, this also allows you to back out of any bid made this way until the item opens for bidding at the live auction.

 

Under this scenario, it is quite possible for there to be multiple bids of the same amount. In fact, I once saw three identical Heritage Live proxy bids placed on an item that had previously received zero bids -- the wall of spam on Heritage Live was rather amusing. Keep in mind that even here the earliest identical bid will win the tiebreaker, which means that a regular Internet bid wins over a Heritage Live proxy bid, which wins over a live bid.

 

Keep in mind that this situation is one of the most common questions we get after the fact, so common that I run a pointer on it every three or four months in the e-mail newsletter Linky. I also re-test it every three months or so because of the frequency of questions we receive.

 

Chabsentia, if you'd like to discuss this further or even get a demonstration, please give me a call at 1-800-872-6467, x1355.

[CHABSENTIA]

Thanks for the info.This was exactly the way it was explained to me but in less detail and I understand it completely. This is not the problem. First of all. I am not going to bid over the retail value of the coin.In this case, iI had bid about 3 1/2 hours before the auction ended. I am familar with the fact that there are "My Bids" with red , green and blue colors. For some reason I did not get an E mail right after bidding the item

 

The main problem for me is that if I bid three hours before closing I might get involved with something else and cant monitor it every 10 minutes. The situation that I do not like is that if I had put in a bid three hours early in either David Lawrence, Teletrade and E bay I would be told that a previous bid had been made of that amount. I just put in a maximum bid with Teletrade about 1 1 /2 hours before the end of the auction at 10PM. I was not allowed to confirm the bid and was told that somebody else held that bid so I increased mine. I really dont care if I win it as I do not plan to bid anymore. Fine if I win it at my price. I do know,however, that nobody else hold the same bid at theprice that I bid.. I also innediately know that if somebody else previously holds that bid and I dont want to bid higher that I can either not bid at all or bid on another site.

 

Not only is the Heritage bid a disadvantage for me but others might not bid a higher price if they think that they ahve the highest bid and are unaware of others having an earlier similar bid.The fact taht you were aware of 3 bids that were the same validates this as the odds are that at least one of the three might bid higher if they were made aware of it.

 

Again, thank you for your response . I just prefer being told immediately and deciding at the moment if I want to increase my bid or abandon it