Heritage Auctions vs. other consignment outlets 1 1

[Ben Dimhover]

I’ve been reading opinions about Heritage Auctions and folks say generally that, from a buyers prospective; they have quality coins, large audience, poor service and high fees.

I have to mention that I found them rather difficult from a pre-seller prospective. The reason they have such great coins is because they have a high minimum for consignment. I sent them a whole list of coins and they rejected them entirely. Saying they didn’t meet their minimum. But when they’re valued using their own auction results, they were way above their minimum. When I wanted to know what source/process they use to value potential submissions they refused to say (that way I could construct a more applicable consignment group to meet their minimum). They don’t even use their own data. Sounds kinda shady to me. The lack of transparency alone.

I never went back, as a buyer or a seller. The shadiness turned me off completely.

 Who would you recommend consigning to, other than HA? Great Collections?

[Coinbuf]

On 9/21/2024 at 6:09 PM, Ben Dimhover said:

I’ve been reading opinions about Heritage Auctions and folks say generally that, from a buyers prospective; they have quality coins, large audience, poor service and high fees.

I have to mention that I found them rather difficult from a pre-seller prospective. The reason they have such great coins is because they have a high minimum for consignment. I sent them a whole list of coins and they rejected them entirely. Saying they didn’t meet their minimum. But when they’re valued using their own auction results, they were way above their minimum. When I wanted to know what source/process they use to value potential submissions they refused to say (that way I could construct a more applicable consignment group to meet their minimum). They don’t even use their own data. Sounds kinda shady to me. The lack of transparency alone.

I never went back, as a buyer or a seller. The shadiness turned me off completely.

 Who would you recommend consigning to, other than HA? Great Collections?

It really does depend on what you have to sell, GC is great for almost everything.   I have both bought and sold using GC and have not had any issues myself; but any auction house does come with risks inherent in the auction style platform.

[Sandon]

    Respectfully, your topic would have been better posted on the "U.S., World, and Ancient Coins" forum, as the "Coin Marketplace" forum is supposed to be for offers to buy, sell, or trade coins.

   I have bought a number of coins from one of the larger numismatic auction houses (Stacks Bowers) and am generally satisfied with that firm but don't know what it would be like to be a consigner. The service you receive from such establishments obviously depends to some extent on the value and importance of your consignment. If the coins you want to sell are typical two, three, or even low figure pieces, you might consider obtaining offers from dealers at coin shows or shops before consigning them to an auction house. You can also try offering them at coin club minimum bid auctions or otherwise selling them directly to collectors, although this may involve more work. When you consider the effect of the buyer's and seller's commissions on what you will receive and factor in the risk of the coins realizing less than you expect, just selling the coins outright might be the better route.