Auction House Opinions
 

Looking to sell my collection soon. Probably 15K+ in value. I have talked to Heritage and Steiner Auction Houses. Steiner is offering the best commission rates but I have to ship everything, while Heritage is local for me. Thanks in advance for your wisdom

I think it all depends on the items you are selling (how many, what category, value per item, etc). I would think Heritage has a larger audience based on size/years in business, etc.

Craig, have you ever thought about selling on our B/S/T board? Probably more of a hassle but less the sellers fee, and, the buyer won't have a buyer's fee, which means on those nicer pieces you showed us before, the buyer might be willing to pay more and still save money.

Actually, I would agree with both Andrew and Mike.
What does you collection consist of mainly? What value would you approximately place on your top items individually?
The answers to these questions can be helpful in giving you some potential advice.
Remember, with high-value items (say $1500- $2,000 or more), which every auction is looking for, it makes it easier to find the right auction house and possibly negotiate a good consignor fee.

It will all come down to : the total number of items in the collection, the commonness or scarcity of the majority of your items, the type of items (checks, photos , letters, checks etc ... ), possibly the era and players/teams that your items encompass , and if your items will bring more as individual lots or some combination of multiple item lots based on a possible common thread. Plus an AH should be able to give you a rough idea of value if you give them a brief inventory , and this will help your consignor's fee. You can negotiate your fee pretty easily , and I have never paid to ship items to an AH.

If the items are reasonably common cards. (By common I don't mean that they are not valuable, but rather that they are the kinds of cards that are pretty popular and are available for sale pretty often, so people actively search for them) you may want to consider consigning them to PWCC. They sell on eBay, and because of their following their auctions often sell for more than when other people list on eBay (there may also be shilling going on to boost their auctions, but as someone that has sold with them I can definitely say that a decent number of items sold for a small premium).

The eBay fee is lower than just about any auction house's buyer's premium.

Of course if you want to take the time to list here, there are no fees...

I just used Steiner last month for my first consignments and couldn't be happier!

In the past year I have used 3 auction houses to sell autographs:

1. Heritage: The postage paid shipping process was easy and you get email notifications when your item is listed. The site has a great consignor dashboard that makes everything easy to track. I had a baseball sell for $4500 and on the day before the check was due, received a call that the ball was returned based on a condition issue that they missed in the auction description. It was then relisted and resold for $5500, so I made out much better overall. Despite the size of the company, you never have trouble reaching a person one-on-one and everyone is helpful.

2. Goldin: I had to cover the inbound shipping cost and there was zero notification on when the item was listed and how it was listed (lot title, etc.). I only received emails to alert me when the item was received and when the check was released. I consigned an autograph cut valued at $300-$400 and it sold for $350. I had a question about the check process and the guy who emailed me about the check was very friendly and helpful. The check went out pretty quick!

3. REA: Inbound Shipping paid by REA. Staff was super friendly and easy to work with. There was no real notification of when the item was listed and I had to look around to find the lot/title for the item. There was not a helpful consignor dashboard, unless I overlooked it. I consigned a signed program valued at $800-$1000 and it ended up selling for $550. I was surprised at how A premier autograph was not pictured, as well as how the key signature’s full name was not listed in the title (only the last name). I had a lot of trouble finding the listing since the the full name was not coming up in the search - which was baffling to me. A week before auction close I asked about this and the person I spoke to was super friendly and updated the listing with the full name. It sold recently but I haven’t received the check yet - although I hear they are very fast.