Heritage auctions a joke
 

I just won one psa card for $65
Final cost 97.50
Thats right 97.50
14 bp
13 s&h
5.50 sales tax
Now i know we've discussed them before
Obviously could be shipped insured for $3.50
Also if you win a card for less than 70 you still have to pay 14 bp
So if ypu win card for 50 bp is 28%
Also another "criminal act" they charge sales tax on the bp and the shipping and handling
I didnt know i was purchasing the bp and the handling
Why didnt the south florida collection go to them...thats part of it
Along with the fact they have the worst website ever designed

Hunt’s has something to say about that! I like Hunt’s but their website feels like it is from 1995.

It's not criminal, its the law. Sales tax is based upon what a buyer is paying, in total, and not what the auctioneer is charging his client, nor what the seller is receiving.

Normally, auctioneers where a buyer’s premium is charged include in their terms and conditions that the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium constitutes the total purchase price. Sales tax is charged on the total purchase price.

Additionally, as I understand it, shipping is not taxable if listed separately, but handling or servicing is taxable. So when you have a combined shipping and handling/servicing charge, shipping becomes taxable.

Neither of those two acts are criminal, in fact its quite the opposite that it would be criminal for Heritage to NOT handle their invoices in that manner.

Which costs did you not know about when you bid on the card you won for $79?

Larry I agree those costs seem excessive but they are clearly spelled out in the auction specifics. You are free to bid or not bid so I don't see there's really much of a valid gripe.

and it can be explained again - read the T&C and know the tax laws for your state before you bid and if you don't like it, don't bid.

$14 bp - "Minimum Buyer’s Premium per lot is $19, except for Sports Collectibles lots wherein the Buyer’s Premium is $14 per lot." - https://sports.ha.com/c/ref/terms-an....zx?view=terms

$13 = $6.40 for shipping to residential invoice under $199 + $6.43 for the first item (sport card graded) - https://sports.ha.com/c/shipping.zx

5.50 sales tax - HA can't break the law - http://floridarevenue.com/faq/Pages/...D=1277&IsDlg=1

I paid them via paypal on May 21st. Haven't heard a word. Called them yesterday and they confirmed my item hasn't shipped yet. Now that's a joke.

Using this logic, nobody should gripe about paying their taxes. It's all spelled out for you. Not to start this again....but just because something "is"...doesn't make it ok.

Along with the fact they have the worst website ever designed

I couldn't agree more. I belong to every auction house imaginable and Heritage by far is the most difficult to figure out! It is so confusing.

Griping about taxes is All-American; but griping at a private company for complying with the tax laws is misplaced. You need to bitch out the state government, not Heritage.

The shipping and minimum buyer's premium are killers for low price auctions. Moral of the story, only buy big time cards from HA.

Why don’t you just say you feel ripped off
 

Even though everything is disclosed? Or did you not read up? Or did it just not sink in?

My last purchase through Heritage was a while back and the total juice- sales tax, S&H, premium, exceeded 28% of the bid price. At the end of the day I realized, even though I bid what I was comfortable with, that the whole experience with Heritage left a bad taste in my mouth and I did not see the value in the “service” provided by Heritage. Just the way I see the world.

I have not done business with Heritage since, especially after thinking through their disclosure of employee right to bid. Just because it is legal does not make it right.

In my experience they are uneven. It tends to be better if you have won lots before, or win something more substantial, but not always.

You don't have the option to pay or not pay taxes, you do have the option to bid or not bid. Griping about something you have no control over is a bit different than griping about something you can avoid.

Heritage
 

Everyone here knows what its about
GREED...
why charge the same bp for 50 card as a 70 card..GREED
.btw...after i saw the invoice it took 20 minutes on their website to find their rules
Ive been bidding in all auctions as u guys know for 20 years...
So i ended up paying 50% over the price of the card
Imagine winning a 50 card in NY
50 +14 +13+6...$83
66% over the price of the card
GREED GREED GREED

The site explicitly tells you how much BP is going to be added to your "bid." It does the math for you. What more can you possibly want?

Heritage
 

No gripe just passing along information
We all know why heritage is in texas...so they can break the laws of the other 49 states
Btw...what law requires them to charge sales tax to out of state residents of certain states?
Congress has yet to pass an interner sales tax law
Also why do i have to sign into paypal to sign into heritage? Whats that all about?

I log into Heritage directly without signing into PayPal.

You can't avoid it if they have an item you want and nobody else does.

It's funny that people defend the right of AH to price gouge...but more than likely would be outraged at the Gas stations who charged $10 for a gallon of gas and $7 for a bottle of water a few years ago during Hurricane Sandy. Maybe if the gas stations only charged $8.33 per gallon with 20% buyers premium it wouldn't have made the news.

Big difference between necessities and collectibles. Just because nobody else has it doesn't mean you have to buy it.

The buyer's premium is the Auction House's premium. Charging "shipping and handling" on top of that is BS. Give me a break. Charge for postage. Your time getting it in the mail and .7 cents worth of foam peanuts and 3 cents of cardboard is what you are making your 20% for.

Yeah...It's my first time with them and not a huge purchase.

+10000

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Heritage has an office in Florida now, so they now collect sales tax on all Florida wins.

Patience. You may be rewarded with a huge supply of packing peanuts. :D

Now you sound like my wife. ;)

It comes down to what you collect and opportunity. A card collector can pass on a card because there's no shortage of cards (in most cases) and there will be plenty of opportunity to pick it up in the future. So I buy your comment here.

But, memorabilia in many cases is a once or twice in a lifetime proposition. So there's a greater "need" to pick it up when you see it because it might not come around again. You can poke holes in the definition of need in this context...but we're collectors. It's in our blood..and when we see an item that's attainable we feel the "need" to acquire it. Otherwise, you're just a window shopping.

I can only hope...I like to recoup as much of the BP as I can in recycled shipping supplies. ;)

LOL if I am remembering correctly each time I have won the card or at most two cards have come in a huge box stuffed with peanuts. Now the value might not cover the entire BP, but at least part of it.

I hear you, yeah on cards there are very few I would call a once or twice in a lifetime proposition.

Larry,

What is the sales tax in your location in Florida?

Are You Kidding Me?
 

Do you work for free? Are you kidding me or what. The 20% BP has to cover a MASSIVE amount of overhead including employee salaries, benefits, rent, Internet/software, catalogs (incl. catalog postage), advertisement, etc. Look at the “big” picture before making unrealistic assumptions.

Not to mention that most businesses presumably want to do better than break even.

Perhaps someone can create auction software that would only display the final cost of placing a bid...including BP, S&H, sales tax based on buyer’s location, etc. And, behind the scenes, the software would compute everything to ensure minimum bid increases are still enforced.

Also, the person who consigns the items could access a screen which only displays the amount they would realize for the items they sell, considering the particular deal they struck with the AH.

The best part...no mind-numbing arithmetic to keep track of. Who wants to devote time to the grueling process of addition (or even worse, MULTIPLICATION) in the middle of all this excitement?

No, I don't. Nor do they. If they are getting 22% or 20%, why do they need to charge a "handling" charge on top of that. Please explain.

Not like they are making anything.

I charge my clients an agreed up on rate. I don't then charge them extra for "handling" something.

Are you suggesting that the $25,000 they get for putting a $100,000 card in a box is meagher compensation?

Why do law firms charge for courier services, copying, other "disbursements" etc. in addition to hourly fees? You may not but many do.

Taxes aren't voluntary, I don't understand how you can't see the difference.

If they have an office in a given state they are required to charge sales tax in said state. I feel like we've been over these points ad infinitum.

I gotta stop reading this thread.

I wouldn't buy gas at a station that charged those rates. Wild huh?

Heritage blows - I agree
 

Sent an email about consigning to Heritage, Goldin, Lelands, REA, MEARS, SCP, Memory Lane, and Love of the Game, partly so many as a test.

Heritage, SCP and Love of the Game didn't even respond.

Goldin, Memory Lane, Lelands, REA, and MEARS all replied whether they wanted the item or not, some did, some did not. It's called common courtesy and the Customer Service to get me back.

The others I can cross off the list.

email me. I bet you get a response! :)

Auction Feed
 

Don’t ever start an auction business. You’ll go under in 3-6 months. It’s a BUSINESS, not a soup kitchen!

Heritage might piss off a few people around the edges, but they're obviously doing phenomenally well. If they perceived they weren't, then maybe they would revise some of these horrible charges.

I keep coming back to the fact that customers vote with their wallets. If these practices were so outrageous the companies in question would go out of business, like the hypothetical $7 per gallon gas station.

Yep...All the things Ebay has to pay for as well.

Volume.

During Hurricane Sandy your options were severely limited. So you don't have to buy in either scenario...but if you choose not to, you go without.

Auction Houses
 

Exactly Peter!

I buy from Heritage, and still gnash my teeth at some of the charges.

I stay at hotels where they charge stupid things.

I also lease cars where stupid mysterious charges show up on my invoices.

Not happy about them and have no problem telling the powers that be that they piss me off. Freedom of speech lives.

Ebay is not an auction house. Ebay is a platform an auction house (or private person) uses. Ebay is the equivalent of SimpleAuctionsite or CreateAuction. Seller's simply use Ebay's platform.

How does REA get by with no shipping or handling fees. (I don't think.)

Poor guys must be starving to death.