Chris Ivy, the Heritage Director of Sports Auctions, asked me to post this for him. Chris is a good friend of mine and I am happy to do it for him.
"This statement is intended to address the issue of Heritage “house bids”. For the majority of hobby insiders this policy is well known and understood, and we offer our apologies to the many for whom this explanation will be entirely redundant. We will try to keep it short.
Our bidding policy is very clearly stated in every auction catalog printed by Heritage, as well as on our website. Section 21 of the “Terms and conditions of Auction” stipulates “The Auctioneer or its affiliates may consign items to be sold in the Auction, and may bid on those lots or any other lots.
In order to clear up any misconceptions, we’ll explain the terms of the house bid policy here in explicit detail. Again, our apologies to the many who are already well informed on the topic.
· House bids are always placed at least seven days prior to a catalog auction closing, never later. For example, all Heritage bids were placed in our most recent Signature Sports auction # 716 on 09/24/09. The auction closed on 10/01/09 and 10/02/09. Heritage will not place any other house bids after the seven day point. The seven day point is also when the consignor reserves post.
· Heritage is one of the largest buyers of sports memorabilia in the world. Bids are placed on the books at wholesale prices that we would be willing to purchase this exact material from any dealer or other auction house. These bids are placed without any influence from the current standing of the bids. Heritage has no advantage with the house bids and the full buyer’s premium is paid with the invoice. If Heritage wins the lot, then the consignor is paid the same as if any other bidder had won the lot.
· Heritage does not remove house bids once they have been placed.
· Heritage does own some of the material in our auctions, typically less than 10% of the material. If Heritage places a bid on an item that Heritage owns, then it shows up as a reserve on the item, not a bid.
We hope that this clarification will serve to dispel any false information. The foundation upon which Heritage has established itself as the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer is our integrity, so we take issues such as this very seriously. We hear again and again from our clientele that we are the only auction house they entrust with their absentee bids, and surely there are many members of the board who can attest to having routinely won lots well below their max. Our record speaks for itself. We will not be making any further posts on the matter, but should any board member have any further questions then please feel free to contact me directly via email at
CIvy@HA.com."
Regards,
Chris Ivy
Director of Sports Auctions