Rating the Auction Sites

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Posted By: shammus

Had another idea for a thread I wanted to post. I wanted to see what everyone thought about the individual auction sites out there (Ebay, Masonet, Yahoo etc...) in terms of general selection, buyer/seller protection, market value of cards etc...There are a lot of individuals that are newer to the hobby reading the posts now and this might be beneficial for those not knowing the best places to acquire vintage cards.

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Posted By: Hankron

Personally, I've had overall little trouble with the big auction houses like MastroNet, Sotheby's, Lelands, Christies, Mike Gutierrez Auctions, and usually have little hesitation when bidding in their auctions.

eBay CAN be a good place to buy, but buyer has to be knowledgeable and on the ball. There are a number of A+ sellers who are as expert and reliable as anyone at MastroNet or Sotheby's; the vast majority of sellers are honest amatuers trying to do a good job and more often you get what is described in the auction; 5 percent are incompetant and perhaps 1 percent are trying to steal your money.

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Posted By: Aaron Michiel

I think, in terms of auction format, quality and variety of items offered, customer service and affordability of realized price, Hunt's auction house is the best.

I have always found Hunt very friendly and accommodating in handling my requests and when live bidding. They are also extremely accurate in their descriptions and won't go overboard in trying to puff-up an items condition. And if it has problems, they state so very clearly.

I also like Mastro simply for the quality of their catalog and items offered. Their service is not personable or particularly friendly and their prices are astronomical, but they have such great stuff, it's hard to stay away.

Leland's has the same problems as Matsro, but without as much quality stuff. (Of all the auction houses I have dealt with, I'd say their customer service is the worst.)

I had a very positive experience start to finish recently with American Memorabilia as well.

I also just won items from Slater's auction for the first time and am admittedly anxious about how much trouble I'm going to have to go through to get my stuff. Their site mentions winning bidders will receive immediate e-mail notification of their winning bids, but I haven't heard a thing for two days....

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Posted By: Glen V

Don't forget Lipset - nice cards and only a 10% premium.

Also Collectible Classics - small sometimes affordable lots.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Question his authority in any way and you may quickly find yourself on his $**t list and maybe banned from his auctions and sales, as I am. The way he reacts reminds me of the "soup Nazi" character in Seinfeld: any deviation and it is "No soup for you!". The issue is his grading, which I think is spotty; IMHO he sometimes overgrades cards by 2-3 grade levels and reacts to returns as if you were slapping his mama. Around 1994 I sent back a 1921 Exhibit Walter Johnson that had ink and paper stuck to the back but had been graded like vg-ex in his catalogue and he banned me from his catalogue sales. His letter with my refund was so rude that a friend who worked in customer service training asked if she could have it as an example of what not to do when dealing with customers. I was "reinstated", so to speak, several years later (frankly, I think he just forgot who I was) but was banned again after I returned an overgraded lot of T207s. And this was after buying two other lots from his auctions. Very unprofessional, if you ask me. He has great stuff and is a "card master", but you have to be prepared to suck it up on occasion if you deal with him.

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Posted By: runscott

Learn to do it while you are young; otherwise, you will expect everyone else to do it to you when you are old, and you won't be any fun.

I am in a constant battle with myself to avoid heading down that road

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Posted By: Hankron

It mostly depends on the quality of the soup. If the soup is damn good, many other things can be excused. If the soup is crappy, it doesn't matter how good is the service.

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Posted By: runscott

I have participated in all the auctions on my links page except Superior and Hunt - the only bad experiences were Festberg (super-grossly overgraded) and Verkman (incredibly high shipping and handling).

I had a questionable experience with SportsCards Plus, but others on the board assured me that I simply caught their rep on a bad day - perhaps we were both having a bad day - so I continue to read their catalogs and bid on their items. Also, the owner talked with me and sounded like a really stand-up guy, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

I also highly recommend Bob McCann's auctions, but they are telephone only. And one of my favorites is Barry Sloate's, though I left his link off my page - here it is: (http://www.thebaseballpage.com)

It would be greatly appreciated if some of you who participate in more obscure auctions would take a look at the auctions links and provide the ones I am missing.
http://www.homestead.com/runscott/VintageLinks.html

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Posted By: Kevin

It is interesting that we could all be dealing with the same places and have very different opinions of thier operations.

Mastro has the best cards, but the descriptions are way too long. The catalog would only be half as thick if they just cut out the useless information.

Lelands has the best memorabilia, but it takes forever to get your material.

Slater has many problems, the first being that they don't seem to know much about sports cards or memorabilia and if you ever read the rules, it is like be lectured by your 5th grade teacher.

Jerry Smolin was great, but he seems to have fallen off of the face of the earth.

I know several people who have had similar grading problems with both Lipset and Festberg.

Scgaynor has fun stuff and always ships the stuff quick.

Hunt has horrible descriptions and the conditions are too vague, but if you know what to buy, you can get some incredible deals. In the Sports Immortals auctions, many lots were selling for .10 to .20 on the dollar. Why would you hold a live auction in Atlantic City with mostly low to mid tier material?

Gray Flannel is not even worth talking about.

I can't consider Sloat, or McCann to be auctions houses. They are more like a couple of dealers who just have a handful of pieces every now and again.

Sportscards Plus is funny. I have never bid with them, but I find thier catalogs to be odd in that they always have at least one piece that they think is old, but is not. I remember they had an ad with the 1st issue of Sporting News pictured, but it was the repro and in this last auction they had those Tuxedo ad signs that are fantasy pieces from the last 20-25 years or so. Does anybody know if those ever sold, or did somebody clue them in before the close of the auction?

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Posted By: Hankron

For me, the most important thing is authenticity-- translating to 'getting what is described and implied in the auction.' In my opinion, accurately and insightfully identifying and describing a large and wide variety of items is a higher skill. If an auction house can do this I'm happy to pay the 15 perect and take a month and a half to ship. If they can't, I don't care how fast they ship.

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Posted By: runscott

I have bought a few items that were "surprised" when I received them from the auction house. At that point I had to determine if I could re-coup my investment, or whether I should instead return the item. I lean heavily toward attempting to re-coup my investment on my own whenever possible, chalking the auction mistake up to experience, and maintaining my good relationship with the auction house.

For instance, I know now that I should only bid "vg" prices for un-slabbed cards graded "ex" or better - I hate to say this, but I have had such experiences with every auction house I have ever bought an ungraded card from.