What Is The State Of Stamp Auction Houses?

Come on guys! I may be wrong, but I think Floortrader is speaking tongue-in-cheek!

I personally have found my best purchases on sites like ebay and without it would never have found that great Prince Edward Island cover I showed in another thread.

I would think the Internet has certainly helped the majority of the stamp auction firms as almost all of them have a web presense if they are not on the Stamp Auction Network already. It certainity has allowed me to bid on lots that I would normally never have access to. Yes, it's not as good as being in there in person, but that's not feasible for me. I'm sure the firms are quite happy to have the influx of Internet customers since many of the old-timers are or soon won't be with us. Even standard show and brick-n-mortar dealers are supplementing their sales with their own web sites and ebay auctions as attendance at shows has been dropping. They've seen the writing on the wall.

I would highly disagree with Floortrader about ebay being a waste of time on many of the same points others have stated. It may not be for you, but it sure works for thousands of other sellers and many more buyers. Nystamps would disagree with you - that's for sure. Even well established dealers like Doubleday is doing great on ebay. I'm working my way up on there myself as I've used the sales of bulk material to help finance the purchase of a lot more better material that will be appearing soon enough on ebay. ebay for all its quirks and changing goal posts is still the best way for any dealer to reach a wide array of buyers on a global scale. Nothing in existence can touch it in terms of sheer volume of sellers, buyers and material 24/7. If anything, I would think ebay would have helped many of the traditional auction houses as they are frequently the source a lot of ebay stamp and cover listings.

ebay is a double edged sword for me as a buyer. It does take a lot of time to sort through all the chaff (and I wanted to use anothre c word) to find the wheat, and I have had to return too many items for undisclosed faults, but I have managed to find a few things I would not have found elsewhere, but there are definitely things I have gotten from a traditional auction house that I would never see on ebay. As a seller it is also a double edged sword as eats up more time and provides a lower profit than my other avenues for selling, but there are somethings I don't have another avenue for.

Generally speaking, I think the U.S. public auction market is pretty healthy. As someone who ran a successful public auction firm for a quarter of a century (started in 1983, ended in 2008) I can tell you that it is a highly competitive business, especially for trying to get consignments, and nearly every auction house will negotiate selling commissions on decent consignments in order to obtain them. Because of the intense competition, it has driven out smaller houses (like ours!) and the vast majority of the material gravitates to a few of the biggest firms. Siegel is the biggest by far, followed by Spink, Harmer, Kelleher, Harmer-Schau, Apfelbaum,etc. (not in any particular order, or by size).

I agree with the comment pointing out that just based on the number of auctions that use SAN, that is proof of the health of that market.

I do agree that online venues (like ebay) have a place in the business and will always attract interested buyers because of the ease of accessing the material, the daily "fix" of seeing newly-listed stuff, the fact that prices are generally lower than in other venues (shows are generally the highest, followed by retail mail dealers, then public auctions, then online venues). Unfortunately, the model promoted by ebay and others to allow cheap "krap" to be offered and re-offered again and again is, I think, hurting that site, and keeps many serious collectors from entering that market since for every fairly-priced, accurately-described item in any category, there are 50 that are "krap" (and please don't try to tell me that one man's junk is another's treasure. Even if relatively true, it still clutters the site, and I don't really know anyone who will brag about all the 1c to $1. items they buy online).

But to conclude, on topic, I think the public auction market is cautiously fine and healthy.

Good discussion.

I think most people will gravitate to what is best for their situation. But from a dollar perspective which venue is best to buy from? Or sell from?

I've seen stamps go up at the local auction houses around here for pennies. Doesn't due the seller of the stamps any good or the auction house for that matter. But the buyer gets a good value. Mind you these are not stamp auction houses so the clientele is there buying other objects of value. Maybe its my naiveté of the stamps involved but I also have seen others look overbid as well.

I think I would agree that ebay has a lot of chaff. Believe me I've bought some stinkers on ebay. But form an audience standpoint an ebay presence will get you more looks/bids/dollars than an auction house if you don't have a highly valuable collection to sell.

Here is a recent purchase of mine .As you can see it has some nice material in it and I spend about a hour reviewing it and thats something you can't do on line and on line they are not going to put up a thousand pictures.This why I only bid on lots that I can review.

Regency auction. Nice lot.

They also sell through the SAN and have quite a few absentee bidders and mail sales. I've bought lots from them as well and they are good firm.

I think your all right (to varying degrees) and for that reason alone, Auction houses AND ebay are here to stay.

I use ebay a lot for buying and selling stamps. For most stamps I don't give the particular seller a lot of thought, but for stamps that might be a little harder to identify or are a little more expensive, I'm definitely pickier about who I buy from. I'll gladly pay a little bit more to know that I'm getting the right stamps. As a side note, I do get a kick out of sellers who like to describe items as "EXTREMELY RARE" when there's 8 or 10 more just like it on ebay at the same time.

KGV,

you left out Prestige, their latest catalogues are extremely good.

Velvet is hanging on.

Millenium has gone which appears to have lingered a slow departure,

Pagoda

Hi pagoda

I sold some expensive KGV's through them last year as I thought they were still no1. They lotted my KGV's with a very small res. They sold at res only. They have all been relisted in the next Phoenix Auctions with res of over 125% higher than what they sold for at Prestige.

I am not feeling very user friendly towards Prestige at present. They are no longer the no1 auction house in Australia. It is the worst rip off I have ever experienced selling at auction over the last 20 years.

KGV,

I have sold a lot of material through Gary and he sent me a list of the descriptions and starting prices with plenty of time to allow me to adjust his figures if need be.

It is a matter of " horses for courses ". Phoenix have their specialities, Prestige have theirs and there is a variance between them.

I wouldn't place KGV specialised with Gary but would place better States & Pacific Islands there which I wouldn't with Phoenix,

p.s. Just my opinion only, I have nothing beholding to either,

Pagoda

Hi pagoda

Thank you for your insight. We can never have enough auction info.

It is sad that a stamp that sold on Prestige for $700 now has a res of $1,500 on Phoenix.

And yes I fall for the, "last one sold for over $1,500 with a bend on it" and was shown all the auction info on that stamp. "We believe if we put a higher res than $700 it will stop bidding".

Sucked in big time.......

Prestige is a great auction for the buyer. In my book Phoenix is the best over all auction house in Australia by a country mile.