Auction Houses: The Good Guys Thread

I think the problem is that none of us want to invite competitive bids from our, uh, colleagues.

Some of us rise above that.

https://goscf.com/t/25681 ... stampfan9's prominent endorsement of http://shopgoodwill.com/

And I've had only good outcomes with http://dutchcountryauctions.com/ Dutch Country Auctions ...

... not that I would want to see any of you there ;)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I've had very good luck with Paradise Valley - http://www.stamp-one.com/

No buyer's fees, free shipping within in the U.S. and they use stamps on packages for shipping!

Have fallen into the stamping underworld in Australia.

Great people to do private bulk deals with.

I am really enjoying the business contacts I have with them all.

No emotional rubbish etc just Yes or No to a deal.

edit:Forgot to add most of them have their shop fronts in place.

Maresch, Eastern & Sparks have good reps up here in Canada (for our KGV collector).

I know there's a lot of bashing Apfelbaum, and rightly so--the irony is that I got some great stuff from them until they decided to stiff me with a fake Canada Scott #27b, which was just a common #27, worth something like $20, not the $220 I paid.

I returned it (tracked, at my expense), along with some others (unmentionned faults), and then got blacklisted from bidding. When I called to ask why, I was astonished at how vile and rude "Missy" was. This after giving them $1500 worth of business!

Sorry, it's a tangent, but wow, I'm still fuming...

KGV...could you give us a source? Never bought from down under before... Thanks!

Have a look at Status International Auctions in Sydney Australia.

All their auctions that are active, are on-line.

I do my shopping there after the auctions but do not tell anybody about this auction house.I like to keep my seller's contacts to myself.

This thread has grabbed me!

I believe we can make a, just reasonable auction house a far better one big time. It just takes an approach that is a bit out of the square.

1. After auction is a great time to put in some below auction reserve prices bids. I get some big results doing this!

2. Put in more than one below res offer to make it more attractive to the % profit mentality of the face behind the auction.

3. Do not give up asking for below res offers. Some auction houses have taken up to 12 months of contact offers before they can see the light.

4. Asking for stamps on your mailing. Even asking for modern high denomination examples. It might cost a bit more and that is a way auction house think it is a way to cut down the cost for the buyer by not using stamps.Talk to them before you put your bids in and tell them you are thinking of putting some bids in if....

5. Always use the computer for contact. It is easier to get across a strong business flavour to your requests.

6. Always be polite even if you feel hurt by having your offers rejected.

So this out lines basically what I do to make just resonable auction houses into the best auction houses to buy from. You just have to work at it. Bet you, not many people are doing this.

Ikey I agree with you, I've been buying from Dutch Country for many years, 1600 lots every 2 months with at least 100-200 box lots of US and WW. It's a small but congenial bunch of bidders and they are attached to a nice "Bricks & Mortar" stamp store. They have an auction coming up May 15-16. If you bid you should know their estimates are conservative and items often sell for double the high estimate, but if you attend the auction there are often bargains to be scooped up.

Family,

I recently had a very pleasant experience with Katies Corner (E&M Graded Stamps). They allowed me to make a return with no questions asked!

Jack Kelley

I've had good experiences with Schuyler-Rumsey, Harmer-Schau, and back a few years Spink USA and Heritage.

H.J.W. Daugherty is a smaller outfit that I've had good experiences with. They just had a pair of GREAT revenue stamped stock certificates that I got blown out of the water on last weekend.

As a buyer, Argyll Etkin in London was a good experience. I appreciated the ability to check out, pay and take lots with me before the end of the auction; they had staff set up in the back to do this.

Spink USA was only OK. I attended live in NY. Their network connection to SAN did not work properly in the first 20 minutes, and had serious latency throughout the auction. They kept getting online bids in after the hammer had dropped in the room, and the person reviewing the SAN bids was nervous, edgy and exasperated. Their NY office is quite small and so they could not deliver my lots at the end of the auction. I had to wait for mailing, which took nearly a month. However, the quality of material was above that of Argyll.

While I am new to live auctions. I was very happy that ikeyPikey mentioned to me a local auction at Philip Weiss www.weissauctions.com . That was my first live stamp auction and I was happy to get my primary target lot at an acceptable price. The staff completed our transaction and handed me my purchased lot all while the auction continued. Weiss will not handle another stamp auction until this fall -- Sept or Oct.

While a relatively "small" public auction firm, Bill Robinson of Green Bay, Wis has been running sales there for many years and I think, draws a pretty good crowd each sale. Bill sometimes posts here so manybe he can supply more details than I can. (Full disclosure; he is a client of my expert services, but I wouldn't recommend anyone that I don't completely trust). Bill is also an all-around Good Guy and I've never heard a bad word about him in all the years we've been in the business - which is a LOT of years!

Regarding Dutch Country, don't be fooled into thinking they are "small". They have one of the biggest client bases in the business, which is because they accumulated clients as the business changed hands. Originally formed by Robert Meyers, who held his auctions in the Coopersburg/PA firehouse for many years, so he had a fine base. Then it was acquired by Keith Marsh when Bob decided to retire and Keith ran it for several decades before he retired and sold it to the current owner, so Keith built up the base even more.

As far as the "big" houses go, you can't beat Siegel, which is why they are considered the *"Premier" house (and the biggest in this country) in the business. That being said, there are others that will result virtually always in a pleasant buying experience, including Rumsey, Kelleher, Harmer, Harmer-Schau, Rasdale, Spink and others.

* Typo error corrected

My best experiences have been with Siegel - very active auctions, comprehensive descriptions, willingness to point out faults whether or not they are indicated on a certificate. They're pretty high end, though, with many of their items going at multiples of CV because of the high quality. I participate in their auctions if I have a few bucks in my pocket and need a specific item that I might be able to snag at a reasonable price.

I've also had decent luck with Harmer-Schau and Kelleher. I once bought a pretty expensive item in a Kelleher auction that had an inclusion on the face which I did not notice until I had actually received it. It wasn't mentioned in the description but it was clearly visible in the photo of the stamp in the catalog which I had too carelessly examined before the auction. Kelleher accepted its return with no questions asked & I promptly received a refund check. I had been purchasing regularly in their auctions which probably had a bearing on the case, but regardless it was a great way for them to handle the situation.

I can add to my positive experiences with Status International of Sydney - I've never had problems - plus they were quick and polite with all communication. An added benefit are the stamps they use to ship from Australia to the US typically pay for the postage costs!