Is This Auction Description Fair Or Not?

Which auction house was it? I don't think there's any reason to keep it anonymous.

What firm was it ,I had problems in the past with stamp auction houses and I have return items for refunds as misdescribed or inaccurate details . Also you can take it up with the APS ,if they are members .

Those GB pages are shocking to me. Is there anything at all in these albums that makes this lot a "desirable old time collection" as stated in the auction description?

Agree with Jenny - if that's "worthwhile GB", it puts a completely different perspective on my rather sad collection! But worse is the owner's attitude. Live or e-mail bids must significantly aid sales in this day and age. It's highly unlikely that the floor bidder (assuming that there was one - could have been another internet bidder) would have gone as high as he did without the stimulus of your, or other, Internet or e- mail bids.

The last man I spoke to was Mr. Rumsey and it was lot 2971. I obviously hit a nerve with my call and I have to think I was not the first Internet Buyer that had complained. I'm not sure but I think this was their 1st live SAN auction, up until now they had their own live auction process.

As for the rest of the collection it is a mish-mash with countries like Guatemala being well represented and having extra stamps. Many of the other countries have extra stamps, but about 1/3 of the collection is on blank pages so it is hard to tell what is there.

If I had seen the collection I don't think I would have bid on it, I like intact collections rather than miscellaneous accumulations in a binder.

I hadn't thought about contacting the APS but it is a good idea. I don't think they could do anything about it but at least the auction house would know that I was not happy. I do intend to contact Tom Droege and ask him to unregister me from Rumsey because I won't be bidding on their stuff anymore.

In fairness, the description said "worthwhile British" not Great Britain. The only reference to Great Britain was to the 5/ stamp. We often read things into the description that aren't there. I've done it myself, more than once.

I would have expected at least a hint that countries had been removed from the collection, without that the obvious expectation is that it is a complete collection with the pages for all 200+ countries. As for GB if they reference a Sc #108 it is reasonable to expect there is a GB collection included.

Of course you can parse the description to make this item as described, but I don't think the purpose of an auction house description is to fool bidders, is it?

This is the danger of bidding blind. If I have any question in my mind about what is or is not included in a collection or bulk lot, I always call the auction house and ask them to go over the lot with me over the phone or send me pictures via email. I have yet to encounter an auction house that would not do this.

Did you contact the auction house prior to the auction? If not, I'm sorry to say that you didn't exercise due diligence, in my opinion. You really have only yourself to blame. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but it is true.

Tangent: For the last Rumsey auction, there was a lot I forgot about, and the morning of the auction I sent an email on a hope that they might send me some pics before the afternoon session. They sent me about 50 cellphone pictures of the lot taken from the auction floor without complaint. Now THAT is service.

I have to agree with revenuecollector on this one. One other point that has not been mentioned in the thread is that the lot had a published estimate of $1,000 - $1,500 and your bid was $2,600. I can't see bidding 2.5x the low estimate without doing some due diligence.

Poor description and too high a bid and you stepped into a regular floor bidders domain. He was willing to overpay to keep you from getting the lot or was more than happy to let you over pay. Either way you will not be back. His domain is secure once again.

I decided I was interested in a Big Blue collection being auctioned by Regency Superior. The description was weak. I had them overnight the collection to me and saw that the collection was weak. I returned the album and declined to bid.