• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Is anyone else getting screwed by Heritage .....

Started by Rocketeer,

44 posts in this topic

Rocketeer

Rocketeer

Posted
Posted

...or is it just me?....This is the second time in the last 6 months that I have been high bidder on an item and won,....only to have Heritage make up a lame excuse after they realize they have f#@&ed up......both times I received confirmation from ebay that I won the item and both times they sold it to a bidder on the floor...this is the lame excuse that they sent me today...

Greetings from Heritage Galleries,

I apologize, however the lot in question was won by a floor bidder, therefore there will not be an invoice to your. We apologize for the confusion and frustration, however the message you received from Ebay is not the final information, nor was it correct. We tell all customers that any information they receive prior to our invoice is only preliminary information and the information on the invoice is final.

Please see our terms and conditions for further information regards situations such as this.

Occasionally the auctioneer may eliminate or reject an eBay Live bid, and the auctioneer may also reopen a lot after the close of the eBay live bidding (usually because we missed an audience bid), and may reject your bid even if it shows you as the winning bidder. By bidding via eBay Live, you agree that Heritage may award the lot to another bidder at its sole discretion under the circumstances described above or any other reasonable circumstances.

I look forward to working with you again in the future.

 

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me.

 

Thank You,

Andrea Voss

Client/Bidder Services

 

My high bid on the item was 405.00 and my e-bay confirmation shows it as won by me for $240.00.....I even faxed them the confirmation from E-bay.... 893frustrated.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
namisgr

namisgr

Posted
Posted

You have every right to be disappointed, Rocket-man. There may be a way to keep it from happening again. Rather than using E-bay, I recommend using the Heritage website to place e-bids. I have never had the problem you encountered using their website, and also the buyers premium is 5% less, if I understand the Heritage policy toward E-bay bidding. If you don't want to give up on Heritage completely after this experience, why not give it a try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
joe_collector

joe_collector

Posted
Posted
They should just leave their [!@#%^&^] in the state of Texas and no longer have floor auctions.

 

I agree, and these Live Auctions on EBay are a monstrous joke. Either have online auctions, or don't, but this "oooops, this was won on the floor" loophole ensures they'll never have to sell a book for below-market if they don't want to.

 

Now I'm not saying that floor bids never carry, only that the system could be easily abused, and likely is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rocketeer

Rocketeer

Posted
  • Author
Posted
You have every right to be disappointed, Rocket-man. There may be a way to keep it from happening again. Rather than using E-bay, I recommend using the Heritage website to place e-bids. I have never had the problem you encountered using their website, and also the buyers premium is 5% less, if I understand the Heritage policy toward E-bay bidding. If you don't want to give up on Heritage completely after this experience, why not give it a try.

 

the problem is they close web-site bidding first and then have ebay bidding for a day after...so even though you pay an extra 5% juice you still have the false comfort of knowing that you beat out the web-site high bid and only have to worry about floor bidding....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr. Zipper

Mr. Zipper

Posted
Posted
...or is it just me?....This is the second time in the last 6 months that I have been high bidder on an item and won,....only to have Heritage make up a lame excuse after they realize they have f#@&ed up......both times I received confirmation from ebay that I won the item and both times they sold it to a bidder on the floor...this is the lame excuse that they sent me today...

Greetings from Heritage Galleries,

I apologize, however the lot in question was won by a floor bidder, therefore there will not be an invoice to your. We apologize for the confusion and frustration, however the message you received from Ebay is not the final information, nor was it correct. We tell all customers that any information they receive prior to our invoice is only preliminary information and the information on the invoice is final.

Please see our terms and conditions for further information regards situations such as this.

Occasionally the auctioneer may eliminate or reject an eBay Live bid, and the auctioneer may also reopen a lot after the close of the eBay live bidding (usually because we missed an audience bid), and may reject your bid even if it shows you as the winning bidder. By bidding via eBay Live, you agree that Heritage may award the lot to another bidder at its sole discretion under the circumstances described above or any other reasonable circumstances.

 

Please allow me to clarify their statement...

 

"ebay bidding is a titanic waste of time and we'll only accept ebay "live" bids in the case where no one else bids on the item and we must absolutely get rid of it because we've already had it up for bid in 6 auctions this past year.

 

Sincerely - Heritage Galleries"

 

BTW, I registered for bidding through ebay and it was a ridiculous circle of emails and "approvals." I accepted the terms and was told that I was approved. Hours later I get an email from Heritage saying that I haven't been approved yet and they will contact me when I am approved, and DO NOT contact them with a phone call - just wait until I hear from them. I never heard back. This was all AFTER I had already been allowed to bid online through ebay.

 

confused.gifconfused.gifconfused.gifconfused.gifconfused.gifconfused.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
comicwiz

comicwiz

Posted
Posted
...or is it just me?....This is the second time in the last 6 months that I have been high bidder on an item and won,....only to have Heritage make up a lame excuse after they realize they have f#@&ed up......both times I received confirmation from ebay that I won the item and both times they sold it to a bidder on the floor...this is the lame excuse that they sent me today...

 

Rocket

 

Are you aware that on top of the floor bidding, Heritage accepts telephone bids as the lot is being auctioned on the floor? The telephone bidding bypasses the internet bidding closure, and gets you on the floor with the rest of the auction participants.

 

This is a scheme/tactic used by most auction houses; an auction tactic which I normally steer clear from, UNLESS there is a book on auction I must have. I can count two such instances, and although in one instance I got taken to the cleaners, the last instance had me not only coming out like a champ, but really crystalized in my mind, with clear and undeniable proof, that Heritage has (unknowingly or not) screwed over at least a few people since they started auctioning undergrounds as part of their signature comics/comix mix 893naughty-thumb.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted
I can count two such instances, and although in one instance I got taken to the cleaners, the last instance had me not only coming out like a champ, but really crystalized in my mind, with clear and undeniable proof, that Heritage has (unknowingly or not) screwed over at least a few people since they started auctioning undergrounds as part of their signature comics/comix mix 893naughty-thumb.gif

 

DETAILS!! 893crossfingers-thumb.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
comicwiz

comicwiz

Posted
Posted
DETAILS!! 893crossfingers-thumb.gif

 

Back in Nov of 2003, a BIG underground grail became available to the general public. I was notified many months later of its sale by Underground comix researcher and the UG guides author Jay Kennedy. The thing that Jay brought up in our discussion was that he was quite surprised that the few people who could authenticate a legit first print copy were never contacted by Heritage. Him being one of them. When a second print came up a few months ago, I couldn't resist to contact Heritage and inquire how they authenticated the second print, and how they were able to distinguish the two prints from one another; ironically, three different people asked on three different ocassions were unable to respond to my inquiry -- and each time, each ending the conversation promising me they would call me back with the information.

 

Well, I never heard back from anyone despite calling them an entire month before the book would go on auction, and decided to take a gamble and bid on the book anyway. When the book arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it WAS NOT a second print, but a first -- and yet, the one thing that really stuck out in my mind -- why didn't Heritage just ask me what the distinguishing feature was while they had me on the phone? Considering there are only several known copies of a first print in existence, I'd say my gamble paid-off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
deathlok

deathlok

Posted
Posted
DETAILS!! 893crossfingers-thumb.gif

 

Back in Nov of 2003, a BIG underground grail became available to the general public. I was notified many months later of its sale by Underground comix researcher and the UG guides author Jay Kennedy. The thing that Jay brought up in our discussion was that he was quite surprised that the few people who could authenticate a legit first print copy were never contacted by Heritage. Him being one of them. When a second print came up a few months ago, I couldn't resist to contact Heritage and inquire how they authenticated the second print, and how they were able to distinguish the two prints from one another; ironically, three different people asked on three different ocassions were unable to respond to my inquiry -- and each time, each ending the conversation promising me they would call me back with the information.

 

Well, I never heard back from anyone despite calling them an entire month before the book would go on auction, and decided to take a gamble and bid on the book anyway. When the book arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it WAS NOT a second print, but a first -- and yet, the one thing that really stuck out in my mind -- why didn't Heritage just ask me what the distinguishing feature was while they had me on the phone? Considering there are only several known copies of a first print in existence, I'd say my gamble paid-off.

confused.gif
Link to comment
Share on other sites
musicmeta

musicmeta

Posted
Posted

I live just a few miles up the road from Heritage and It's very hard for me to bid on any item because of not only the 15% juice, but I have to pay an additional 8.25%-sales tax. UHHHH! 893frustrated.gif That pretty well knocks me out of contention for any bidding.

I love getting those catalogs though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Darthdiesel

Darthdiesel

Posted
Posted

Hey Rock - I was winning four variant auctions on Friday night for $530; by saturday night, I won only 3 and lost one; final tally was about $750; so my bids were brought to within $1 for my max bid. I also logged on Saturday at noon using the heritage live bidding, but I had to step out and take my son to the fair so I missed the first auction and lost; but it is all good. Maybe there was a floor winner or someone using the live bidding BUT, I only recieved "you are high bidder confirmations" on Friday. I nver got FIRM confirmation until the INVOICE arrived on Sunday night via email telling me what I already knew from the My bids tracking option on Heritage. Is something screwy going on? It looks suspicious...I'd like to think nothing is but having my bids bumped the way they were would make anyone question the proceedings.

 

However, my situation could be proven wrong if any of my variant buddies step up and let me know they actually bid that high... confused-smiley-013.gif

 

Sorry to hear about that...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing