Did HA mislead you?

[JazzMan]

When I see a title like this I think it's the beginning of a class action lawsuit.

[musicmeta]

So I did some checking and confirmed that HA charges sales tax on sales to residents of Texas, California, New York, Illinois and now Florida -- the big 5 states in the union. Collectively, that represents a lot of collectors and potential buyers.

 

It got me thinking that for big books, e.g., an AF15 CGC blue label 2.5 that say closes at $10K and would carry $700 in state tax (assuming 7% sales tax) to winners residing in the big 5 states -- aren't those residents thinking twice about bidding on HA? And, after the auction ends for that book, isn't the strike price (not necessarily every time) an artificially lower strike price than what FMV would have been because a certain segment of ready, willing and able buyers of the book feel inhibited to bid? For those of you residing in one of those big 5 states, do you also think twice about bidding on bigger ticket HA items because of sales tax?

 

I live just about 30 minutes from Heritage and I just bid on a comic taking into account the sky high buyers premium and sales tax. I rarely win anything though.

 

[cloud cloddie]

So I did some checking and confirmed that HA charges sales tax on sales to residents of Texas, California, New York, Illinois and now Florida -- the big 5 states in the union. Collectively, that represents a lot of collectors and potential buyers.

 

It got me thinking that for big books, e.g., an AF15 CGC blue label 2.5 that say closes at $10K and would carry $700 in state tax (assuming 7% sales tax) to winners residing in the big 5 states -- aren't those residents thinking twice about bidding on HA? And, after the auction ends for that book, isn't the strike price (not necessarily every time) an artificially lower strike price than what FMV would have been because a certain segment of ready, willing and able buyers of the book feel inhibited to bid? For those of you residing in one of those big 5 states, do you also think twice about bidding on bigger ticket HA items because of sales tax?

 

Unfortunately the stuff I want I only seem to find on heritage, so I just have to deal with the sales tax. I generally will bid not factoring in sales tax, since some of the people I'm bidding against don't have to pay it. I just take comfort in the fact that if I eventually sell, I'll do it through comiclink.

[Mercury8989-migration]

I will say this thread has opened my eyes.

 

I probably would never sell with Heritage now reading this thread.

 

Even if I could get them to remove the sellers premium on a high ticket item, I still think 20% is egregious.

 

Add in any tax the buyer has to pay and you seriously run the risk of losing serious coin with HA.

 

I think private sales are the way to go if you have something seriously nice.

[rabidwolf]

I never understood the appeal of heritage. The total commisionlinkl the seller pays is three times clink or cconnect. Quite frankly i dont care how much promotion they do. On top of that buyers from certain states have to pay sales tax which just makes it that much pricier. I have sold a lot of books on clink and always got great service. I actally wanted to give heritage a shot a few years ago just to see what the big deal was with some lower end books that still wouold total over a thousand. I was pretty much told they were not really interested unless i consigned a larger amount. Suffice to say. Was not impressed at all

[ThothAmon]

This thread is eye opening. Just commissioned a low five figure piece of art to them and truthfully thought the only commission was paid for by buyer. Whoops. Going to call my Heritage contact and speak with them about it.

[lou_fine]

I will say this thread has opened my eyes.

 

I probably would never sell with Heritage now reading this thread.

 

Even if I could get them to remove the sellers premium on a high ticket item, I still think 20% is egregious.

 

Add in any tax the buyer has to pay and you seriously run the risk of losing serious coin with HA.

 

I think private sales are the way to go if you have something seriously nice.

 

Well, from the comments that I am seeing from board members here whenever Heritage comes out with their auction listings, they seem to have no problem getting top-end consignments for their auctions.

 

The general feeling from the last few HA Signature Auctions seem to be that Heritage is now the 800 pound gorilla, and clearly leaving both CC and CL behind in their dust.

[lou_fine]

I never understood the appeal of heritage.

 

I actually wanted to give heritage a shot a few years ago just to see what the big deal was with some lower end books that still would total over a thousand.

 

Suffice to say. Was not impressed at all

 

Well, it's clear that you definitely do not understand Heritage's target customer base.

 

Heritage's customers are generally not looking for lower end books which would total over a thousand dollars by the time it's all said and done. Heritage and their customer base are generally more interested in the higher end books that would be hammering at a thousand dollars or more each.

 

Suffice to say. They were probably not impressed at all with the books which you were offering to them.

[lou_fine]

This thread is eye opening. Just commissioned a low five figure piece of art to them and truthfully thought the only commission was paid for by buyer. Whoops. Going to call my Heritage contact and speak with them about it.

 

Not sure why you would think that Heritage does not charge a seller's commission when all of the other auction houses, including both CC and CL, clearly does charge a commission to the seller.

[oakman29]

Banana! That's all I've got to say.

[tth2]

The general feeling from the last few HA Signature Auctions seem to be that Heritage is now the 800 pound gorilla, and clearly leaving both CC and CL behind in their dust.

Heritage has been the 800 lb gorilla in comic-related auctions since they bought out Greg Manning in the early 2000s.

[Transplant]

This thread is eye opening. Just commissioned a low five figure piece of art to them and truthfully thought the only commission was paid for by buyer. Whoops. Going to call my Heritage contact and speak with them about it.

 

Not sure why you would think that Heritage does not charge a seller's commission when all of the other auction houses, including both CC and CL, clearly does charge a commission to the seller.

I wasn't aware either of those house charged a seller's commission. I know CL charges a fee to buyers using a credit card. But I don't know about a seller's fee.

[tth2]

This thread is eye opening. Just commissioned a low five figure piece of art to them and truthfully thought the only commission was paid for by buyer. Whoops. Going to call my Heritage contact and speak with them about it.

 

Not sure why you would think that Heritage does not charge a seller's commission when all of the other auction houses, including both CC and CL, clearly does charge a commission to the seller.

I wasn't aware either of those house charged a seller's commission. I know CL charges a fee to buyers using a credit card. But I don't know about a seller's fee.

How did you think CC and CL made money then?

[Nexus]

I'm fairly certain I've stated this elsewhere before, but again, all I care about is my net. In other words, where will I end up doing best? That's all that really matters to me. Of course, I'll negotiate the best deal I can (and there's a LOT that can be negotiated at HA), but the relative fees are a secondary consideration. As it stands now, I'd rather pay the full 28.9% (or whatever it is) HA charges vs. CC's 10% when it comes to OA. I just have more confidence that I'll do better at HA, high fees and all.

[tth2]

I'm fairly certain I've stated this elsewhere before, but again, all I care about is my net. In other words, where will I end up doing best? That's all that really matters to me. Of course, I'll negotiate the best deal I can (and there's a LOT that can be negotiated at HA), but the relative fees are a secondary consideration. As it stands now, I'd rather pay the full 28.9% (or whatever it is) HA charges vs. CC's 10% when it comes to OA. I just have more confidence that I'll do better at HA, high fees and all.

Exactly. I would characterize some of the people who've commented in this thread as "penny wise and pound foolish".

[Mmehdy]

bottom line, you pay more fees to ha, you get a bigger market for your items and bigger chance of bidder war.....in the long run ha will get you more money

[Mercury8989-migration]

I can understand using HA.COM for comic books. But OA is one of a kind AND the stuff keeps just going up and up and up and up. I would be reluctant to give Heritage 28% and than also have to declare taxes on gains too!!!!! That just seems like rape for an asset is just going up in value and you can not replace. I would rather sell privately if my OA was north of 100k. At 100k+ we are talking serious serious coin. Even if you get rid of the sellers premium, 20% buyers premium on a 100k+ piece is still rape. Imvho.

[Ogami]

When I see a title like this I think it's the beginning of a class action lawsuit.

 

When I see a title like this, I think, "show me on the doll where HA touched you."

[Mercury8989-migration]

When I see a title like this I think it's the beginning of a class action lawsuit.

 

When I see a title like this, I think, "show me on the doll where HA touched you."

 

 

 

YES

 

And after reading this thread it seems it kinda REALLY IS like that

[Transplant]

This thread is eye opening. Just commissioned a low five figure piece of art to them and truthfully thought the only commission was paid for by buyer. Whoops. Going to call my Heritage contact and speak with them about it.

 

Not sure why you would think that Heritage does not charge a seller's commission when all of the other auction houses, including both CC and CL, clearly does charge a commission to the seller.

I wasn't aware either of those house charged a seller's commission. I know CL charges a fee to buyers using a credit card. But I don't know about a seller's fee.

How did you think CC and CL made money then?

Semi-brain-fart. What I meant was an extra layer of commission. There's no such thing as a buyer's or seller's commission. The end result is a lower net realized price. Who's paying has little impact, assuming a logical buyer or seller.