Post Heritage........more Ebay price falls?

[blowout]

.........now that the big heritage auctions are over and all the big money has been blown, do people think this will be reflected in falling prices on Ebay for the next couple of months?

 

........or is it just the cheap-asses who buy books on ebay, so no effect?

 

........or will it be that sellers don't list their big books for a while and wait for the money to come back?

[aardvark88]

Some Heritage buyers will go home & realize they spent too much on their Visa once they tabulate the effect of the extra 15% juice. This may cause them to liquidate some of their cgc comics or artwork on eBay to cover their collective @sses. Then moderate bidders like ourselves can scoop up their choice castoffs at reasonable prices IMHO.

[Dr_Neff]

the Heritage numbers are interesting, but I think they might be attributed to lack of advertising, and definately the buyer's premium. Additionally, a lot of buyers on Ebay probably knew nothing about heritage or the auction circumstance. Given that alot of impulse buyer's on Ebay don't follow the circuit.Furthermore, I think they could have juiced out the Cage angle with a little more lead time.

[murph0]

I'd guess prices will remain the same..of the books I looked at a bunch went for more then current eBay prices.

 

Brian

[Guest]

the Heritage numbers are interesting, but I think they might be attributed to lack of advertising, and definately the buyer's premium. Additionally, a lot of buyers on Ebay probably knew nothing about heritage or the auction circumstance. Given that alot of impulse buyer's on Ebay don't follow the circuit.Furthermore, I think they could have juiced out the Cage angle with a little more lead time.

 

Are you saying that there were large numbers of people with heritage money (a lot of it) and tastes (gold and silver keys) that didn't know about one of the more noteworthy comic auctions ever? that doesn't really make any sense. If you have a hankering to buy Golden Age keys and the like, you look to the big auction houses first and if you've got any experience with big, professional auctions, you're prepared to pay a buyer's premium.

 

Also, "impulse buyers?" For what? The Mile High Cap 1? Heritage isn't exactly an impulse buyers haven... It's tough to impulse buy when staring at a $2500 price tag

 

[rinnson-migration]

I firmly believe that the consignors of the Heritage auction would have done better just walking around San Diego in an effort to sell their books. After you factor in the CGC cost, the seller's premium, the buyer's premium (which comes from the pocket of the seller, believe you me), it was, in my opinion a bad day for the consignors.

Heritage needs to have more discipline in assembling their auctions. Having these 3000 lot auction is just killing the consignors. Prices are being depressed because too many books are up for auction. Four copies of More Fun 101 is a little extreme. If I was the consignor of one of those More Fun 101s, I would be pretty angry right now. Does the phrase, "No sir, we have 3 copies in the auction already, we do not need a fourth" ever occur to them?

Until this policy over overkill is rectified, I would suggest that sellers should avoid Heritage like the plague.

[murph0]

Yeh, I've never understood some of the mid grade ASM listings they had for issues past #59. I think there were even some ASM's in the hundreds in conditions below VF 8.0 listed...that just doesn't make sense

 

Brian

[aardvark88]

How about 3 Gr Lantern #1 silver (1960) in a row? See lot #8231. Green Qualified label b/c the STAPLES had been cleaned. Cover NOT cleaned or pressed. Totally UNrestored cgc 8.0 estimated at a low $750 compared to Overstreet vf $2k.

[HeritageJohn-migration]

I've been following several threads with some interest, but this one really amuses me. Lack of advertising? Like a massive Internet/email campaign and multiple ads in venues like Comic Book Marketplace, Movie Collectors World, Comic Buyers Guide (including a huge pull-out section listing every lot in the auction) to name just a few? And I'm not sure how you figure we could have "juiced" the Cage angle anymore, considering we got pre-auction coverage in virtually every major newspaper around the world including The London Times, The Wall Street Journal, The National Enquirer, The Dallas Morning News, and TV coverage all over the US and as far away as Australia (there may very well have been more that I'm not aware of), including CNN, Fox, WB, and CBS. I've got a media clips book that is literally six inches thick full of clippings about this auction. Additionally, every single lot was listed on eBay prior to the auction, and bidding was accepted through eBay LiveBid.

 

Really, anyone with even the faintest interest in comics heard about this auction, both before and after the event.

 

Best,

 

John E. Petty

Director of Auctions

Heritage Comics Auctions

[Guest]

John, is that why the Cage auction was conducted at the same time (within the same few days ) as the main Heritage Auction? Many feel that the Cage auction, due to it's sheer magnitude, should have been offered at a different time, possibly bordered by at least a few weeks or a month, as the regular Heritage auction, which in itself was a staggering assemblage of incredible items, probably the best Auction house offering of quality comic and related material in history and logically should have stolen some thunder from the Cage books. You're saying that the media blitz on the Cage items was unparalleled, even though in MY estimation the Heritage catalog items were worth 5 to 10 times as much by comparison! In this case, I can now understand full well why both were held together, the huge attention on Nic's books being counted on to carry over to the regular auction.

[murph0]

I would agree that past auction had enormous advertising and a great "word of mouth" campaign. The question I have is who came up with the "After-Auction" prices on the books? Some prices are pretty good, some are so-so, and some are beyond the realm of reality..does the consignor set this price?

 

Brian

[HeritageJohn-migration]

Hi Methuselah:

 

Certainly the inclusion of the Cage auction with our regularly scheduled Signature Auciton was a good thing all the way around. We did attempt to set off the Cage collection to a certain extent (separate auction time, separate catalog, etc.), but the publicity gained from one no doubt helped the other.

 

Anyway, thanks for your kind words about the auction. It was an exciting event, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

 

Best,

 

John E. Petty

Director of Auctions

Heritage Comics Auctions

[blazingbob]

John:

If you are following some of the posts on this forum why aren't you responding to the ones that CGC and Heritage have a comfy business relationship due to the large amount of Coins submitted through NGC? Heritage definitely crossed the line in the past by partnering with CGC in promoting a Texas convention that ultimately was cancelled. I wish CGC would send out letters proclaiming how great my business was, reduce my table rate and tell the buying public what books I will be selling at the show and where I can be found.

 

Bob Storms

www.highgradecomics.com

[HeritageJohn-migration]

Hi Bob:

 

In response to your comments:

 

If you are following some of the posts on this forum why aren't you responding to the ones that CGC and Heritage have a comfy business relationship due to the large amount of Coins submitted through NGC?

 

We absolutely have an excellent relationship with CGC. We submit a number of books, and we offer our website members a 20% discount over CGC's published rates to submit through us. I'm confident that Metropolis, The Mint and Comic Heaven, to name just a few, also have an excellent relationship with CGC. What's your point?

 

Heritage definitely crossed the line in the past by partnering with CGC in promoting a Texas convention that ultimately was cancelled.

 

Here's where you definitely need to get your facts straight before ranting, Bob. There was no "partnering" between CGC and Heritage. As a new company, we approached the promoters of UncommonCon (a Dallas-area comics and sci-fi convention) about holding our first auction in November, 2001 in conjunction with their second show (the first was held the previous Fall). CGC was contacted (by the promoters of the convention) about being an exhibitor, to which they agreed, and Steve Borock was scheduled to do a panel at the show. When the promoters cancelled the show (their decision entirely), we stepped in and salvaged as much as we could. We offered the dealers free table space, and even coordinated bringing in at least one of the scheduled guests (Marty Nodell). We offfered free admittance to the attendees, and everyone involved seemed to have a good weekend. In what way, exactly, was that "crossing the line"? Please, enlighten me.

 

I wish CGC would send out letters proclaiming how great my business was, reduce my table rate and tell the buying public what books I will be selling at the show and where I can be found.

 

CGC, as a leader in the industry, has been very supportive of our efforts in this hobby, as they have been, and rightfully so, to other dealers and collectors. From my conversations with Steve, Mark, Paul, and the rest of the graders and staff at CGC, it's very apparent that they want to help the hobby as a whole grow and prosper, for everyone's benefit. Personally, I think that's a good thing, but I guess there are always people out there that have to see conspiracies under every rock.

 

Bob, you and I see each other several times a year at shows. If you have concerns about our business, our ethics, or anything else regarding Heritage, please feel free to talk to me personally. My email address is below, so you can also feel free to email me with your concerns.

 

Best regards,

 

John E. Petty

Director of Auctions

Heritage Comics Auctions

JPetty@HeritageComics.com

 

[Guest]

John,

 

Thank you for taking the time to post here, and to address some of the questions that have arisen.

 

Can you comment on the speculation that CGC and Heritage share some form of common ownership? This was brought up in another thread, and probably deserves to be confirmed by you, or laid to rest.

 

Again, thanks.

[wahoofury-migration]

Maybe you should now change your name to either:

 

BumblingBob

 

or

 

BabblingBob

[wahoofury-migration]

Nice fluff-piece there!

 

Im "sure" everyone here believes that all actions are at arms length here,

 

 

 

Or maybe not