Heritage Auctions — Local services in Irving

HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL.

[edit: I am raising the rating from 2* to 4* because they apologized, they acknowledged they gave me consistently incorrect information, and they refunded the shipping cost, and because their packaging was very secure on huge items. I am leaving the below review intact.]

I just paid $8,000 in HA fees (buyer's premium) only to have them continually mislead me. I was concerned, if they delayed shipping, these very large items would arrive too close to a departure date where I could not receive the items.

I bought very large items on Sat, 3/09. I paid HA first thing in the morning on 3/11 by wire transfer because their paperwork says that will make shipping faster. Vicky Ruiz confirmed receipt of payment and said the items will ship "within 5-7 business days" (meaning 3/15 to 3/19).

Did they ship? No.

I called and spoke with Sabrina Zatanna on Tuesday 3/19. She said just give it a little more time, and reach back to her if I didn't get any email tracking info.

Did they ship? No!

At the end of the week, I called Sabrina again on Friday 3/22, and was told it still wasn't shipped (its been 10 business days) and that it now was too late to ship until next week! What kind of operation are they running?

I reminded them, again, I needed the items no later than 3/27 to not conflict with plans where I will be unavailable to receive these large, expensive, fragile items. Sabrina Zatanna assured me the shipment would be sent Monday 3/25 and that they were "pushing it thru" as express to ensure it would be in our hands on Wednesday 3/27. I told them I am clearing my entire schedule to be able to accept these expensive huge items on this date.

I called the shipping company on Monday 3/25 to make sure the items were shipped expedited. Nope. I asked if they will arrive on Wednesday 3/27. Probably not. None of what HA told me was happening. Not scheduled to arrive on that time frame. Not scheduled as "express" or "expedited". I emailed Sabrina on Monday about making sure these will arrive on Wednesday, and that the shipping company's info conflicts with what she told me. ...no reply from Sabrina.

I called with HA.... again.... but "NO SUPERVISORS ARE AVAILABLE". So I told the whole story to a new person, and made sure they called the shipping company, while I was on hold, to ensure it would arrive on 3/27 as I was assured and that they were going "expedited". I even gave them the number for the "expedited department". After a long time on hold (where they checked in with me) they told me they got it straight and indeed it will arrive on Wednesday 3/27.

Guess what? Today is Wednesday 3/27.

Are the items here today? No. Are the items arriving today? No.

Heritage Auctions could have shipped the items on 3/11, 3/12, 3/13, 3/14, 3/15, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22.... but no, for your $8,000 buyer's premium paid by wire transfer, you are put at the back of the line, and told lots of inaccurate info, and suggestions to "just wait a little longer" the whole time.

I am encouraging everyone reading to consider whether or not this would be acceptable for them. If yes, by all means do...

I have been a client of Heritage Auctions for over 10 years. I started out as a buyer of high-grade CGC graded vintage comic books, but later evolved into consigning a large portion of my personal collection dating back to the summer of 2021.

As a buyer, all of my high-end books were meticulously and professionally packaged and arrived in excellent condition. The customer service staff has always been very friendly and understanding. I was able to arrange multiple payment plans on books that I won at auction for over 10K (2.5K minimum final bid) with a 25% down payment.

This really made purchasing expensive books more manageable, as Heritage granted me 3-4 months to pay off my balance. The only thing that you have to keep in mind, is that Heritage will require you to approve of an automatic monthly withdrawal from your bank account, to ensure that your financial commitment is taken care of.

As a consignor, I have also had an exceptional experience. I can’t thank my consignment Director enough—Mr. Rick Akers, for his highly personable and professional demeanor and work ethic. Rick has always responded to my emails quickly and efficiently, and would go the extra mile in answering any questions or concerns I had…even replying on the weekends from his cell phone, when he technically did not have to respond until the following Monday when he was back in his office. This just goes to show you the high level of customer service that Rick has demonstrated, which has always made me feel extremely valued and appreciated as one of his many consignors.

Moreover, I unfortunately experienced a very challenging time both personally and financially due to many factors that occurred in the Summer of 2022. Rick Akers and the entire team at Heritage have been like an extended family, as they truly showed genuine concern and did everything in their control to assist me during a very difficult time. I will forever be grateful.

I highly recommend buying or selling CGG graded comic books with Heritage Auctions. They are the world’s largest auction house for a reason, and they will maximize your prized books exposure both through their world class website and within their beautiful, full color auction catalogs.

Thank you once again to the entire staff at Heritage.

Kind regards,

Thomas...

They do not make it easy to change your shipping address at all. Because a tree fell on my house I needed items shipped to a temporary address and it was incredibly difficult to change with them. This is my third time buying with Heritage and using a new address and its been tough every time.

Also, the buyers premium is very misleading if you are bidding through Liveauctioneers. Heritage's premium is 30% which is already high but buried in the fine print is an extra 5% you have to pay, so you end up paying 35% buyers premium which is a little absurd when the customer service isnt there. A 35% fee is just over the top in my opinion. I get that they are trying to force people to use Heritage's platform with their fee but I feel like people should be able to choose how they want to bid without being penalized for it. If you are adding fees there should be a benefit to it, not just a privilege to bid with them. The fees are getting outrageous just to buy something. And I know Liveauctioneers probably makes Heritage pay a fee to use their platform but that shouldn't be passed on to the customer, it is the cost of doing business. I have to pay a fee for my POS system in my shop and I would never dream of making my customers pay for that. If Heritage wants to incentivize people to bid on their platform, they should offer a lower premium for bidding on their platform, dont charge a customer more money.

Also, one of the items I bought was listed as authentic but it was a screenprint. I will say they were great about the return although auction houses should be careful about how they present items.

You will end up spending so much money in fees and shipping with Heritage. Just be careful and ask questions before you bid with Heritage or you will be in...