Blog

Blog » Auction Mischief and Mailboxes Greed

Auction Mischief and Mailboxes Greed

Posted: 06/11/18 (16:43pm)

We had a wonderful weekend in York. What a beautiful and history rich city! We came home and as usual hit the ground running. I was very busy last week, working on restorations and attending a number of auctions, and this is what I want to write about today.

My decision to write about the risks and costs of bidding at auctions is prompted by the number of replicas/fakes sold at auction and by the rising cost of auction fees and delivery charges for online bidders.

Many auction houses in the UK now charge buyers fees in the mid to high 20% range. Some are approaching 30% and the greediest ones have already exceeded that! Between the sellers' and buyers' fees, auctions can rake in around 60-70% of the value of an item without ever having owned it!

Not only can bidding at auctions be expensive. It can be risky too. Auctions make little effort to accurately describe the lots, relying on the bidders to know what it is they are bidding on. If you are going to bid, make sure that you have inspected the lots beforehand. If you can’t be present, request a detailed condition report, asking for additional photos and a description of “any and all damage or faults.”

Be aware that the person giving you the report might not be familiar with the items and may not realise that the item is a replica or that something is bent or missing; that the scabbard is incorrect for that sword or that a blade has been cracked, shortened or re-pointed.

You are always better off asking specific questions and numbering them so that it is easy to see which ones have and have not been answered. A block of text makes it much easier for the auctioneer to bypass questions they would rather not answer.

Make sure that you request the condition report and additional photos well in advance, allowing yourself time to follow up. Often the initial condition report you receive will be generic photographs of the lot/s. Don’t be afraid to write back and press for answers. Make the auction do their job properly – they charge enough!
Again, be aware that the fall back position of an auction house not wanting to divulge information that may discourage a potential bidder, is for them to claim limited knowledge of an item, leaving you non the wiser and putting the ball firmly back in your court. 

Even with a detailed condition report, always keep in mind the fact that the auction house may not realise that the item they are selling is “wrong” in some way. It is up to you to discover this.

Auctions are also quite happy to sell replicas/fakes. Every week I see replicas sell as if they were genuine. Earlier this year I witnessed an online buyer make a very costly mistake. They bought a fake M1888 Lee Metford Mk1 Type 1 for around £500!
Last week I watched a replica of a 1799 naval sword sell at auction for more than it cost to buy from the online shop that originally sold it. The sword was wrongly described as a cavalry sword, with no age or pattern identified. The auction house will have known that the sword was a replica – it was only a couple of years old, but they are not required to divulge this information unless specifically asked. A physical inspection of the sword, or failing that, a few minutes online would have told most bidders that it was not genuine, but clearly, the online bidder who bought the sword failed to do their homework. By the time the buyer receives the sword, the auction fees of over 26% and Mailboxes exorbitant delivery charges will mean that they have paid around double the cost of buying the sword from its original retailer.

If you are going to bid at auctions, learn their ways and their lingo. If an auction house neglects to mention a period or pattern, it could be because they don’t know, but it could also be because the item is not genuine. If an auction, uses words like “style” or “type” in an item description, for example, “an Enfield type…” or “World War 1 style…” they are telling you that the item is probably not genuine. Caveat emptor (buyer beware) very much applies. The remote selling laws that give online customers a grace period during which they can return purchases do not apply to auctions and by bidding, you are agreeing that you have inspected the lots and are happy with their condition and authenticity.

Do not be fooled by auction valuations. Generic £30-£50 or £50-£100 estimates on bayonets and swords are in part a fishing trip – attempting to encourage bids, and partly again, lack of knowledge on the part of the auctioneers. You are never going to get that sought after sword or bayonet for those prices!  

If you bid at auctions online, the chances are that you will need your purchase delivered to you. This allows the auction to squeeze even more money out of you. Expect to pay 4 or 5 times the actual delivery cost. That is if you are lucky enough to find an auction with in-house shipping. Most auctions now use a company called Mailboxes.

Mailboxes will charge around £100 to arrange for delivery of a parcel that actually only cost around £12 to deliver.

I have just received a quote from Mailboxes for delivery of a sabre and a hunting sword. Mailboxes routinely use Parcelforce to make their deliveries. Parcelforce charge £12.12 to deliver a 2kg parcel and only £1 more for up to 5kg and 160cm in length. Mailboxes have quoted me £99.99 and that’s after applying a discount!

Now, I understand that time is money and someone has to collect the sword from the auction (along with all the other items they are there to collect), wrap the sword in bubble wrap, put it in a box and tape it up before taking it to the post office, but REALLY? £100? That’s just greedy.

Whenever possible, I attend auctions in person, that way I always know exactly what it is I am bidding on, allowing me to guarantee the authenticity of the items I later offer for sale. If I can’t attend in person (which is rare), I at least try to find auctions that are within travelling distance to collect whatever I buy. Given the number of budget airlines, It is now cheaper for me to fly from Edinburgh to London, Paris, Berlin or Brussels to bid at an auction in person than it is for me to pay Mailboxes to arrange delivery!