I think most important is to see what their sellerâs commission is going to be. Iâd send each house a list and ask them what the commission will be. Wonât matter if one house will get you 10% more if they end up charging you 10% on the vig (doubt it, but just giving an example).
But iâd send mine to HDH personally. Iâm sending stuff for the December auction.
What Charlie said.
The commission is negotiable at both houses. Will vary depending on what youâre offering.
At Acker, there is a history of honesty being negotiable as well
I do know that Acker has no sellers premium. They do charge for shipping, which everyone does. They also charge a 3% âhandling feeâ. I donât know about HDH, but I believe they, also, do not charge a sellers premium. I will call tomorrow to find out for sure, as their auction dept. is closed for the weekend
What I was looking for were peopleâs thoughts, experiences with how close their appraisals pre-auction compared to the actual hammer price. I guess I should have phrased the original post more clearly.
Tim: to answer a serious post with a supposedly witty remark, designed to impress that you know that Acker was stung by rudy wineâŚwellâŚanyone with âhalf a brainâ knows that. It serves no useful purpose and does not do justice to yourself, which I hope is better than your post would seem to indicate!
Michael, I find the idea of doing business with Acker as being repulsive. They were not âstungâ by Rudy, they were in deep. That ANYONE would promote doing business with them on this board denigrates the board.
I was being kind in my response. It was not designed to impress. It was designed to express contempt.
Tim, I donât understand why an auction house would knowingly sell counterfeit wine. It would come to light eventually and ruin their reputation. The operative word is knowingly, meaning they were aware beforehand.
I would agree that companies do really dumb things, VW âdieselgateâ or Wells Fargo.
They are large cf Acker. Donât get me wrong, I am not defending Acker, I am just perplexed as to why they would put their reputation, which is everything in the wine auction business, in jeopardy for a quick buck
Please refer to the Rudy thread. A mountain of evidence has been posted there. I donât think it is worth rehashing here.
It has never been proven in a court that Acker knew definitively beforehand. And Iâm not sure it matters. It is almost worse when an auction house sells a counterfeit wine without knowing. That shows they either purposefully turn a blind eye or they lack the skills or desire to do due diligence and authenticate bottles. Of course, with Acker, we are not talking about one or two bottles. We are talking millions of $ worth.
As to why people would continue to do business with them, I refer to your first post:
It clear that I am asking because, like anyone, I would like to obtain the highest price for my wine.
Michael, Acker made a lot of money on commissions selling Rudyâs fakes. As others have said, Acker had to know. Even if they lost money on returns and loans to Rudy that werenât repaid, selling Rudyâs fakes rocketed Acker to prominence as one of the worldâs top wine auctioneers and brought them more business.
And odd as it seems, their exposure as a conduit for Rudyâs fakes didnât seem to put a dent in their business.
When Acker, Merrill was a retailer named Acker, Merrill and Condit I did business with them once, as a seller. To say that it was a bad experience would be a serious understatement.
Of course you want to maximize the return on your wines. But is it really worth having to take a long hot shower using a steel wire brush to get the slime and stench off of you?
I have had virtually no experience with Acker, so I cannot comment from personal experience. But, I have to ask this. If you have one option with an excellent record for integrity and another that does not, why not deal with the operation known for integrity. For a few dollars different in prices (if that), why take the chance that someone will screw you? If a vendor has screwed others (and I only know what I have read), why take the chance that they wonât screw you?
I just read the Billionaireâs Vinegar. Itâs a pretty good book, even though a bit dated now. It discusses all the fraud in the auction circuit. If you have questions about AMC maybe you could search for posts here from Maureen Downey.
Well said Poppy. During the Rudy days it was crazy with no regard other than making $$$. I would never deal with Acker even for a healthy profit. I like sleeping well at nightâŚ