Catawiki

[declanwmagee 122]

Morning all

As some of you may know, I am helping Catawiki out with their UK Coin auction.  It's quite a strong one this week, so if anyone fancies a look, here it is:

 

http://auction.catawiki.com/coin-auction-uk/sunday/2016-06-26

 

It finishes Sunday night, and over the past few weeks that I've been involved, I've noticed that most of their bidders are from the Continent.  Interestingly, they tend not to go for the same kind of things we do, so there have been some bargains of late.

 

Highlights:

http://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/6525017-great-britain-bronzed-copper-proof-halfpenny-1806-george-iii

Described as Very Scarce in Peck, even scarcer with an NGC PF64 grade.  This is a specialist coin.

http://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/6526135-united-kingdom-half-penny-1865-queen-victoria-bronze

PCGS MS64 - a very rare coin in this high a grade.

http://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/6524931-great-britain-penny-1827-rare-george-iv-copper

The example in this auction is very respectable and a full grade higher than most you'll see.

http://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/6530109-canada-sovereign-1910-c-scarce-ottawa-mint-george-v-gold

One of the most difficult 20th Century sovereigns to find.  Only 28,000 pieces minted, and rated R2 (Very Rare) in Marsh. 

 

It's my job to help them break into the UK market, so I'd be very grateful for any comments or suggestions, and, of course, if anyone wants to sell anything there, I'm your contact 

 

 

 

[azda 973]

Are catwiki a Dutch company? Do they hold the coins like an auction house does or is it like eBay where the owner is selling them? Perhaps people are worried that on a new platform things can go pear shaped, such as you buying the coin and it doesn't make an appearance after paying out X, i'm not saying this is the problem, more thinking about the possibilities of why the bidding is slack.

There's also the big whale that is eBay where people are more used to, breaking into a marketshare like they have will take a lot of time IMO. Just looked at the 1817 Geo III Halfcrown, the bid increment is 5 euros a pop, seems a little higher than the eBay increment at the low end, from 29 euros the next step 34 euros, can't quite remember but doesn't eBay start the 5 increment after £50?

Edited June 22, 2016 by azda

[declanwmagee 122]

Hi Dave

Yes, they're quite a big name in their native Holland, and they've been around since 2008 over there.   The dominance of eBay is something that affects the UK more than mainland Europe - eBay doesn't seem to be the default there like it is here.  Where Catawiki are positioning themselves, I think, is somewhere in between a traditional auction house that takes consignments, and "normal" online auction sites that just provide the software and let people do with it what they will.  You submit your coins to the auctions like eBay, but they always go to the same specialist, who has a look, has a chat with you, gives you an estimate and negotiates a reserve if you want one.  Then the auction is a once a week event, rather than the constant rolling auctions of eBay.

I quite like the concept of having a personal auctioneer who you always deal with (that's me!), who's also a coinie.  The company was started by collectors, for collectors, and they cover hundreds of areas of collecting, not just coins - I'm one of about 170 specialist auctioneers, and I do the UK coins, and help out with Gold and International.  I agree - competing with eBay head on would be foolish regardless of geography, so we have to be different - I see it more like walking into a music shop to buy a guitar - you want to talk to a musician, not a salesman!

[Rob 3,002]

The problem is the pictures which simply aren't good enough. I would possiby be interested in pursuing two of the four listed above, but there is a problem. I don't need a P1365, but I do need a P1368 and P1369, one of which uses the same obv die and the other a similar die, but you couldn't work out the Peck number from the images. Now £60 isn't going to break the bank as a punt, but I don't particularly want a P1365 with spots. I might tolerate them for a variety I need however, and I don't have confidence in the ability of the TPGs to assign the right Peck number - hence the desire to see enough to assign a variety. These are things a specialist in any field will always want to check.

Secondly, the Ottawa sovereign is rare and is a box I need to tick, but looks cleaned and certainly doesn't look to have original surfaces. There is no mention in the description, and the images don't help that much. You need to know the coin is not cleaned, plugged, tooled, or whatever. The images don't allow the prospective buyer to do their basic spadework.

[azda 973]

I also thought The Sov looked a bit bright and thought it was cleaned. The descriptions of coins are very important along with HI-res pictures, what would happen if someone bought The Sov and it turned out to be cleaned, can it or any other coin be returned without fuss? As we know, most coin houses (if there's a problem with a coin that was previously unseen) would take it back, but As we know with ebay people can take a different angled pictured to make it Look a little better than it is in Hand

[azda 973]

The other question i would ask is how would someone recoup against a coin being fake? Do they have a failsafe system similar to eBay where they can hold money against a dispute if something is dodgy?

Just asking questions as it's a new platform for most of us.

[declanwmagee 122]

Hi chaps - thanks for chipping in!

The photos are are a real and recognised problem.  One of the first things I noticed when I started is that all the pictures submitted by sellers are reduced by their system to 700px on the longest dimension before they even reach the auctioneer, let alone the bidders!  As a quick fix in the short term, I've asked that they up that to 2000px, but in the longer term, I'd rather see minimum resolutions enforced.  Reducing any picture in this day and age, when disk space is cheap and even phones can do macro photography is not necessary.  Heritage have a "View Full Image" button, and that seems to work fairly well.

They will take anything back, of course, and deal with the seller to sort out returns and refunds and all that.

[declanwmagee 122]

6 minutes ago, azda said:

The other question i would ask is how would someone recoup against a coin being fake? Do they have a failsafe system similar to eBay where they can hold money against a dispute if something is dodgy?

Just asking questions as it's a new platform for most of us.

Questions are great, Dave!  Just what I need....

 

I have a meeting in Amsterdam with them on the 1st July, and there is much to discuss... 

 

[azda 973]

9 minutes ago, declanwmagee said:

Questions are great, Dave!  Just what I need....

 

I have a meeting in Amsterdam with them on the 1st July, and there is much to discuss... 

 

There will always be teething problems in any business Declan, ironing those out will be beneficial eventually. Good pictures in my mind will sell a coin along with good descriptions, but as we see with topics here on The forum, getting the pictures right is The problem of The seller which will be The reason if The coin sells well or not, maybe adding tips for better selling onto The website might help along with photography tips, You could maybe ask the members here if You could. Use some of The photography advice on The catwiki site if they decide to add The tips link 

Perhaps also a mgnification function for The pictures?

Edited June 22, 2016 by azda

[declanwmagee 122]

Yes - they've done this:

http://www.catawiki.com/help/photo_tips

but I think I will do a similar page for coins specifically.  Of course, all those tips are all very well, but if they then go and scrunch them all down to not much more than a thumbnail, it becomes immaterial how good the sellers photos are!  If I can get them to stop doing that, then we can have a magification function too.  If you try and magnify the current size pics you get down to pixel level very quickly...

 

[scott 129]

lots of reserve prices though so the £60 is a bluff.

they got Russian coins, and a fair few could be fake there, not really looked so yea.,

[Paulus 1,942]

I have won 3 coin auctions at Catawiki over the past few weeks and I'm happy to report that in each case the experience was a very good one, coins matched the grade given and the description, and I am very happy with them in hand. I haven't had to return anything as yet.

I also listed a coin for sale recently (although it did not meet its reserve) and got to communicate directly with Declan over the listing and how the site operates.

Let's hope they can sort out the photography side of things

[declanwmagee 122]

58 minutes ago, scott said:

lots of reserve prices though so the £60 is a bluff.

they got Russian coins, and a fair few could be fake there, not really looked so yea.,

If you see any wrong 'uns, Scott, do let them know!  The chap who looks after the Russian auctions is Philipp Rott, and he does listen...

Or tell me, that's cool too...

 

Fakes and forgeries is one of my hot topics in the company at the moment, so I am very keen to get the nod if there are any, in any of the categories.  My argument to increase picture size will only be strengthened 

 

 

[Rob 3,002]

1 hour ago, scott said:

lots of reserve prices though so the £60 is a bluff.

they got Russian coins, and a fair few could be fake there, not really looked so yea.,

I wouldn't expect it to go for 60 as I paid over 200 for mine 12 years ago. The point in question is the pictures, the size of which make attibution well nigh impossible. You can add identifying forgeries to the list of difficulties.

[declanwmagee 122]

If anyone wants £20 off their first purchase they have sent me a stack of vouchers...

[Rob 3,002]

Yes please if there is no time limit on them. Unlikely to be any bids from me until pictures are resolved. I'm not holding my breath as it has taken 8 years for the penny not to drop so far. Dare I say it, you could fast track it by referring the question to the EU commission.

[jon 30]

28 minutes ago, declanwmagee said:

If anyone wants £20 off their first purchase they have sent me a stack of vouchers...

Yes please Declan. 

[scott 129]

sure why not, always worth a look

[Nordle11 564]

Wouldn't say no to that, cheers Declan

[rpeddie 119]

Im in for a free twentier off

[declanwmagee 122]

I think they're all valid till the end of September....

[Charlie 8]

9 hours ago, declanwmagee said:

If anyone wants £20 off their first purchase they have sent me a stack of vouchers...

Yes please, I'd be interested.  

[azda 973]

Andddddddd me for the free 20 off 

[mrbadexample 985]

And me too also as well please if there are any left?

[Nonmortuus 848]

I would like one also please