American Memorabilia Consignors

[sammy]

Thinking of consigning to American Memorabilia?

Here are some more very unhappy consignors on another forum.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/567138/thread/1207348547/last-1207445986/American+Memorabilia (http://www.network54.com/Forum/567138/thread/1207348547/last-1207445986/American+Memorabilia)

Of course you can also do a search on this forum to find a lot more unhappy consignors.

AMI has become very low-rent in my opinion, with their skank magazine, robbing Peter to pay Paul type of business philosophy, and just very unprofessionalism toward consignors for almost a decade that I personally know about.

[mvandor]

Best thing I can say about them is they put out a very slick catalogue. They won't let me bid (probably been blacklisted because of my posts here) but they always send me the catalogue, which, given their history of poor authentication and sale of misrepresented product, I generally take as a work of fiction.

Pretty pictures though! :D

[kingjammy24]

say here's a really wacky idea; why not hang on to the auction receipts for as long as possible (ie: a couple of days before the lawsuits start sprouting) for the sole purpose of putting that large sum of money into some sort of interest-bearing vehicle? what's an average AMI auction bring..$750k? that's certainly enough to make a few thousand bucks in extra gravy by sticking it into a low-risk fund for 5 months. assuming around $750k, you could easily wind up with an extra $15k for a risk-free 5 months. not a lot of money, but it's likely worth giving people the run around for a couple of months.

truly there's no legit excuse. according to AMI's own rules:
"15. All winning bidders will be notified by phone and/or email within 2-4 business days of auction close. ..
12. Payment is expected within 7 days after notification."

according to AMI, payment is expected within approx 10 days. add on 2 weeks of payment clearance and they've got the money within a little over 3 weeks. according to their own rules there's no reason why payments to consigners shouldn't go out within 30 days of auction close. months? sorry but if someone held my money for months after it was due, i'd either think they're running some sort of ponzi or they're just using it to generate interest for themselves.

rudy.

[hblakewolf]

Rudy-

All excellent points, however, let me delve into my less than positive experieinces with AMI.

As a seller since 1983, I’ve consigned hundreds of items with many memorabilia auction houses in the industry, past and present.

Although most of my consignment experiences with various auction houses have been extremely positive, I can honestly say that in my opinion, based on my experience and my consignment history with American Memorabilia, it positions this auction house as the worst in terms of professionalism and payment of consigned items as per the agreed upon terms.

Although I was initially told by the owner (Victor) that I’d be paid within 30-45 days of the conclusion of their auctions, this was simply not the case. Upon reaching the 45-day point, I was forced on many occasions to call Victor, and try to learn why payment hadn’t been received. Although he pleaded that he wasn’t sure (isn’t he the owner???), he had me speak with “Keeta” (his wife?). At first, I was led to believe that my payment would be issued immediately upon hanging up the phone, however, after a few more weeks, it was still not received. After additional calls to Victor, and communication with Keeta, I was then informed that many of my items had been purchased by “the big card companies” and they were traditionally slow in paying (the card companies were cutting up jerseys for inclusion on their premium baseball cards). This scenario was common, and was told to me by Keeta after several auctions, and late or no payment being received. After learning that the “big card companies” were constantly late in paying AMI, I asked why they allow this type of behavior, however, I was never provided with an acceptable answer. Likewise, if indeed these card companies did indeed have a history of ultimately paying (although slow), why then would AMI not pay me within the agreed time period, and assume payment would be received by the “big card companies” at a later date? I’m aware that these card companies buy equipment from other auction houses, however, I’ve always been paid within the agreed time frame from Lelands, Mastro, etc. and never been forced to call Mike Hefner or Keith Vari at Lelands or any other auction house personnel for that matter.

The other frustrating aspect associated with consigning to AMI was the “floating” consignment rate. I was afforded the courtesy of 10%, and understood that the “better” consignors were offered the same reduced rate. When my payment was received, however, the rate was noted at 15%. Again, I was forced to contact Victor, who had me deal with Keeta. I could understand an initial mistake, however, the incorrect rate appeared on my payment/consignment statement time and time again, forcing me to follow-up with Keeta. One would believe that a simple keystroke in the computer would alleviate this, however, based on my conversations, this was neither the case nor the fix.

In conclusion, I’ve never experienced the above situations with any other auction house(s) in the industry. Granted, we all make an occasional mistake, however, who has the time to be consignor and then also a babysitter and accountant?

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[kingjammy24]

there've been some interesting updates to that net54 thread on AMI's consigners:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/567138/thread/1207348547/last-1207445986/American+Memorabilia

rudy.