Auctions - Poor Image Quality... Sort it out!

[1817Karl]

I always keep my eye on Auction sales looking out for nice Sovereigns, especially the local ones. Wouldn't it be great to be able to judge the quality of a coin by the images they provide. The problem is generally (about 99% of the time) they are awful. As auctions are creaming around 35% of a sale amount, you'd think they could invest £50 and sort out the poor image quality, wouldn't you? 

I saw a few nice sets at an auction house (about 40 mins away) made the journey and all dogs of coins... Of course you couldn't tell this from the bad images.. 

Anyone else feeling frustrated by this...

[terakris]

I agree, most pics are pretty bad but the more specialised auction houses upload seriously high quality images that are great as you can really get a good look at the coin... just be nice if they all did this.

[Foster88]

I agree with you. The quality of the photos are generally very bad and I could take better photos then many I see with my iPhone. 

Move just bought two half sovereigns from an auction house which I’ve got to pick up tomorrow and I’ve taken a bit of a gamble and I’m hoping they’re better than the photos show. 

One small positive could be that other people are put off by the bad photos that might otherwise be a very good coin. Less competition!!

Just a thought....

[1817Karl]

2 hours ago, Foster88 said:

I agree with you. The quality of the photos are generally very bad and I could take better photos then many I see with my iPhone. 

Move just bought two half sovereigns from an auction house which I’ve got to pick up tomorrow and I’ve taken a bit of a gamble and I’m hoping they’re better than the photos show. 

One small positive could be that other people are put off by the bad photos that might otherwise be a very good coin. Less competition!!

Just a thought....

I would agree, it's generally a gamble buying unseen from auctions, sometimes it pays and sometimes it doesn't. I also attended one of the premier auctions in the North recently and some very high prices being paid for Georgian Sovereigns, and lots were really in poor grades, maybe buyers were relying on the in-house grades allocated to the coins, very risky... Lots of internet and phone bidding!

[RacerCool]

I agree with the complaint, since several times I've asked the seller if they can upload better pics of their coins.

On the other hand, I've been one of those sellers who has less than optimal quality photos. In my case, I simply couldn't get better pics, even after trying better and different lighting, different setting, background, etc. Even trying to manually fidget with camera settings. (I hate that everything today is so "smart" and automated).

Granted, my small apartment is not ideal for creating good photos, but coins are tough to photograph well, especially proofs with their mirror finishes, unless you have a lightbox or some other photo-optimized setting. 

[Kookaburracollector]

Its ‘ Caveat Emptor’ when buying off poor quality images, or even worse..scanned images. If the coin is great, I would make sure the photos reflect this. So many coins are sold on poor images..I’m amazed people spend so much money on ‘a gamble’.

I bought a coin last night (which was not cheep) from an auction in Long Beach America, and the pictures were great. It enabled me to bid higher, knowing what I was buying..it can be done, and I never shy away from asking for more pictures... 

[Bullionbilly]

1 minute ago, Kookaburracollector said:

Its ‘ Caveat Emptor’ when buying off poor quality images, or even worse..scanned images. If the coin is great, I would make sure the photos reflect this. So many coins are sold on poor images..I’m amazed people spend so much money on ‘a gamble’.

I bought a coin last night (which was not cheep) from an auction in Long Beach America, and the pictures were great. It enabled me to bid higher, knowing what I was buying..it can be done, and I never shy away from asking for more pictures... 

Is that your new purchace ? 

VERY nice !

[Fivepoundfred]

From experience i will only buy coins from auction that i can view prior to bidding. Seen so many poor quality modern proofs that have often been described as " FDC" by the auction house, a term that i do not like !  

[CadmiumGreen]

8 hours ago, terakris said:

I agree, most pics are pretty bad but the more specialised auction houses upload seriously high quality images that are great as you can really get a good look at the coin... just be nice if they all did this.

Concur, as example just yesterday, received the following auction listings from Sovereign Rarities...Really enjoy receiving these as they are great references as well!