My Experience with Vectis Auctions

Charlie

I am reporting on my experience with Vectis.  I am very disappointed with the entire experience.  This auction is most suited for those that can attend in person.  Stay away unless you want a fucking headache.  I grade it a D-.  

Registering for an account - A 

It was easy to open an account.

Features with Basic Accounts - F

You get nothing with the basic account.  You can not see the current bid of any items.  This account status is pretty much pointless.  You then have to register to bid.  WTF?

Registering to Bid - F 

Vectis requires that you place a credit card on file to bid.  

Features with a Bidding account - F

Guess what!  You still don't get to see the current bid on any item.

Bidding by Proxy - D

So I bid early since I was not sure I could wake up on time.  I placed my bid.  Finally!  I get to see whether I am winning the auction!  Winning both, it says.  I can sleep easy, right?  However I find out later, that the system has no flags etc. to tell me that I didn't meet a unknown/unannounced 60% minimum opening bid. So I have bid and am sleeping sound... Ahhhh!

Bidding Live - F

So I wake up my time and get ready to make sure I am winning my lots.  Guess what?  I have to register for a whole new account on another system to bid live.  Boy, I wish I would have gotten an e-mail so I could have been ready for it!  I missed my one lot trying to figure things out, lost it by 10 pounds.  And to make matters even worse there is no built in flags etc. for the 60% minimum in that system as well and I didn't find out for two days why it said I didn't win the second lot.  This mysterious 60% minimum is no where to be found in the FAQs, which I did study prior to the auction.  

Notifications - F

I didn't get any. Period.

Customer Service - C

The gal couldn't find my e-mail as a registered account.  WTF?  Had to give my full name and addy.  She was pretty nice over the e-mail, but these guys don't seem to have it together.

Shipping?  

Who knows... Probably another cluster fuck with poor packaging and 30 day waiting period.  What else could I expect at this point.

Recommendation:  These guys are unorganized and lack detailed prep.  Maybe Adam can help them get things straight.  Stay away for now unless you can get a friend that will be there in person to bid for you.  

David

Well that's a bit of a sad story, duly noted to stay away from.

I wonder why they don't simply join up with someone like Invaluable or Auctionzip - get far more exposure internationally and at least it is done well in terms of live auctions too.

Little things like auto registering is a must nowadays, removes the human error factor. Not a fan of handing over credit card details either but most do it.

Charlie

The second registration was with invaluable, but the Vectis website indicated it had its own bidding system.  So it was a surprise to me at 7:15 AM to have to figure out what to do half asleep...

David

I thought Invaluable provided the bidding software if an auction house hooked up with them.

I see in their terms they charge 20% BP, no mention of the Invaluable in there (which is usually another 2.5% more)

HumphreyBogart

So what's the difference with this post compared to Michael's banner about a certain auction house that was removed? What if he had a bad experience and wanted to alert other collectors just as you have with this post. Smells like hypocrisy.. just saying no offence Charlie.

Charlie

1. You said it...  "Post" (1 time) vs. "Banner" (every post ever made)

2. There are less aggressive avenues to bring awareness to a concern.

3. No concerns were detailed and the method did not afford Rich the opportunity to respond (Vectis is a member here and can address my concerns at any time)

4. Michael is welcome to constructively post about his concerns, as are all members.  

Sharing information is the purpose of a forum.  I encourage this.  However, do it respectfully.  It doesn't have to be "saintly", but tact is appreciated.  I think the best way to think about it, is would you be willing to say to someone's face what you are writing.  In the case of Vectis (Michelle), I quickly informed them of my disappointment with the entire experience prior to my post - to no response.

AdamCarter1985

In Vectis' defence, Charlie, I contacted the forum directly under the Vectis name regarding the retrieval of the VectisAuctions password but there was never any reply, hence why there was no response.

Maybe there is a problem with the forum as before remembering my password and logging in for my personal account, I couldn't remember it and so requested a reminder or link to change my password to be sent to my email address...and nothing has arrived.

I am glad Vectis have found the password, though.

Whilst there were problems with the first sale in film posters and memorabilia, some of which were out of the company's control, it was still a relative success and all are pleased with it in the circumstances.

I can assure you they are now looking at all feedback posted on here and other forums. It's a learning process for them so I ask you all to give them a chance to get things right - they are new to the market and I can only advise so much.

@David: Vectis have their own auction software which is what experienced problems on the sale day; this was very unfortunate. Invaluable is linked to Vectis, as it can be linked to any website. Invaluable can also be used as a standalone piece of software to act as the auction house's only auction software. eMoviePoster.com for example works this way as they use software any one of us could purchase and use.

Have you still not received a response to your complaint, Charlie? Please let me know and I can have this sorted asap.

As I have said, Vectis will review all feedback on the sale and I appreciate your support and so hopefully things will get better for all of us.

Best,

Ad

Paul

Brutal, but true on so many counts. 

I guess it could be down to the type of client they usually deal with, maybe the more the older fellow like me who will just phone a bid through, or turn up.  ;-)  

Vectis need to understand poster collectors are on the whole youngish fellows who want the web-sites to be efficient, as most of them do their bidding online, at what ever auction site they use. Simple is always the best way to go with online Auctions, it saves so much hassle for the bidder, who will come back time and again if it's a good experience, if not there's other places to buy posters from.... 

I do hope they use Adam and Dave to get this sorted out, as they both are knowledgeable in this field.

It's early days for Vectis, I for one hope they pull this off, as I'm sure they will be able to compete with the best out there once the web-site is sorted. They have some great staff members working there, who will go out of their way to help, as they did for me on the day, and pre-viewing through the week. Plus talking to people like Adam and Dave, who are both collectors who know posters is great, you know they know what they are taking about, unlike some of the auction houses I've had to deal with in the past... 

Charlie

I hope you will straighten them out Adam.  

I was patient enough to overlook the registration - credit card stuff.  But what just burns me is that there were no warnings when I bid below the minimum.  The auction house had a new buyer lined up ready to go.  Maybe all the UK crowd understand that there is a standard opening (60% of low), but Bruce, Rich, and Peter spoil us with no reserve auctions.  And then we are conditioned by eBay and Heritage with either minimum openings or warnings of not meeting a reserve if there is one.

So when I bid by proxy and it tells me I am winning the auction - Wooo Whooo!  

I could have gotten up earlier which would have solved the invaluable debacle; it only took about 10 minutes to figure out what to do and get my bearings.  But when invaluable tells me that the lot realized a certain amount which was my proxy bid, the bid I told I was winning with...

Time to celebrate!

07/12/2014 

Charlie said:

Well I think I won this from Vectis for about $15.  Will make a nice project.

I didn't get an e-mail saying I had won so I checked into it.  And... The first time I heard about the 60% minimum was:

07/14/2014

Dear Charlie

Thank you for the information.

I am sorry the bid of £5 was not successful. Bidding starts at 60% of the bottom estimate, so a bid of £10 would have been needed.

Best Regards

Michelle ******

Yeah I know what auction house cares about a £5 bid? But if I knew it had to be £10, I would have bid £10... 

Same with the other lot. I think it only made the minimum opening at £50, where I bid £40. Maybe why I lost it because it had to be bid up to £50. Which just burns me more! 

First thing that has to be fixed is notifications about bidding minimums and even better, built in warnings while placing a bid.  Why isn't this in the FAQs?  A bidder shouldn't be told he/she is winning the auction, if his bid is not even successful to begin with because of an poorly announce opening minimum.

Charlie

AdamCarterJones said:

In Vectis' defence, Charlie, I contacted the forum directly under the Vectis name regarding the retrieval of the VectisAuctions password but there was never any reply, hence why there was no response.

I was not particularly worried about Vectis responding to this thread.  They had not been active here previously, so it is not fair to ask that much of them.

Have you still not received a response to your complaint, Charlie? Please let me know and I can have this sorted asap.

This is the last e-mail I sent that was never replied to.  It could have been taken rhetorically.  All though it is too late now.  A "hey, sorry to hear that your experience was not satisfying.  We are working hard to improve the experience for all our customers."  Or "So sorry that you were not aware of the opening bid.  If you are willing to cover the minimum Â£10 bid, I would be happy to look into seeing if we can offer the item to you."  would have been great...

I mean why the hell would you even record a bid that could never be successful!  

Hi Michelle,

It would have been great to know that to begin with. I probably would have
met the minimum. Why would it not have been built into the bidding system?
I am very disappointed with my entire Vectis experience.

Sincerely,

Charles ********

David

AdamCarterJones said:

In Vectis' defence, Charlie, I contacted the forum directly under the Vectis name regarding the retrieval of the VectisAuctions password but there was never any reply, hence why there was no response.

Best,

Ad

Adam - what's your link to Vectis?

[Deleted User]

That's a whole lotta F's

Looks like Vectis is staying back a Grade next year

JoM

Hi All, 

As you may be aware, last weekend saw our inaugural Entertainment Memorabilia Sale, which included film posters and memorabilia for which we were more than pleased with the response. However, we appreciate all customer feedback so we can look to make improvements for future sales.

If anyone has experienced difficulties or would like to contact us directly with regard to this sale, we would ask that you contact –
Vicky Weall at vicky@vectis.co.uk directly.

As an auction company we will always require a credit card to bid on any lots to avoid fake bidding which only results in false results and unsold with buyers not receiving their money. This is common practice in the industry. As a company we endeavour to listen to our customers and provide as much help as is necessary and we hope we are given the opportunity to do so.

All sales results can be found on our website Vectis.co.uk; you need to be registered to access these but this will give you over 10 years worth of sales results.

Kind regards

Rich

HumphreyBogart said:

So what's the difference with this post compared to Michael's banner about a certain auction house that was removed? What if he had a bad experience and wanted to alert other collectors just as you have with this post. Smells like hypocrisy.. just saying no offence Charlie.

I don't believe that said member has ever bought anything from me, ever asked about a price on a poster I have, or even registered on my website. I'm not aware that he & I have ever spoken, emailed off-forum, met at a convention, had a telephone call........ Ergo, the only "bad" experience he could have had was some online chat that he disagreed with. If Michael has some honest gripe about doing business with someone, it's fair to post it. If he has some personal gripe, he's welcome to post that also. Equating the two is ridiculous.

Rich

on Vectis..

Charlie, I think most sites require credit cards to register now. Some of the other issues seem to be a fair gripe, but I'm sure they'll figure it out with Adam's help and with constructive critique.

I hope maybe they'll have something I need in the next auction....

AdamCarter1985

David said:

AdamCarterJones said:

In Vectis' defence, Charlie, I contacted the forum directly under the Vectis name regarding the retrieval of the VectisAuctions password but there was never any reply, hence why there was no response.

Best,

Ad

Adam - what's your link to Vectis?

Sorry for the delay, mate.

They brought me in to set the film poster and memorabilia side up for them, so I'm their Film Poster & Memorabilia Specialist - they have specialists in other areas too, such as matchbox, dinky, trains, general toys, and more, as this is what they solely did before diversifying.

If you or anyone here needs any info on a poster in a sale then give me a shout direct at Vectis on: adam@vectis.co.uk.

Rich said:

on Vectis..

Charlie, I think most sites require credit cards to register now. Some of the other issues seem to be a fair gripe, but I'm sure they'll figure it out with Adam's help and with constructive critique.

I hope maybe they'll have something I need in the next auction....

There is a new website due to be unveiled, which I alluded to another time (can't remember if it was on here or another forum) - I'm looking forward to seeing it either way!

Well like I have said, I can only advise so much and provide critique when I am able to.

I'm pretty good at this sort of thing - advertising, social media, creative direction etc and other matters, so if anyone here wants some free advice and/or constructive critique, I am more than happy to help. But please, I mean about your ventures not yourselves lol!