James1964 

On the auction site, a local FedEx Store is recommended for shipping. Though I have no prior experience with this specific FedEx store, my experiences with others are mixed.

Is anyone in the Copake NY area willing to facilitate shipping a bicycle from this auction?

Also, the additional fees are significant; 23% buyers premium + 8% sales tax.

rccardr 

Yeah, the Copake premiums are absurd, and the lack of comprehensive shipping arrangements = very minor league.
They have the opportunity to grab the vintage bike auction community by the neck and take charge, but seem to fail at the important stuff.
Take a look at the better auto auction houses, they have it all covered from submission to commission to deal to financing to shipping and delivery.

Russ Roth

Got a link to the site? Curious what they're selling though I'd be hard pressed to justify buying.

James1964 

Here's a link to the Copake auction. This seems to be an improved site from the one I saw a few weeks ago.

Copake Bike Auction

jdawginsc 

The Billato bike in that AloP group is a piece of artwork.

tkamd73 

Some pretty nice bike stuff in that auction, I could see bidding. Thanks for posting.
Tim

James1964 

It was actually someone else who posted a message about this auction several weeks ago. I was hoping to find someone who would be willing to facilitate shipping, with compensation, of course.

The auction house promotes itself as specializing in cycling equipment and ephemera. However, looking at their item descriptions, they seem light on bicycle knowledge. A few examples include: all item descriptions have the frame sizes in inches when most higher-end European and American bikes are measured in cm (and this actual size can often be found stamped into the tubing); one bike has the serial number listed as "57" - most likely the frame size; few (if any) descriptions include the tubing used to construct the frames; few (if any) mention of the component group models, just the manufacturers; and no mention of any dents or cracks in frame tubes - if there are none, then saying so would benefit the consigner; and including "Freejus" and "Massi" as manufacturers in the promotional material. This is a real "caveat emptor" auction.

Has anyone found out the cost of packing and shipping a bike by the recommended FedEx store? A few days ago I called and spoke with someone at the store about these services. They did not seem aware of the upcoming auction, but said they'd get back to me with packing and shipping cost information. Unfortunately, I haven't heard back. Also, the person did not sound familiar with how a bike should be packed. Maybe it was just the person I was talking with and someone more knowledgable would handle it.

Also note the "Conditions of Sale":7. All items are subject to a 18% buyer’s premium, 23% buyer’s premium for LIVEAUCTIONEERS, INVALUABLE and AUCTIONZIP which will be added to the successful bid price and is payable by the purchaser as part of the total purchase price.

8. All items are subject to an 8% sales tax unless the purchaser possesses a sales tax exemption number.
These are in addition to the expected $200+ packing and shipping charges.

Copake's Sept. 25 auction has interesting cycling items too.

bikemike73 

GREAT bike selection and some pretty rare ones. Looks to be in VERY GOOD condition.
PLUS 31% !!!!!!!!!!! 23 + 8 That's CRAZY !!!!!!

Is this percentage normal for auctions ???

I think it is ridiculous. And as above has said......no specific info on the bikes. ( caveat emptor)
Frame measurements look to be " off" as well.

WAY too expensive for me

James1964 

18% premium is applied if you bid using Copake's absentee bid system - similar to ebay, it's the max you are willing to pay.
23% premium is applied if you bid using one of the 3 live-auction platforms in which you are bidding real-time against others. This premium is higher because the platforms charge a 5% premium which is added to the house's 18%.

Sales tax in NY is like death, inevitable.

The descriptions lack many basic details most bidders would be interested in. And in some cases, the descriptions are wrong.

Wildwood 

29th Annual Bicycle Auction – COPAKE AUCTION

So the latest auction was complete about a month ago, I had entered bids on about 6 bikes - no winners.

It was worth scanning through the inventory to see what the lightweights sold for.

James1964 

After the auction, traded emails with a few Bikeforum members who also participated in it. Experiences were mixed. These included: receiving an email, after the item closed, indicating you're the winning bidder and then later receiving a second message saying that another "left bid" exceeded the hammer price and therefore you are no longer the winning bidder; confirming a bid at $375 and then seeing on screen that you are winning the auction with a bid of $1,000 (fortunately, the item closed for $1,100 - so the buyer may have paid $100 + 31% more than they should have); and bids that didn't make it through the Internet in time using LiveAuctioneer.com.

I'm interested in hearing peoples experiences with the recommended bike packing and shipping service.

himespau 

Wow, that sounds like a mess.

Shrevvy 

I will preface my comments with the fact that I have bid with several auction houses for items other than bikes. So, I do have a point of reference. At my level of bidding (not Sotheby's or Christie's...) Hertiage provides the best customer experience.

My experience with Copake was very mixed. I bid through three methods. I phone bid on a few auctions, I placed proxy bids directly with Copake on a few and bid live through LiveAuctioneers on a few. I won several lots and won lots through each method of bidding.

I was notified by email that I had won two lots through Liveauctioneers as I was the high bidder in the live auction. Those two auction did not show up on my invoice and I was told that they missed a proxy bid while conduction the live bidding. I did not have a chance to outbid that proxy bid because it came after the close of the auction. I appeared to win an auction through my proxy bid with Copake. The item ended for less than my max bid as I watched on Liveauctioneers. I assumed I won given the auction closed at a price below my max. This bike was also not on my invoice. I was informed that there was another proxy bidder who was missed during the live auction. The bidder out bid me by one bid increment.

I also placed a bid on Liveauctioneer for ~$300-$400 and was notified that my $1000 bid was accepted and was the high bid. The $300-$400 was not the max I was willing to pay, but the $1000 was more than I wanted to pay. After a few seconds, I was outbid and that bidder won the auction. Had I won, I would have contested the auction.

I did not use their packing services, but picked up the winning items. They were picked up by someone who had not seen the bikes in detail during the bidding. When the bikes were delivered to me this past Sunday, some were much rougher than pictured. This was an auction that was scheduled to occur in 2020, but was postponed due to COVID. In the meantime, the bikes were stored poorly. Any bike I won with chrome was considerably rusted. It was a disappointment. I contacted Copake. They gave me the refund I requested without aurguement. I find that to be the best action from the auction house. I would have preferred to pay more and received nicer bikes, but they did handle that well. The downside is that I will end up parting out some bikes that I did not intend to part out. My purchases were a combination of bikes for my collection as well as for resale.

Overall, the auction experience itself was poor. I am used to a professionally run action with transparancy and accuracy. My interaction with the staff was pleasant and they were helpful. I think their auction problems stem from a conflict between all the separate auction platforms (phone, proxy, Liveauctioneers).

SoccerBallXan

In my financial position, it was not reasonable to bid on any lot due to the conflict in bidding platforms. Concerning yourself with one platform while being unknowingly outbid on another is unacceptable for an auction house. Conducted live, this would not happen.

If the auctioneers wanted top dollar on effortless transactions they’d either of waited to hold it in person or set up a singular platform. I had other cycling friends more affluent than myself pass up bidding due to the scattered event.

SoccerBallXan

And yes — I am definitely a tad salty I didn’t get any new toys!

Vonruden

Yeah, was a disappointing experience.

repechage

I read the terms before the auction, I was unsure about the multiple platforms and it indicated to me it could be a mess, previous years were live in person essentially.
Picking up an item was just that, upon departure.
The appointment to pick up or have an item picked up, potential damage loss, the potential crush of folk trying to get an appointment to pick up an item, the storage charges after a month.
Insurance... if the bike or item gets damages between the image date and when one receives it, what a potential mess.
I had little confidence a pack and ship store would do a good job, been there, done that, lived to regret.