Heritage AuctionsReviews of ha.com

Epic CS employees here, shop with confidence!

I sent a photo online of a framed vintage 3d oil on canvas of a sea scape. It was unsigned. I needed a value. They sent me back an email simply put, they don't know. Forgive me, but aren't these art auction houses supposed to have ways to research these works even without an artist signature? It was very disappointing, almost embarrassing. No artist signature, we have no idea how to help you. If it had an artist signature, I could do the research myself. Don't even waste your time with this popcorn stand of a place.

HA is my go-to site for hard to find and quality art and collectibles. I have purchases shipped to me or have my agent pick them up in Dallas. Every time I call they are helpful and engaged in talking with me. My agent also says they the pick up process is easy and everyone is nice to work with.

Heritage Auctions has become my 'go to' location for art purchases. Not only do they offer an outstanding variety of top art by my favorite artists, their customer service is, by far, the best in the artworld. I've been buying from them for years and have only experienced professionalism and courtesy throughout every transaction.

As a first time consignor I have found Heritage to be outstanding, with fantastic and responsive customer service, as well as complete transparency with regard to the auction process. As the auction was held in the US, Heritage also arranged for me to drop off my consigned piece at their London office, where it was packaged, insured and shipped to the auction house in Texas at no expense to myself and entirely hassle free. Finally, my settlement was paid directly into my account on the date I was given, with no issue or delay. I would absolutely use Heritage again in the future.

Updated: See below. This issue was eventually resolved but it really shouldn’t be this difficult. If you want to bid it is essential to establish the shipping charge beforehand. There seems to be no logic behind the shipping. Some items will ship at a reasonable ‘fixed price’ fee for total items won in a particular auction, others of similar size, weight etc SIX times that price. Original: Shipping has always been chaotic (see other reviews) but although customer service was always slow and muddled I never left bad reviews as I felt they were at least acting in good faith. Latest purchase they slapped on a shipping fee of just under three times ( yes you read that correctly) the value of the item. Obviously I queried this and tried to enter into dialogue about alternatives. No response whatsoever, despite repeated attempts. Next I was sent a notification that the item had shipped! HA have never shipped before payment in the years I’ve been dealing with them, as is standard auction house practice. Obviously an attempt to lock in this truly extortionate ‘handling and shipping charge’. Use at your peril.

I have extensive experience shipping high-value, fragile items and have dealt with many companies in this space — Heritage is one of the worst in terms of customer service. The simplest requests take days to get a reply, and anything more complex can drag on for more than a week. In my case, I asked multiple straightforward questions about my purchase — including basic shipping details that any auction house should have on hand — and it still took close to a month to get all the answers. If something goes wrong with your item, I have no confidence they could resolve the issue in a timely manner. Before bidding, I strongly encourage potential buyers to test their responsiveness: ask Heritage a simple delivery or item-related question. Then ask yourself — if they take this long to answer now, is this the type of service you want if there’s a real problem later?

Lazy people don’t actually help! I highly don’t recommend!!