Goldin Auctions
reviews and complaints

I've been purchasing from Goldin for years with generally average excitement, but the last few experiences have left me in dismay. Most recently, I emailed them well in advance that I would be late paying for my auction winnings in full. My error in managing cash flow, but I offered to pay them 50% immediately, and the rest the following week. They stated ok, but never charged my card, and instead charged me an annualized rate of 122% interest for a payment that came in 9 days late. Apparently this is their "standard".

Following that, my cards did not arrive for 6 weeks following my payment date, and when they did arrive, they were packaged as if a monkey threw some paper in a box along with my cards. In emailing them a complaint, they stated nothing more than "sorry" as they could not determine if the cards were damaged. It is tough to say, but when a stack of 50+ raw cards are stuffed into a vanilla envelope with no protection and thrown into a box, good chance some corners did not survive. I was offered absolutely nothing in return, and barely even an apology.

Goldin has absolutely no customer service and simply doesn't seem to care.

“Goldin Auction is a complete disappointment. I won an auction for $82, only to be slapped with a ridiculous $117 charge, all under the guise of buyer’s fees and shipping. This outrageous 40% fee is nothing short of a ripoff. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this company; their pricing practices are nothing short of disgraceful, and they should be held accountable.”

They are thiefs! They sent me back a trimed card and then put mine up for auction. If you see a *** Rookie for sale, graded by *** as an 8.5, that is MY CARD ! Im notifying the *** !"

Terrible auction house. I'll be writing a complaint about their business ethics. I consigned my *** rc first edition, graded 9.5. I had a private offer of *** that I didn't take because Goldin representative *** said he could get *** for the card. The auction happened and the card only fetched ***. They're thieves and nobody should ever do business with them.

I wouldn't recommend dealing with this company. They tricked me into selling a valuable poster for much less than it was worth. They claimed it could fetch between $10 and $13k, but I only received a check for $1600. To make matters worse, the seller included negative comments in the description without my consent, which significantly lowered the price. It seems like they did this intentionally so that someone at Goldin Auctions could buy it for a bargain. I feel betrayed and deceived. Stay away from them.

They're awful! If you get your stuff authenticated by them, they'll take your money and deny it ever happened. They'll authenticate items for $250 with Jsa, and whether it passes or fails, they'll send it somewhere else and rely on what this other company, psa, says. This costs $10, but they prioritize the expensive one first. If something doesn't sell, it's a real pain to get it back. They won't let you pick it up and charge a ton for return shipping. Their sales pitch is that they'll fetch top prices. I only got $30 each for signed pieces by Joe D and Ted W. Maybe they meant top low prices. My name is ***, so they know I'm not lying.

I got lied to and cheated out of thousands of dollars by Goldin Auctions. I asked them to take down some of the auctions, but they didn't listen. They didn't even bother to research the value of the items before setting the starting bid. They didn't involve me in the process at all. They said I couldn't set a reserve unless the value was over 1 million, but they still chose a starting bid way lower than the minimum value. I asked them to pull down the remaining auctions that they hadn't closed yet. On top of that, they recently acquired PSA grading and started a program to trick people into submitting their items for grading through them. They promised a quick turnaround of 2 weeks as long as the items were auctioned on their site. This seems like a scam and a clear conflict of interest. They need to be investigated for their fraudulent actions. I will make sure everyone in the market knows about these criminal activities.

I sent 75 cards to Goldin Auctions to get them graded and sold. I insured my cards for the maximum value of 25k because they are old, in not-so-great condition, and rare. It cost me $89. Goldin said they would contact me when they received my cards and that the grading process would take a maximum of 2 weeks. But after waiting for 18 days without hearing anything, I started emailing and calling every number I could find. Finally, on day 21, I got an email saying that my cards weren't worth the price of grading, which was $50 per card. I've had other grading services appraise my cards before, so I know their value. Griffin, from Goldin, said he had 24 cards that he would send to the graders and would mail the rest back to me. I texted back and said I would accept his options and thanked him. Two weeks later, I received my cards, a total of 74, but none of them were graded except for one, which happened to be the most valuable. And guess what? One card was missing! So, be careful with Goldin Auctions, they are far from being honorable.

Goldin Auctions is the worst auction house I've ever dealt with. They sold my items for way less than they were worth because their descriptions were terrible and they undervalued everything. And when they finally sent me the check, it didn't even cover all the money I was supposed to receive. Can you believe that? On top of that, they sent the check to the wrong address, causing a ton of problems. It's been a nightmare.

But wait, it gets worse. They didn't even auction off the most valuable item I had. Instead, they just sent it to their warehouse and left it there. Can you imagine? I had to fight with them for three whole months just to get it back. And guess what? They sent it to the wrong address again! So now, I still haven't received it. It's a set of 1957 Topps basketball cards, and I have no idea what condition they'll be in when I finally get my hands on them. They've been sent to some storage facility, and who knows what could happen to them there.

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend Goldin Auctions to anyone. If you're thinking of using them, do yourself a favor and find another auction house. I don't know if they're incredibly dumb, careless, or just plain thieves, but you should be careful. Use them at your own risk. I had to threaten them with federal prosecution for mail and wire fraud before they even bothered to send me my item, and even then, I still don't have it. It's been a complete mess.

My experience with Goldin Auctions was really disappointing. I had the best graded version of the rarest color variation of a *** sports ticket. After Goldin writing a very bad description of why it was rare and desirable, doing a bad job of promoting my item, and then watering it down by including it in an auction with almost 20 other tickets from the same athlete, my item sold for only $850 which was way less than the more common versions of the ticket sold for in other auctions this year. Also, to make matters worse, I was charged an outrageous amount of $300 for the *** grading fee. I suggest, unless you have a high dollar item expected to sell for $50,000+, choose a different auction company because they won't do any special promotion of your item. Other auction houses I contacted like Heritage Auctions estimated my item should go for $2,000-$4,000+. Also, it was sneaky to not tell me ahead of accepting my consignment how much I would be charged for the *** grading fee. Otherwise, I would have thought about another auction house.

I gotta admit, I recently had a problem with a purchase I made like two years ago from Goldin Auctions. So, I bought this bunch of 89 baseballs, right? But here's the thing, they only came with this 'pre' certification from ***. It took me forever to catalog and certify the whole collection. And guess what? Some of those *** were unreadable, man! It's been such a long process, but now I finally found out that the "***" single signed baseball, which was clearly mentioned in the description, ain't even in the collection. Can you believe that? I mean, I wouldn't have bought the whole thing if that ball wasn't included, you know what I'm saying?

So, the other day, I finally decided to bring up the issue. And you know what they told me? They straight up denied me any kind of compensation or credit for future auctions. And get this, they said they lost all their records from that time when they messed with their database. That's just not cool, man. I always thought Goldin Auctions was a stand-up organization, but now I'm thinking of spreading the word on social media. Everyone needs to know about this.

I had a great experience with Goldin auctions thanks to ***, their VP of consignment services. The auction format was similar to others I've used, but their customer service was so much better that I wouldn't consider selling my collection anywhere else. *** was really responsive and always available to explain things to me and give me advice. It felt like talking to a knowledgeable friend or family member who shared their experiences and let me make my own decision. Even after the sale, *** remained consistent and helpful. I recommend giving this company a second chance if you've had a negative experience, just contact *** and you'll see what I mean. By the way, I'm not a big client, but they still treated me well. My transaction had some issues with the payment processing company Stripe, which was frustrating. It took a few weeks, but after I emailed *** about my frustration, he and another Goldin employee, ***, found a solution and my payment was posted to my account within 2 days. So, my review is based on these two individuals, but they represent Goldin and that's all I know about them.

In June, I sent 28 graded games to Goldin Auctions. They sold 17 of them but didn't pay me! I waited for 1.5 months and contacted Goldin. They cancelled the lost set of checks and sent me a new check with a different total. The old set was $3,015 USD in total. The new check was $2,500 USD. Finally, I received all the checks, but only after they were cancelled due to the long wait. The $2,500 check was cancelled and they said they would wire transfer the money to me. That was a few days ago. Every day, they say they're working with the accounting team to wire the money, but I haven't received anything. Also, I initially spoke to a guy named ***, but he passed me on to another guy named *** when I complained, and then I was passed on to the account manager, ***. But why does the account manager need confirmation from the accounting team? Goldin Auctions is a scam. I did get the 11 unsold games back, but I had to pay $150 to get them back. And I'm still waiting to get paid for the 17 games that sold in their July auction. It's almost October now. I have 4 cancelled checks and when I contacted the ***, they told me not to try to cash anything from Goldin because they think there might be fraudulent activity that could drain my account if the checks bounce. I'm going to have my first child in November. This was supposed to be a nest egg for any upcoming expenses. I can't even get paid what I'm owed. I spent the entire COVID-19 pandemic collecting sealed games and having them graded. Goldin is trying to steal my *** and I won't let them. Please, someone stop them.

Sellers, check out the email conversation below.

Goldin: - Hey ***, Card is back from grading, will be in our Holiday auction - Rookie Card (#1/1) NM 7
Me: It got a NM 7? That stinks. What are the dates of the Holiday Auction?
Goldin: Holiday runs 12/19-1/5/23
Me: Got it.
Me: Hello ***, Happy Holidays - Based on your email above it looks like my one of one is going *** in Holiday Auction starting Monday! - Hoping he keeps winning and makes the playoffs. Thank you,
Me: Also it looks like someone else put a card up very similar to mine and only got $600.00. If you think that is what mine will go for, I would prefer to hold off and not sell the card at this time. Please feel free to call me to discuss.
Goldin: Hi ***, My apologies, I just went to inform my inventory team to remove your card from the upcoming Holiday auction and I saw that the card that sold for $600 was your card unfortunately. I see my internal notes putting this card into Holiday so I'm unsure how it got slotted into November, I'm looking into this now.
Me: That's a problem. So you're telling me that card actually went up for auction before you even emailed me to let me know you got the card back from grading? And you no longer have my card and someone actually got my One of One for $600.00.
Goldin: That's correct and I'm not sure how. For comparison, another one of one version of this card sold for $825 at a grade of 8.5.
Me: Hello ***, please have someone call me. I would like to speak to someone about your error and get my one of one card back.
Goldin: ***, We have a signed agreement on the card which I've attached. The winning bidder paid and the card has been sent to him. +*** pls review thread below.
Me: Hello ***, So I had my lawyer look over the contract. You are correct we have a signed agreement that basically says you can lie directly to my face and there is nothing I can do about it. Happy Holidays.

My experience with GA was a complete nightmare! Never, ever send them an ungraded card. Take lots of pictures of your items and watch them closely. I sent them my LeBron rookie card collection, which had over 150 cards, because they were supposed to be the best auction house. GA, the premier auction house in the industry? Hardly! Their Vault storage was only for graded cards and didn't show all of mine. They were supposed to run all my cards in one auction, but at the beginning, 16 of my cards were missing. I had to tell them twice which cards were missing, even though we had a signed contract listing every card. Finally, they added the missing cards during the auction. Then, they took out 9 high-end cards and put them in the next auction. Some descriptions and quantities were wrong, and it was like pulling teeth to get them to fix their mistakes. They made a lot of them! One of my high-end cards sold for $6,*** before fees. When I received the check and itemized paperwork, I realized they owed me more. They then told me that card was defaulted on. Nice vetting process, right? Shouldn't that information be important to a client? They said the defaulted card would be rerun in the June auction, but it didn't happen. It also didn't run in the July auction or appear in the preview for the August auction. Why? It's simple: they have my card and they're in charge. That's a terrible way to treat a client. Talk about a lack of professionalism. They should be ashamed of themselves! After contacting the *** Attorney General and other agencies, my defaulted card was returned to me. I want to thank the agencies that helped the little guy. Maybe I should write a book about this experience, but no sequels!

I had a car (*** RC first edition 9.5). I was convinced to auction my card off in the July 2022 sale. I told the representative named *** that I currently have offers for $4,500, and he said this card would fetch more at auction. The auction happened, and right away there were issues with viewing my card, which I reported to Goldin. They said they would get back to me but never did. I asked for my card to be removed from the auction, but they refused. The auction ended, and my card sold for less than the estimated value. It was not even 30% of the given estimate. When I complained, they told me two things: take a loss and move on, and if I speak badly about them, they will involve lawyers and withhold my payment. To make matters worse, they still kept 20% of the sellers premium from my funds.

I sent a card in for auction thinkin' they would agree on a fixed price. When they got the card, I talked to the representative askin' how much they gonna list it for. They said it won't have a set price and gonna start at a dollar. I told 'em to give me back the card, but they didn't and sold it at auction for way less than what I wanted. I asked many times to get the card back or set the auction price as I wanted. I asked for the card back on the same day they got it, but suddenly their policy changed. I thought we would agree on a price before sendin' it, or I wouldn't have sent it at all. They could've sent it back to me when I asked, and none of this mess would've happened. Right now, they've basically stolen my card, and I want 'em to fix this!

On August 7th, someone from Goldin Auctions emailed me about selling an autographed guitar signed by someone famous and the members of the Heartbreakers (certified authentic). After seeing pictures of the guitar, Jared emailed me to send it to them soon for an upcoming memorabilia auction. He said Goldin Auctions had great success with similar items and I shouldn't worry about buyers bidding and not paying because all prospective buyers have to be prequalified. After a month with no auctions or communication, I asked in emails what was happening. They then told me the auction was now in November (17th). We discussed what I thought the guitar was worth. I mentioned that I had seen identical guitars sell for over $***. When the auction started, there was hardly any bidding, and I expressed my doubt and disappointment. They assured me the price would soon rise. I was never told the highest bidder's bid and asked what was going on. They said, "It's possible the bidder defaults and the item goes unpaid." I voiced my concern and said, "I want the guitar returned because the item was unpaid." They told me to wait a month. On 1/5, I received an email from someone named *** stating, "If the item remains unpaid, I will coordinate its return to you." I accepted their correspondence and thanked them for coordinating its return. On 1/17/2022, another email from *** says, "Once *** advises, I can release the item." *** sends a check for $*** with no explanation. I said this is not acceptable and stated that I will not let this go or sign and cash the check. I sent a letter expressing this and mentioned that I'm contacting the ComplaintsBoard.com and the *** in ***. This is an attempt to defraud me and lacks transparency in the transactions. Also, in writing, I was assured the guitar would be sent to me. Please investigate. Thank you