Studio Auctions Mission Statement

We believe that the Hollywood auction houses (Juliensauctions.com), the Prop Store (propstore.com), Heritage Auctions (HA.com) and Studio Auctions are not in competition with each other. Each auction house and auction is different and no auction house is routinely selling the same items in any given auction as the other ones. However, there are some clear differences.

Consignors

Studio Auction offers price guarantees to consignors. Juliens Auctions, the Prop Store and Heritage Auctions generally do not. We also, depending on the item, waive our seller’s fee. Juliens Auctions, the Prop Store and Heritage Auctions generally charge consignors between 10% and 15%. Juliens Auctions, the Prop Store and Heritage Auctions do engage in marketing on various web sites with banner ads. Studio Auctions, in addition to advertising on a variety of web sites, has a more robust social media presence than the other three auction houses. One of the important things we offer consignors (aside from the financial guarantees) is smaller auctions. We feel that the thousand plus lot auctions that Juliens Auctions, the Prop Store and Heritage Auctions put out sometimes can work to the disadvantage of consignors. Lastly, the prices we get for consignors is competitive with Juliens Auctions, the Prop Store or Heritage Auctions.

Our opening bid is the reserve. Our understanding is that Juliens Auctions and the Prop Store sometimes have their reserve set higher than the opening bid. We believe that setting the opening bid as the reserve avoids confusion and is more straightforward.

Customer Service

We are often asked how our customer service differs from Juliens Auctions, the Prop Store or Heritage Auctions. Studio Auctions has been expanding very quickly in terms of the number of lots we offer at auction and the number of people on our team. This is good news! Overall, we tell customers that we offer the most personalized customer service and that is largely due to the fact that we are smaller than Heritage Auctions or the Prop Store. That is the way we prefer it. You will always receive a call or email back the same day, often right away.

Bidders

We do not shill bid. We are not allowed to do so and even if it were permitted, it is unethical and we would not engage in the practice. We cannot comment on the practice of other auction houses! In certain states where some of the other Hollywood auction houses are based (e.g. Heritage Auctions), shill bidding may be permitted.

Authentication is key. Studio Auctions is particularly focused on provenance. Our consignment director has been in the industry for decades and used to work at Heritage Auctions. We rely on not only our own internal staff, but outside experts when needed.

Please let us know if you have any questions.