Jantzi Auctions

Great auction house. As a collector its really nice to have such a good auction house so close to home.
Mar 4th, 2023

To all potential bidders - Do not bid on any form of jewellery this auction sells unless you are into costume vintage items. None are the real deal(if you are thinking of real gems or gold) and worth not more than 10$ tops. Descriptions are made to look vague to generate interest thinking they are high quality.
Feb 17th, 2023

Dec 15th, 2022

Excellent service and staff. I have never been disappointed..
Oct 19th, 2022

Recently, I used Jantzi Auctions Ltd online auction platform to sell the contents of my parents home. The Good: After clearing the house of personal items, keepsakes, and true garbage, I decided online auction was the way to go. I contacted a few online auction companies in the region. Gary, the owner of Jantzi Auctions, came to the house for a no-fee walkthrough and said there was enough to do an auction. I was told, we wouldnt make a lot, but we would make some money and get the house contents cleared. Costs would include the listing on HiBid ($145), employee costs for cataloging, photography, and pick up day ($35/hr per person), and 30% of sales. I agreed to the terms. An online auction would essentially clean out the house in a day. The day of pick-up went smoothly. Items had been prepaid to Jantzi Auction and most people had booked a time to come. The two men from Jantzi were great; they stayed for a couple of hours to get us organized and then left, leaving a phone number if we ran into any issues. A few weeks before the auction took place 3 crew came to the house; 1 to organize the lots, 1 to write descriptions, and 1 to do the photos. I worked with the person organizing lots, guiding him through the rooms. He was impressed with how organized items were (I thought this might save some time). In hindsight, I should have paid more attention to how things were being described and photographed. The Bad: I was introduced to the person doing the photographing and told she was new. That should have been a flag, but I wouldnt have thought Jantzi would have sent someone who hadnt been properly trained. When my auction was posted on line, I was dumbfounded and furious a number of descriptions were inadequate or wrong, and a number of the photos did not clearly show what was being sold. This was pure amateur! I immediately contacted the owner, Gary. I was shocked because Jantzi Auction Ltd is highly regarded in the region. On a positive, Gary said that he and his wife would return to the house and redo photos at no cost (No kidding! - This was on them!). The next morning, I spent 3 hours going through the listing of the 309 lots, only choosing to update what were the most needed lots. Updates sent were to reword 64 lots and redo the pictures of 33 lots! The other issue I had, was that another addresss auction was added to our auction. This was done without me being told this could or would happen. When I questioned this, I was told it would bring in more buyers, but really, it just allowed another house, that had minimal items to sell (68 lots), a spot to use. The Ugly: After the auction was completed, I contacted Gary and asked to review the invoice prior to a cheque being written. I informed him that I expected to only pay half of the HiBid fee since another auction was paired with mine, and that I didnt expect to be billed for the hours the person in training accumulated. I was told I was paying for the full HiBid fee, as were the other people. Gary went on to cry woefully that his fees are really high and I had no idea how much it cost him to use HiBid. Not my problem! This is his business. In regards to the trainee, I was told I would be covering the full fees. He reiterated the time he took redoing photos and write-ups at no cost with no regard to the time I spent working on the corrections. He said he had an hourlong coffee meeting with his photographer and cataloger to go over my updates and how they needed to improve, and that the time was a learning experience for them. Not my problem! This is his business; I am the customer, and I expected professional quality service. I did not get this. In Conclusion: You do not make a lot of money doing an online auction, but it does save a lot of time and energy that would be needed to donate, junk, or sell everything. I would definitely recommend using an online auction platform to clear out a house (moving sale, estate sale, etc), but I do not recommend Jantzi Auctions Ltd.
Oct 14th, 2022