Widar N.
Yelp
I bought a guitar amplifier from 1977 in the Walter Becker auction and followed the auction online from my home in Europe. I have mixed impressions of this auction house. I will stay away from bidding online in the future but I do think people may have a great experience buying things in person.
First off, however, I think Julien's is a decent place to *sell* large collections of celebrity stuff (like guitar collections) and even more fringe musical gear such as amplifiers and effects units, that will only attract buyers that themselves are musicians. In most cases, the guitars and other general collectibles that many people want went for a higher price than I would find on eBay, and gear such as amplifiers and effect pedals sold for about their eBay value. This is great for the seller, given that everything will be sold in a few days, while selling the same amount of stuff for a decent price at eBay requires a lot of work and years of patience. I see people do complain here about their 28% add-on to the hammer price, and that Julien's also seems to make an additional 20% cut from the hammer price at the sellers end, effectively keeping about half of the item's price. And yes, this is more than other high-end auction houses and not justified by the level of service they provide (see below).
My main problem with Julien's is the way their *online* sales are being organized. The only pictures they provide are low resolution pictures, one for each item, from which damages and cosmetic wear are impossible to see. They do not document the condition of each item in the written description and they did not answer my inquiry when I requested a "condition report" (they have a feature for this) for one very expensive item. So online bidding is a shot in the dark, and judging from the other reviews here, it's highly likely that you will end up with an item you are not happy with, such as a fake Gibson (I hope Julien's will answer that horror story) or a damaged item.
Another problem is that after buying your item, Julien's will impose a lot of surprising conditions on how you should pick it up, which is not part of their online terms and conditions. I had a guy in the area that was ready to pick up the item they same day as the auction, but I was told that picking up items are only allowed after a "scheduled appointment" and that pickup will be available from a warehouse in Torrance only, in another part of L.A, from next week and onwards. When we called them to schedule an appointment, we were told that appointments "can only be scheduled via email" and it took them 5 days to answer our email. This is impractical because you will have to reserve a couple of time slots in your personal schedule, keep them open for 5 days, and then see if Julien's accepts any of these before you can put something else there. None of these things are disclosed in their terms and conditions. What they indeed do have in their terms is, however, a clause that you should pay a fine for each day of storage if you do not pick up your item in time.
As a buyer, however, you can also ask Julien's business partner Art Pack to ship your items to you "within 8 to 10 weeks". I got a shipping quote of 499 dollars to send the amplifier to Europe with USPS this way, which is more than the 120 dollars USPS offered my guy in the area to send the same item to me. It also exceeds the 230 dollars I paid in the end, to get it the *next day* with DHL Express.
After all, however, I paid 1280 dollars (including the buyers premium and Julien's online fee) for a 1977 Fender Deluxe Reverb amplifier that arrived in expected working condition. So it turned out well, but only after a bit of luck and unnecessary work to "schedule" the pickup of my own item, which should not be needed given their high fees and "ultra high end" image.
