Alaska Auction Co.

"They always have the most interesting items at auctions. Staff is friendly and helpful."

"The guys at Alaska auction do a superb job with shipping auction items to winners!! I prefer doing business with them over the other large alaska auction company! Huge shout-out to Andreas!! He is a wealth of knowledge in Alaskana and has excellent customer service skills."

"Since my emails about my damaged gun have been ignored for months, I feel like a review is necessary. I have been a loyal customer at Duane’s for twelve years, purchasing something from almost every single auction they’ve held in that span of time. I loved doing business with Duane and his wife, and I’ve gotten along well with every person who has managed the auction house - until now. Ever since the auction has been handed over, the overall experience and quality of service has dramatically declined. I consigned an antique shotgun several months ago which was returned to me as it didn’t meet the reserve I placed on it - however, when it came back, the barrel had been freshly damaged (dented and bluing scraped off). I know for a fact it wasn’t like that before I left it at the auction, as the pictures they took and the pictures I took show that it was not damaged. I didn’t notice at first after I got it home because there was masking tape with the lot number placed over the dent (masking tape is what they normally use for numbering lots, so I didn’t think much of it). It wasn’t until I removed the tape to clean the gun before putting it back in my safe that I saw the dent and scrape. I emailed them, where I got a voicemail admitting that unsupervised customers might have damaged it, and that the fix would be cheap - but all subsequent attempts to get in contact have been ignored. There is also a 1-2 year wait on gun repair all over the state, so the gun is unsellable for 1-2 years until it can be fixed. Long guns at the auction are not stored in a secure location, and customers are allowed to handle them unsupervised. Someone, at some point, dropped or slammed this gun into something. Needless the say, the gun is unusable currently and the value is significantly decreased. This is also not the first time items I consigned have been damaged by the auction house (by the current management). I consigned an oil painting and asked that it NOT be placed on the floor in stacks of other paintings because I’ve seen them do that in the past. They ignored me and put it on the floor in a stack of other paintings and the canvas was permanently damaged by another frame pressing into it. The picture was also there for months without being listed, and when I went to pick it up, they didn’t even know where it was and I had to go find it myself - it was in the annex (a different building) when I finally located the stack of pictures it was in. Items I have consigned have sat at the auction house for months, completely forgotten. And if you consign multiple items, don’t expect them to be listed in the same auction (where you would get one check for all the items you consigned), they will split up your items over several different auctions and you’ll get multiple small checks. This makes it hard to keep track of what’s sold and what hasn’t, and is just a frustrating and sloppy practice overall. Other than that, the pictures they take are terrible (to the point where I didn’t want to consign anything unless I took the pictures myself), the descriptions and titles will have typos, and they’ll give your stuff away by being lazy and making massive lots of items that really should be broken up. For example, I purchased a large lot of framed Native American artwork and didn’t know what was in it because they couldn’t be bothered to unstack and lay out the pictures. The poor person who consigned it got nothing (I only paid $35, and the seller still had to pay the consignment fee), and two of the pictures in the lot were worth $1200 each - and there were probably 15 other pictures in there as well. They cost sellers money. And to add insult to injury, they’ve also increased their fees, so you’re paying more for less. I have overlooked the many issues caused by the auction’s current management because I genuinely loved shopping there and had so many great past experiences, but it’s not worth it anymore. I cannot recommend using this auction company anymore. They don’t take accountability and they don’t care. - Abigail"

"They have neat items. I use to buy in person when I lived there, since look online and have bought stuff. The issue is their attitude. I've bought around $35-40k in items in my time. When you call and try to pay for $8k in items with multiple credit cards they get all angry because your giving them money! Not everyone has $8 grand laying around on one card or account, but get upset because you have to run 3 cards AND your making $1200 in commission is absurd! Also takes 3 days for them to get stuff out the door so if your wanting shipping, plan for 6-8 days to get it at your door. It's been months since I bought because all I think about is their attitude and hassle I'll get from them. Sad! You can tell from their response to my review the attitude you'll get. No ownership of how they treat people, it's your fault. They will state rediculous objective phrases like you've never been there as they try to hunt you down for the reviews you give however I've seen the top hat in person more then once. Still amazed they are around since I lived there."

"I definitely would not go by their descriptions of items. I was disgusted after I picked up a ring (Costume jewelry) to find it was marked Made in China! I threw it in the garbage. Never again. Bidders beware. They should disclose that on their descriptions. I looked on the site and did not see a customer contact email address so I’m writing a review."