J Levine Auction & Appraisal

My husband and I have been clients of J. Levine Auction for at least 5 or 6 years now as both buyers and sellers with complete satisfaction. We routinely attend sales in person, have bought over the phone and also via the Internet. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. We feel fortunate to have access to treasures from high-​end Estates in a fair auction format. We have had lots of fun bidding and are delighted with the collectibles that we have bought at this auction!

Amazing auction house. My husband and I bid and bought a few lots online. Price was great, service was smooth and organized. Everything we bid on were just as described. Top notch online auction house. It’s exactly what we told by our friends. Cool stuff you will never find anywhere else. The estates in AZ have amazing things.

Worst experience ever! They are so disorganized. I brought in a bunch of pieces to be sold. They gave me a slip and took pictures of everything. For what I got from the sale, I honestly could have done better selling the art on my own.
After the sale, I inquired as to where my remaining pieces were; they only sold half. I was told they didn’t know where they were and was I sure of how many I brought in. Thank goodness I had my own pictures because they had no clue what they were looking for. I was later informed that they sold some in a lot, rather than individually, and that’s why they don’t have them. (I still don’t believe them.)
It’s been over a month and I still don’t have the pitiful amount of money that they sold my pictures for.
I would NEVER sell anything through J Levine again. What a dissapointing experience overall.

We had these guys sell an item for us and they completely exaggerated how much they could sell it for and it took over a month to get our check. We were lead to believe their commission was 25% which is very high but we agreed, when we went to get our check we found out they used magic math to calculate 25% and actually took out an additional $ 125, something about tiered commissions. I would highly advise NOT to use this company.
This is a total rip off !!!

Here among the high end hock shops, jewelry buyers and coins dealers is an auction house equal.
I’ve neither bought or sold here, but picked up for an auction junkie friend living out of town. I’ve been treated politely and professionally here. This looks like a fine spot to find objects of desire and stuff to flip. Out of state, internet and phone bidder premium is 20%. In house premium is 15%. Normal premiums. All sales «as is». Payment is cash or credit card.
I’ve had some interesting experiences in life my hard core scientist brothers and sisters would beat me up on. In doing a friend a favor, I’ve picked up a 19^th century whaling harpoon head.
I’m not totally comfortable around real Samurai swords, a cavalry sword in a 19^th century Apache buckskin scabbard, astoundingly beautiful knives forged for Special Forces, or my grandfather’s World War I service revolver.
I know where these objects are going or have been, why they were created, and the death they will or have dealt. But that’s just me.
I’m imagining a giant pod of sperm, blue, humpback and gray whale spirits from around the world stuck to the instrument of their ends. Chasing my car home. No thanks for their sacrifice for humans, simply a dispatch, melt down, casking, and sale to the highest bidder. This piece gets stored in the shed.
I’d never pay the price and commission my friend payed for this ancient, over-​polished, un-​oxidized, non-​provenanced item my friend bought. Patina all gone. But that’s markets, auctions and buyer taste. Auctions are fun when things go your way, no matter what end of the deal you’re on. Remember, the broker always wins.
I’d come back to try my hand.

BUYER BEWARE– Do NOT purchase anything from J Levine!
We have had two horrible experiences at different times with this auction company. Watch what they say about particular items (that they are the real deal) and check it for yourself — DO NOT believe anything this group says. They will lie to your face — just to make money.
There is no customer service — because it is all about scamming the buyer. They just don’t care.

This place is a real mixed bag. If you are a buyer, you must look at the items in person to inspect before buying. They typically only post one picture per item. Every time I’ve purchased online based on picture and description alone, I have been burnt because of details left off the description such as an art drawing that was scotch taped into the frame or a vintage bowl that was shown with a minor hairline crack in the photo but inside was a huge glob of resin/​glue. So I strongly recommend going in to view all items you are interested before buying, especially if it’s for any significant amount of money.

I am pretty sure I have officially done business with all of the auction houses in the valley. I have to say depending on what you are looking for they run a fair auction.
You can either go on the west side which I think is EJ’s and find some lower end fun finds or go to Scottsdale and find higher end amazing itemsl. I always feel welcome and have never felt like I over paid or was treated unfairly etc. I love going… check it out. Heads up westside is no AC, Scottsdale does and cookies… yum.

I hired J Levine Auction & Appraisal and two other auction houses to sell off household goods and antiques from my mother’s estate. The owner, Josh Levine, is a straightforward individual and seemingly knowledgeable auctioneer. He was prompt for his initial appointment and his crew was respectful, careful inside the home, packed efficiently, and generally had good things to say about their boss Josh Levine and his company.
So, why is this a one star review? Because everything promised turned out to be much less than we were assured… The estate was packed well and everything was given a code according to the items’ owners; unfortunately, when the sales were made the checks came un-​coded. But, that’s not all…
Before that came the auctions — we sent in hundreds and hundreds of items. Many fewer items made it to sale than we sent. Initially, when Josh evaluated our mother’s home he felt he was the man for the entire job. We did not think so and fortunately for us we were correct. Most of the valuable piece were scheduled and sent to NYC and Boston for auction where we made out well. Anything we gave to Josh either did not sell and was given to charity (we agreed upon this ahead of time), was not auctioned (no way to know), or sold for pennies, and I mean pennies, 2 and 3 cents on the dollar; even some pieces that were antiques from the 19^th century that were scheduled on insurance riders for a lot of money — sold for pennies.
If you are looking for bargains — considering what J Levine Auction & Appraisal got for our mother’s estate’s valuables — this must be a great place to shop. And, if you don’t care what you get for your estate and just need the decedent’s home cleared out — J Levine Auction & Appraisal is a good choice as they are very good at that; moreover, I still believe that Josh Levine is a reputable person. However, if you have valuable antiques it would be best not to have J Levine Auction & Appraisal help you sell them IMHO.

I’ve now been four times to J. LEVINE AUCTIONS in Scottsdale, and bid/​won online once. Living down in Chandler, they are not exactly close, but they are definitely the best auction house in the area. With this review, I am upgrading LEVINE from 4 now to 5 stars here on Unilocal.Here’s why:
Each time I’ve been to J. LEVINE AUCTIONS (JLA), I’ve been more impressed with their organization, service and even friendliness. This isn’t just because they seem to add a personal touch to what they are doing — but also because we’ve been visiting some of their competitors in recent weeks and the best word to describe what else is out there is «trainwreck!»
That may seem a little harsh, but we’ve really been enjoying the JLA events — both the weekly Thursday auctions and most recently the Catalog Auction, which was as much a «big deal» as they advertised. From Tiffany jewelry to Picasso’s, Chagall’s, and Dali’s to a first/​limited edition Oscar Wilde book, there was much to see and bid on that they almost could have (but thankfully didn’t) charge an entrance fee.
In my previous review, I’d noted a lack of refreshments. That’s been taken care of: vending machines are on site (either new or I’d missed them before) offering both drinks and snacks, and we learned firsthand today that some of the restaurants sharing the block can be enticed into offering discounts to auction patrons — you might just have to do a little more finagling!
With items going from as little as $ 10 (great art and housewares bargains) to well over $ 10,000 (still great art and jewelry bargains, I’m sure), there is something for everyone at JLA — and it seems like everyone is not only welcome, but has a great time while there.
Be sure to check the website each week prior to the auction for lots of pictures (it’s a great website), and you can even bit online. What’s nice is that they post information and pictures online, and all the lots are open for inspection both prior to, and during, the auction.
By the way, I saw a review that complained about the buyer premium here (13% for live bidders and 16% for online bidders) vs. 10% at Brunk Auctions. If you pay with cash in-​person at JLA, the premium is discounted to 10% as well — same at Brunk, and less than many other places.
See you soon at J. LEVINE AUCTIONS!
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NOTE TO EVERYONE: Regardless of what auction, swap meets, gallery or store you go visit, Arizona is on of 30+ states that does NOT collect sales tax on coins, currency or bullion. Unfortunately, not all accounting software recognizes this. Be sure that if you buy U.S. coins or gold/​silver bullion that you aren’t charged sales tax.

Wow, even after I paid an atrocious 16% buyers premium I got a lady calling me being really rude about picking up the item by 5pm that day. Even though I explained I worked and lived downtown she could give a blank less. If i didn’t come get by five they were going to charge me a storage fee. The item was a small toy. Really a small toy. Even though I was happy to come first thing saturday morning that wasn’t good enough. I cant believe this place. I think I’ll stick to Ron Brunks auction or R and R as they really know how to treat their buyers. In the end there are plenty of auction houses in Phoenix and this is one I’ll be scratching off my list. Dont waste your time or your money here.