help with consigning

[sycks22]

What would be the top 5 auction houses to consign an item? Aka lowest consigning fee / quickest payouts. Any help would be great
Thanks

[bobbyw8469]

Goodwin charges 0% consignment fee. Robert Edwards pays out fast and seems to obtain high prices. Memory Lane paid out fast, although their prices weren't as high as REA's. But ML has more than one auction per year. It all depends on what you are after.

[Matt]

Goodwin charges 0% consignment fee. Robert Edwards pays out fast and seems to obtain high prices. Memory Lane paid out fast, although their prices weren't as high as REA's. But ML has more than one auction per year. It all depends on what you are after.

the consignment fees are only half the financial equation - the BP is just as critical as any consignment fees. I believe B&L and Lew Lipsett offer the lowest total fees for a consignor.

[ls7plus]

My best experiences have been with Bill Goodwin.

Good luck,

Larry

[Bosox Blair]

Robert Edwards pays out fast and seems to obtain high prices.

Consign with REA today and you'll get paid out in...oh, about one year exactly. :D

But that raises another point - advances on consignments. I understand certain auction houses will give you pre-sale funds advances on certain consignments. If you need money pronto, you might look into this.

Cheers,
Blair

[sycks22]

Thanks for the help guys

[Exhibitman]

Don't forget to negotiate; if you have good stuff you can get a very low or even zero commission.

[autograf]

Almost all the auction houses will give an advance for top shelf stuff. If you have a VG T206 Cobb, don't expect an advance. If you have a large batch of good quality, in demand items, shop around and see what people will offer. Legendary and REA offered nice advances on item's I've sold with them including a T206 near set. Just ensure that you put it down on paper and minimize your costs and maximize what the amount returned to you will be. If you go with the larger auction houses, be prepared to have your items placed into the larger type lots. They are looking to maximize the per lot averages in their auctions and minimize the number of pages printed in catalogs. The more boutique-type auctions like B&L will lot things in smaller lots which could net you more. Be sure to get any of those type items explained and agreed to up front.

[Mrc32]

If you go with the larger auction houses, be prepared to have your items placed into the larger type lots. They are looking to maximize the per lot averages in their auctions and minimize the number of pages printed in catalogs.

So how does that work exactly? If you have a t206 Cobb and it gets lumped into a lot with other type cards and gets a final bid of $1500-- how is it determined what the value of your one card was as a % of the total hammer price?

[sycks22]

Does anyone know who gives the highest cash advance? I have some items that will bring in a couple grand, but nothing over $10k.

[sports-rings]

Do the cash advances wind up costing you in the end? Meaning is an auction house less inclined to offer a zero or low consignment rate if you request money upfront?

[barrysloate]

Pete- no auction house has a policy of giving the highest cash advances. If they want your consignment they will agree to give you an advance. How much it may be is based on you negotiating with them. If you have a T206 Wagner you call all the shots. If you have more run of the mill items then you will have to be flexible. As Tom B. said the better quality and higher value your consignment, the more leverage you have. If you have more common material that auction houses get regularly, then you will not have as strong a position. It's business.

[sycks22]

Thanks for all the info everyone

[pclpads]

I've never dealt with either, but I've always read favorable comments on PWCC and Probstein. Dunno about their specific auction policies, like advances.

[bobbyw8469]

PWCC and Probstein

I doubt very seriously either one of them would give cash advances. I have dealt with PWCC and it is pretty painless. I feel that for your average run of the mill cards (ie, 1952 Bowman Mantle PSA 5), that they would be the best route to get rid of stuff.

[c203816]

For those who have consigned with REA, what's their typical pay-out time frame?

[ls7plus]

Very good points, Tom B. and Barry.

Heritage also has done very well and works very hard on the write-ups for the lots on game-used items, plus taking care of authentication.

Regards,

Larry

[dstudeba]

I believe both Sterling Sports (http://www.sterlingsportsauctions.com/) and Brockelman-Luckey (http://www.b-lauctions.com/) auctions have low net fees and faster payouts. I think B-L tries to get everyone paid in two weeks, and I think Sterling pays as soon as they get paid which can be almost immediate since they take paypal.

I am going off of memory so be sure to double check with them.

[buymycards]

I had some items in the previous B&L auctions and I was very pleased with the entire process, especially compared to my consignments with other auction sites. I don't know about cash advances, but everything else was first class.

Ease of consignment was A+. I mailed the items to B&L so I didn't have to make a long trip to meet someone in person. I didn't have to fill out a lengthy consignment agreement.

I was very pleased with the hammer price for my items. Again, A+.

I didn't have a lengthy lead time in advance of the auction, so I wasn't waiting for months for the auction to start.

Zero consignment fee. This was very significant, especially when compared to 20% for some auction houses.

No paper catalog to hold in my hand, buy who really cares? The website was great and worked well. The only glitch is that for the past couple of auctions the extended bidding period doesn't work correctly with the Google Chrome browser, but it is easy to change to IE.

The descriptions were very good. Sometimes when I read through an auction catalog it seems like they are just going through the motions with their descriptions or they don't have enough knowledge of what they are selling, but I thought that B&L did a good job.

Zero consignment fee. (Did I mention that already?)

Quick payment. I had a check in my grubby little paws 14 days after the auction closed. Can't beat that!

B&L did a great job, and I will consign with them again when I am ready to move some more items.

Rick

[sycks22]

Thanks for all the help everyone