Things are tough and I need to liquidate some of my collection and need advice,

[blaze422]

I know this has been asked before but I thought selfishly that I'd run it up the flagpole never the less.
I have held onto some things..nice and complete 1963 Fleer thinking the ebay prices would go up...they haven't.
I also have some nice cards...Ryan and Rose rookie etc have in fact have held their value.
I have a lot of publications...1930-1970 World Series and All Star programs, Sport SI, etc that are very nice.
Reach, Spalding from 1907 thru the 40's etc.
Complete (EX+) years of TSN 1930 thru 1965

OK..the question is whether to open an ebay store and park items but pay their 10%+ fee on sales...or to go consignment at 15%... I need money ...the sooner,the better...
REA is interested in some of my nicer stuff, and a package is going out monday... but they aren't interested in items in the lower tier (LOL)
I'm thinking consignment but then that begs the question..which one? Especially with respect to publications.
FWIW...I'm in Dallas and was thinking about Heritage.
Sorry for the rambling, and thanks

[jcmtiger]

I think Leland's does well for publications. Call them and see what they say.

And do you have any Detroit Old Judge cards for sale?.

Joe

[perezfan]

Heritage may be a good choice. They realize great prices consistently. Plus, they can put your high-end items in their Premier auction; and your lower-end stuff in their weekly on-line auctions. Also, it sounds like they are local for you (which I assume would save you lots of potential shipping costs).

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

[thecatspajamas]

Speaking from experience, as this was pretty much how I got started on eBay, it will be a trade-off of time and effort vs. $. If you consign the lower tier stuff, it will require minimal effort on your part, but the auction house will likely lump it into big lots that will sell for whatever they go for. If you do it yourself on eBay piece by piece with an eBay store, you're going to wind up putting more time in on the front end, and depending on how you price things, it may take a long time to sell everything at fixed prices. If you do eBay auctions, you'll get your money quicker, but won't get as much for the stuff. If you have an idea of how much you would like to get for each item, you might get a pretty good jump just posting on the B/S/T board here.

Basically, the quicker you need the money and less effort you are willing to put into it, the less $ you'll get back. If you are able to survive spreading it out over time and put some work into it yourself, you can make more.

Or, if you're not careful, you may find yourself in a new career as I did a couple years ago when the commercial construction industry pretty much stopped and I left my job as a civil engineer to "do ebay" full-time :D

[drc]

You'll likely get good $$ from REA. They get good prices and wouldn't accept anything unless it was quality. They're picky.

Sounds as if you have some nice stuff-- which is of course good for your situation whichever way you sell. If you had a busload of 1988 Donruss, I'd say 'Uh oh.'

In general, I'd see what major auction houses are willing to take as a start.

Starting an eBay store rght now and putting some thing up sounds like something you can do in addition. It costs nothing to start a store so there's no $$ invested. You can start with ten items and see how it goes. You can consign and put things on eBay simultaneously-- not the same items, of course :) As noted, you can list items on the B/S/T.

Major dealers don't sell just one way-- they go through different avenues just as you can do. Even major auction houses sometimes have an eBay account to sell their extras. So selling some this way and some that way, some now and some then, isn't abnormal.

But for someone who hasn't sold before, getting stuff (if not all or even the majority of stuff) into a major auction house is a good deal.

[blaze422]

Thanks for the quick replies. I called Legendary and just got a receptionist. She said they'd be happy to look at pics if I wanted to e mail them. After I sent pics to REA, I got an enthusiastic call from them....who knows, but I am going to take a bunch of pics and send them to several houses and see what's what.
The labor involved in ebay listings as well as seeing that the ebay collectible buyers are mostly vultures ( like me:D) makes me think consignment.
The Sporting News is a very niche market...and I don;t want to give 'em away...they may have to bury them with me.

[drc]

I think your current method sounds good. And anything left over you can sell on your own.

[slidekellyslide]

People are so afraid to list things on ebay in a true auction style anymore...I still do it and get good prices for my sports items. $600+ for a 1928 World Series program, $900 for a Notre Dame vs Nebraska program. I sold 10 different 1920's Husker football programs in individual auctions and they averaged $190 each. This was all in the last month. Quality items will still bring good $$$'s on ebay. Of course some things are going to sneak by, but from what it sounds like some of your stuff will just be lotted up by the big auction houses...some of those publications will do well on ebay. I'm not sure any auction house will take the time to list individual publications..if times are tough and you have the time I'd take them to ebay.

[blaze422]

Dan...This is why I am so schizo about this. I have sold on ebay years ago and did do well, but the auction part now seems risky. I have limited understanding about the store concept and altho I never auctioned with a reserve or a high in opening bid listing in the past, am I correct that there is a one time fee for the high reserve in the store....that's it until it sells?
If I had a mailing list like Henry Yee I might feel better, but how do I make sure a $700 NrMt '42 AS program doesn't go for $150?

[slidekellyslide]

how do I make sure a $700 NrMt '42 AS program doesn't go for $150?

You can always put a reasonable reserve on it, but I think reserves scare some people off. I would think a near mint 42 AS program would be something an auction house might sell by itself..probably depends on which auction house you're dealing with...I was thinking more along the lines of the Sport, SI and TSN's. Also I've never seen an auction house sell Spalding and Reach guides in any other way than a lot so you'd definitely be better off selling them individually on ebay...As far as a store goes I don't know how the store works..if I have something that doesn't bring the $9.99 bid it just goes back into storage or I throw all that stuff into a local auction.

[slidekellyslide]

I just wanted to add one more option..Jonsstats on ebay lives in your area and he sells on consignment. Leon knows him IRL and can probably get you his contact info.

[thecatspajamas]

Dan's right in that if you're listing top-notch items, they will do well regardless. My caveat about the lower prices for eBay auctions (as opposed to fixed price) was with the understanding that the top-notch stuff was going to the auction house(s) and you were selling the leftovers on eBay.

As for the listing fees, depending on what kind of store "subscription" you have, the listing fee is a flat fee of a few cents, regardless of the asking price of the item. If you don't want to fool with a store subscription, you can always get up to 50 free auction listings per month (again, regardless of the starting price) and if you watch the announcements page (http://announcements.ebay.com/) they have a "free listing" day usually every week or two, though you'll have to be sure you follow whatever guidelines they have that week to qualify for the free listings.

[slidekellyslide]

If you're noticing a lot of 5 days auctions listed the last few days it's because ebay had free listings for 5 day or less auctions. Up to 5,000 items. Those days are always good days to list items that you are not sure will sell.

[btcarfagno]

And if you need some money right away ask the auction house for an advance. REA does this frequently. You might get around 40% of what the items are expected to fetch.

Tom C

[blaze422]

Thanks for the free listing link...I will look for it again, when the dust clears.
It appears from what I'm hearing, my plan should be
REA
Shop around with consignment auctions. Would still appreciate opinions. I'm thinking in this order...SCP, Legendary and then Lelands and then Hunt.
Free ebay listings and then what doesn't sell....ebay store.

If I understand the free listing promotion...there is no problem with listings having a reasonable but high opening price listing...and there is no obligation...fee...if the items are not relisted.

[thecatspajamas]

Correct on the free listing promotion. At least on all of the recent ones they have done, it doesn't matter what your starting price is, so you can basically treat it as a 7-day (or 5-day, depending on the fine print) fixed price listing if you want. They do change up the terms a little each time though, either limiting the number of free listings, or making it for specific durations of listings, etc. Just make sure you read everything. But you're right in that, if it doesn't sell, there is no cost to you. That only applies to the basic listing though, so if you do any add-ons (10-day listing, reserve, etc) they will tack those fees on, so just be sure to read what is included in the freebie before diving in.

[drc]

For auctions, it used to be that eBay would charge a higher insertion fee the high you minimum bid-- and it could get expensive, especially when things didn't sell. That's no longer the case-- it's a lot flat rate. So you can list items on eBay with a reasonable min bid without being charged a lot upfront. They recently changed their format in that respect. Though they charge more if things sell. So there's nothing that says you can't put up something on eBay with a risk-saving $99 min bid (or whatever amount) if you wish.

[thecatspajamas]

drc,
That's only true for AUCTIONS if you're using your 50 free listings or if there is a promotional rate that day. Other times, you will pay $1.00 per item to list an auction starting at $99.00 (as opposed to $0.10 per listing for items starting at 99 cents).

FIXED PRICE listings are the same flat rate which varies depending on your store subscription level, not the price of the item.

If you're just doing free auction listings, the starting price doesn't matter as long as you're sticking to the guidelines. If you've used up your free listings or are doing something else though (like starting on a different day, listing for different durations, etc) you'll wind up paying the fees.

Just want to make sure nobody gets stuck paying more to eBay than they have to. I figure I pay more than enough for all of us :p