Auction Houses vs. Ebay
This might be a silly question, but Ive been on this board for a bit, and wanted to finally ask....
why do people use independent auction houses to sell their cards instead of ebay? It seems to me that these online independent houses would not nearly attract the amount of eyeballs as ebay would. Whst am I missing here? 😣 Thx! |
Its cheaper.
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Less chance of funny business, returns, ebay deciding what you must do, Paypal charge backs, non-paying bidders, etc. Ebay is fine for lower dollar items, but I can see Ebay being a headache for more expensive items.
DJ |
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If you're not a major ebay seller it's going to be hard to sell a card for what a major auction house could, even after the buyer's premium. I know I couldn't unless I got lucky. People don't trust sellers without high ratings and feedback scores as much as say Heritage, Goodwin, etc.
And it's easier. You don't have to post pictures, deal with buyers not paying, or run the risk that someone will receive your card and file an ebay claim any way. You're paying for a service. I have also consigned to ebay seller PWCC and been pleased with results. Lower fees than AHs and they've got quite a following. |
When you say "instead of ebay", do you mean an eBay consigner or selling yourself on eBay?
And one thing that hasn't been mentioned, if you have something rare, that is valuable, but not really mainstream and as a result the number of collectors chasing it is smaller, you may get more eyeballs on it from the AH because they send out catalogs and the length of time the item is "up" is typically longer than the eBay 7 day standard. For a graded card from a mainstream set, I'd probably go with an eBay consigner. |
It's also not an either/or proposition. Many dealers sell some items on eBay and consign other items to auction houses. Most dealers have multiple avenues for selling, and use which avenue they deem best for what item and what situation.
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Sterling is 15% with no commission on graded cards. eBay is 10% plus 3% for payment processing. And all the other nonsense mentioned above versus no effort besides sending the card to Lee.
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Joe |
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The stated auction houses that generate the highest sale amounts (REA, Heritage, Goodwin, etc,) typically add 20% buyer's premium and 20% sellers premium which totals to about 35% or so (not 40% since seller premium is before buyer premium). Yes, an auction house will lower or even drop the seller premium for truly outstanding items. But PWCC would be 8% for those high sale items. |
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they're just different clubs in the golf bag. I think people TEND to bid more aggressively in an auction house situation for a mid to high end card. I think you get more eyes on an eBay auction, but not necessarily more sophisticated buyers. My experience is also that sometimes, I pick the wrong golf club.
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I don't buy off ebay outside of what is emailed in a saved search. It takes too much time to sift through all the junk that is mis-categorized. AH have things organized and you won't have to sit through reprints that advertise as originals.
So just because there are more users on Ebay doesn't mean there are more buyers. |
So true, Andy. Lots of lowball bottom feeding lookieloos on eBay. I know because I am one.
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It would seem logical that buyers would bid more for items on Ebay simply because of the auction house buyers premium and possibly sales taxes. I would much rather pay $5000 on Ebay that pay $6000 plus taxes at an AH.
James |
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Regarding the sales tax, whether it is collected by the auction house or not, is totally dependent on whether they are required to collect it. While Ebay has more individual sellers who don't collect it, there are certainly sellers on ebay with legitimate businesses that do. DJ |
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James |
Auction houses do a lot more than you think, they authenticate the material, they market and advertise the memorabilia and you can also trust whom you are buying from. With eBay you roll the dice wth some of the sellers (not all obviously).
Auction houses also build relationships with consignor who have vast collections and can pick up large collections if necessary. They in turn create printed catalogs to market, describe and photograph material. When items are sold you know you are going to receive the item well packaged. So there is a lot that they do do and even more than I have described here |
Also some auction houses go out of their way to research items to give them an extra boost.
Al over at Love Of The Game auctions researched that Gehrig bat and likely turned a $20,000 item into one that went for $400,000. I have to think that consignor was pretty happy. He also took my Scrapps pieces and, through research, broke the mystery surrounding the issue, likely getting me more money in my pocket in the process. Tom C |
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so again its 20% versus 13%.....BP not a factor besides the total charges seller or buyer pays which have already been stated.. .its not like BP is a secret.....some people are willing to pay more total for the card than on Ebay for certain cards etc........but its not like theres magic BP that the buyer is not aware of... a 1952 topps psa 8 Jackie robinson is on HA right now bid to 16k plus BP..i know I couldn't get 11k on it on ebay this year...so I wouldn't care about buyers paying BP on heritage.... this is just one example.. |
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Not sure where you guys are getting 13% at PWCC. They're 8% all-in on graded cards over $5K. It's on their consignment page. so the real analysis is 35% vs. 8%. Case closed. AH's are in real trouble. The dinosaurs bidding via this process will be gone in 10 years. You can be assured there is the same amount or more shilling going on at AH's than with E-bay, you just don't see it because AH's don't allow you to see their bidding. |
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For lower value cards the rate is higher for both. But no matter how you slice it, the AH is a lot higher. By using PWCC you get all the advantages of the AH, they do the work and shipping, have many loyal customers, etc. |
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You wouldn't see the bid go down, you get a call the next day
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There are pros and cons for each. Some notes (IMO) below .. AH - PROS: Auction format (buyers), focus on collectibles/appeal to collectors, no reprints/garbage or sifting through, generally a better quality of merchandise/rarer items, no PayPal, no fees to consignors (generally), harder to retract bids, AH assumes work and cost to list, print (those who have catalogs) and ship, a few AH's will work with TPGs to re-grade, re-slab damaged holders, usually better scans and descriptions. CONS: Too many AHs, hard to keep track of who, what, when. Buyer commissions (I've seen 12.5% to 22%), limited reach/audience, some charge ridiculous shipping ("handling") fees on top of buyer commission, sales tax where applicable factors/erodes into what buyers will bid, longer wait to be paid, usually only pay by check/MO, some AH's pass on PayPal/CC fees to buyer, auction format can be risky for sellers w/out reserve or minimum bid. EBay - PROS: No buyer commission, broader reach/audience, quicker (you don't have to wait for the next auction), do it yourself formats, easy shipping, no sales tax (for sales under $20K + 200 items annually - some charge sales tax for sales within state), pay by CC/PayPal, easy to identify sellers you'd like to avoid. CONS: FVF (Final Value Fees) usually at/about 10%, PayPal fees on top of, sometimes listing fees as well, difficult feedback policy for sellers, can get unwarranted/unfair buyer feedback which is hard to remove, fraudulent listings, does little to shut down bad listings or sellers (especially if the seller does a lot of business w/eBay), endless BIN ridiculous listings/prices, hard to weed out junk/reprints, eBay customer service is awful. Shill bidding can happen on both - a lot of hyperbole, hard to prove. Consigning on PWCC, Probstein, etc - basically you're having them do the work of listing and shipping for you. You get the benefit of their name/reach/familiarization but also increased cost of middle-man. I don't see it as a definite one over the other - both have advantages and some disadvantages. Depends on what you want to do, when and weighing them out. I also like to buy/sell here - Net54 has it's own set of advantages worthy of consideration. Again, just my opinion .. respectful of others, but never came close to knowing or realizing 35% noted on AHs. |
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