Quote:
Originally Posted by nrm1977
On a side note, I don't understand why someone would send items to a ebay "auction house". I truly never understood that. I can understand if you don't have the time to list, ship etc but, why on earth do people do this? It just doesn't register with me.
Nick
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There are a lot of reasons. eBay's selling policies scare some sellers who have no desire to deal with the specter of charge-backs and returns. Too many horror stories.
Raymond asked: "Do you net more money consigning on EBAY at 10% or through AHs at 20%?"
That's a really interesting question. I've found it cuts both ways.
First of all, the 10% and the 20% are not really the correct figures. With the charges for paypal added in, the eBay figure for a non-store seller is approximately 13%. As for the AHs, the issue is the combined cost of commission and BP. Most AHs now have to give out zero commission deals to get consignments but they still rake the BP off the top at anywhere from 15% on up to 23%. I was recently quoted a 15% commission and a 23% BP by an AH, and the rep refused to negotiate. I took my consignment elsewhere. If you can get a consignment deal at 0 commission and the BP is reasonable, does it really make sense to bother with eBay sales to save a few percentage points? For me, most of the time it does not.
Second, the raw math doesn't tell the whole story. Some bidders do not like to scour eBay for deals. I know several wealthy collectors who simply will not use eBay. I also know a number of tech-unfriendly collectors who will not participate in e-commerce. I was speaking with one over the weekend who said he received a catalog from an AH and was now going to bid by phone. eBay will miss those people.
Third, for some esoteric items of memorabilia, a good AH is a better choice for selling. I consigned a rare but obscure item to an AH recently rather than sell it on eBay and I was very happy with the marketing and the sale price. The relatively long lead on the catalog before the closing date and the motivated buyer base helped. I don't think it would have done as well on eBay with a seven day sale and bottom feeders. I also sold a rare item on eBay that I think benefited from the reach of eBay. It just depends.