Selling $10,000 + sale on ebay
 

How to handle $10,000 + sales on eBay. Anyone sold items for this amount on eBay & how to handle payments.? Any Suggestions appreciated. Thanks Joe

I've always just accepted whatever payment method eBay offers the buyer. I think I've only ever sold items over $10k via 'Buy-it-now' which requires immediate payment. However, if it were an auction listing and the buyer wanted to send a check or bitcoin or whatever, I would accept that too. Just ensure the funds have been cleared first before shipping. And before shipping, I recommend you have some sort of private insurance policy (like CIS) to cover you in case there are any issues during shipping, because despite them offering you "shipping insurance", USPS, FedEx, and UPS will all screw you over if the package gets lost (the fine print in your insurance agreement with them limits you to $1,000 worth of coverage despite the fact that you paid for much more than that). Also, some people try to avoid accepting wire transfers for large payments because they don't like giving out their account numbers. Just be sure that you're comfortable with whatever risks you take on when receiving payment, and ask your bank if you have any questions. But all-in-all, it's usually pretty easy. Most buyers pay with a credit card or PayPal. As far as shipping goes, be sure to require a signature for delivery, and I recommend sending the package via Express mail, whether that's through FedEx or USPS. It's worth paying the premium for IMO. Those packages receive better care and attention in my experience.

that level of sale, i'd probably use a 3rd party to sell it. takes all the risk out of your hands and assume the fees aren't much different than you're giving ebay.

My fear has always been that someone will pay pal me the funds, I will go mail it, and then 30 minutes later I will get a message that they canceled the transaction. Has never happened but those sorts of shenanigans do worry me. As soon as the money hits my paypal it's transferred to the bank.

Frankly I think a lot of folks don't feel comfortable doing that level of transaction over eBay. I'd give it to one of the AHs that advertise here. A nice presentation by an AH can go a long way.

From stories told here on Net54, I agree wouldn't sell a $10k item on ebay. Especially if you are doing it in immediate future. It's getting close to holiday shipping season, and last year hundreds of Net54 members were sharing stories of lost packages, or packages sitting not being unloaded. Every major news service is already running stories that consumers should expect the same problems this year.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

I have never had an issue at that level buying or selling cards on ebay.

However, at that level I would rather sell at an auction house mainly because of the potential for more people with those funds looking and potentially bidding on it and potentially getting in a bidding war(or caught up in it) and you getting a higher prices then you would have.

The fee is higher at the Auction House but IMO it is worth it for the reasons I mentioned and the cleaner financial and shipping transactions that that Auction House handles for you

Thanks for all the input, I will probably go with AH. I have sold high price items via AH before. I was curious because I saw an item that sold for $12,000.00. I have a similar item I am thinking of selling. I messaged the seller about the sale price, but no answer yet. Joe

How much are the ebay fees or a $10K transaction? If it were sold via an auction house then it could be a 15% fee ($1,500).

I used to sell things on ebay and never got burned as a seller but that was a long time ago.

Sports memorabilia is 12.35% up to $7500 and 2.35% of the portion above $7500. The fee on $10000 would be $985.

Just a FYI, Ebay changed their policy on sports cards returns, buyers now have 3 days to return a sports card if the seller doesn't offer returns instead of the old 30 days.

And I don’t know any auction houses that will charge you a selling commission on a $10,000 item! I would certainly never use this auction house?

Agreed

usually on high end/value cards the Auction House will waive the fee (They may not give points back that is usually for higher end/value cards but it never hurts to ask)

Thus it is cheaper then ebay fee wise and you get the other potential benefits already mentioned.

It's really odd. I had an over 6 figure card that I sold with an AH earlier this year. Knew 99% who I wanted to sell it with anyway, but had a few discussions with AH's I've purchased from in the past. With one of them had a perfectly odd conversation where the owner was like "I can see what I can possibly do to reduce the seller's commission . . ." The whole point of my call was to see how much over 100% I could negotiate. It's just a weird dance. I'm not saying they are trying to take advantage of uninformed sellers, but it definitely seems like they are trying to see how much you know. Like walking into a car dealership. Call of course went nowhere and I sent the card to the AH I wanted to use all long. Guy didn't help him self with the cagey poker routine.

Interesting
 

Interesting...I am not a big user of AH but will be using one for a couple of items I have. I knew most would waive the fee or don't charge any for sellers...but wasn't aware you could negotiate to get (essentially) part of the buyer's premium as well. Thanks

OVER 6 figures??? So it as a million dollar card?? Can I ask what card it was?

That would be seven figures

Technically, over six figures would be seven figures, right? LOL.

I think that we all know that the OP meant $100K+ with his comment.

a buyer can still file a chargeback with their credit card

When my brothers and I sold a couple of my parents' paintings I talked first to Christie's. They acted all surprised when I asked about the buyer's premium, like why would I possibly be concerned with that?

Christie's :
 

....Alphonse , show this peasant to the door.....

..

The fees are a lot lower if you have an eBay "store" (which is pretty inexpensive to get).

11.5% on total amount of the sale up to $2,500 calculated per item
2.35% on the portion of the sale over $2,500

I recently sold a card for $8650. The eBay fees were $432.

The buyer's premium is a pretty hefty commission though. I would almost never consider selling a card through a major auction house unless it was a 6 figure card or more. The fees are ridiculously high, and the prices realized are often a huge gamble.

Ha, yes it was a six figure card. I will it was 7.

Seller answered back, sold the item for $11,000.00

You guys are looking at this the wrong way. The “fee” you are charged by an auction house is the reduction from the final selling price. Suppose an item in an auction hammers for $10,000. If the auction has a 20% buyers commission then the final price is $12,000. Even if you have no sellers commission you will only receive $10,000 so your effective fee is $2000. This is more than ebay would charge you. The only way to equalize the two is to also get part of the buyers commission. In the above example I am assuming that the card would also realize $12,000 on eBay. If you think the auction house would do better than eBay then you need to work that into your calculation.

+1

It never ceases to amaze me that people do not understand the real world effect of AH fees regardless of whether they are deemed buyers' premiums or sellers' fees. Unless you believe people bid without regard to buyers' premiums and are like OMG WTF just happened when they get added on for the 1000th time, the effect is to depress hammer price and therefore they cost the seller, not the buyer. We've been over this 100 times.

Shameless Plug!
 

I accept select private consignments of higher-end cards - I sell at shows across the east coast and have a large and growing private client list. 10% commission for cards/sets/lots $1k+, 8% for $10K+. See some feedback in my signature line and PM me or call me at 516-991-5535 to discuss particulars.

Shameless Plugs are good

and good to know

And that 1933 #144 Goudey Ruth that you have is very nice