Interesting dilemma: liquidation percent off?
 

So I've had a booth in an antique mall in Destin for the past 2.5 years. On Monday, someone traveling through the area stopped in and reviewed the items in my booth, where I have probably 100-150 cards priced between $50 and $500 each.

He asked the mall employees to call me to see what discount I would give on the entire lot. Figuring there were probably at least $10K in list prices, I said that I would give a 40% discount on the entire lot. He then decided to select a smaller group, totaling $3,300 in list prices, and called back to see what I would give as a discount on this group. I responded $2,500, basically 25% off. The buyer passed on both options.

So, what type of bulk discount on this type of lot would you have offered? What discount would have made you take the whole lot?

In my case, I probably have half the list price invested in each of the cards for sale. So if I buy a card for $200 intending to resell, I usually would price it at $400 and wait for it to sell, as Destin is a great location for vacationers and gets really busy when it's raining on the beach. And when an item sells, the mall would take a 10% of sale price as commission. So if I sold $10K in cards at 40% off, I would get $5,400 on the sale (well, subtract another 3% - $165 - if they pay with credit). So the 40% off discount would have guaranteed me only a slight profit.

Your offers seem very fair to me assuming your initial pricing was also reasonable. I would only have gone further if I really needed cash or just wanted to wash my hands of the whole thing.

John, I agree with Peter. Your discount seems more than reasonable (assuming they were reasonably priced in the first place). I think you were dealing with a bottom feeder.

What is your definition of “list price” ?

The price I have them marked at in the store. So, retail. In the past two years, I've sold $20K in my booth at the mall. So my prices are reasonable, but not cheap.
But the cards I sell are nicely presenting mid-grade star HOFs, HOF autos, HOF RCs, etc. Some graded, most raw.

I will be honest with you. I cringe when I hear bulk discount and it rarely works out.

People who say they want buy it all what kinda deal can you work will usually always say that still to much no matter what you say. They want to pay around 25% of its value. It’s terrible they’re cheap as hell. Like better said above unless you wanna wipe your hands of it and move on it usually doesn’t work.

It sounds like you came out ahead on both of those ‘deals’.

Cheers,

Butch

Exactly. And then they act surprised (and a bit offended) when their ridiculous offer isn't considered.

Yeah, I figured it was a person interested in opening their own shop, and looking for inventory they could just keep my pricing on and so whatever discount they negotiated would be their profit margin as well.

Interesting thing is that these offers came over multiple days. I had no problem not selling at a steep discount, since these are solid cards and Destin has new vacationers/customers every week during the summer. I sold $500 in smaller priced cards ($3-99 each) the following day after the last offer was not taken. So they'll all sell over time. No reason to liquidate in my case.

John, I think both of your offers were good ones. And I don't think you should keep haggling. Let him walk away, he may be back. And if he waits a while your prices might creep up.

I figure if you needed quick cash you'd have already sent another offer before posting here.

At least you still have the cards at the booth, it's gonna be a busy summer, you may well sell them for more this summer.

If I had a dollar for every tire-kicker I've dealt with I'd be retired right now. It even happens in my law practice. A client is eager as hell to get a lawsuit going until I ask for a retainer and then...crickets.

You're better off having that guy just move on. Thought he was a big shot, gonna take the rubes for their cards . Yeah, that worked out well. Guess he forgot about the information superhighway.

I’m not saying this is you or your prices. However, some sellers don’t realize that the high-water mark has crested. Some sellers still have March 2021 prices listed, and will not really budge.

If this was your situation, then the bulk discount would’ve probably only pulled the lot down to current retail, which is not a discount at all. This would make your “discount” unreasonable.

+1 Agree

I just want to know one thing... Where is this store located?????
I was down there last Xmas, and would of loved to visit and bought items.
I was down towards the Baytown Dwarf.

Smith's antique mall, Highway 98 at Holiday. We're starting to get card shows back in the area. There was one two weeks ago in PCB and one June 25 in Milton (near Pensacola).

Values have dropped 40% in the past 14 months??

I tend to agree with those that said you attempted to do right by the offer and it still wasn't accepted. I (and my wife) were in an antique mall for over 20 years finally getting out in 2020. We used to run into similar situations (although not cards). If we priced something at 25% off they would want 30% off, if we agreed they would say they would "think about it". I find it absolutely fantastic that you are able to do so well with cards in your mall. I would, from time to time, try and sell some of my older cards in the mall we were in with no success at all.

I did not say the market has dropped 40% since March 2021.

My point was that the analysis - whether the 40% discount was a great deal - hinges on whether the cards were accurately priced to reflect the current market, and not one that no longer exists.

If the marked prices, which some dealers are still using, reflected the market’s peak then a 40% discount is potentially not that great for a bulk purchase.

The poster said the cards were collectively marked for $10k. A 40% discount means that he wanted $6k. However, if the current market for the collective cards is only $8k, and he wanted $6k, then this is really is only a 25% discount.

It’s all relative.

Understood. I wasn't going to sell them at a loss. I was just trying to gauge from other sellers their views on selling in quantity. My experience was just to kick off discussion.

Depends on a ton of factors, but if I were in your shoes I wouldn't have offered that big of a discount unless I had another 10k in cards to fill the display with. It's hard to find inventory and it takes time. You'd basically be breaking even on all those cards that you spent time trying to acquire. Breaking even is fine and a pretty good option for most people who don't spend much time on the hobby, but you sound like you are spending time and money to try and make a few bucks.

That's a different scenario than a 40% discount bringing prices to current retail. But it is still indicating an overall 20% drop in value that I haven't seen in baseball.