Looking for alternatives to selling on eBay

[obcbeatle]

Hello, I'm looking for some alternatives to eBay for selling some of my personal collection. I'm a collector, not a dealer. My collection is primarily ephemera, like vintage cards, photo's, magazines. Many of these collectibles are not high end/high grade, and quite a few are not sports related. I've been buying/selling on eBay since 1998, but recently their fees seem excessive, plus, because of the massive number of listings on their platform it now feels like many items are lost in a sea of collectibles. And the eBay search engine is often erratic. eBay seems more like a good place to buy, not to sell. So I thought now might be a good time to look for some alternatives. And thought I'd ask here if anyone is having luck selling your collectibles elsewhere? Here are some alternatives that I've been thinking about. If anyone has any advice/recommendations, please feel free to share:

Private listings here on Net54 - I haven't tried much yet, but from what I've seen most listings here appear to be for higher end graded cards, or regional more scarce type issues, and not so much the run of the mill raw sports cards that I collect, e.g. Topps, Bowman. I understand that may be the market now, and probably into the future. I may try again to sell privately here. Certainly would be preferable for both buyer and seller. Are there any other forums that you would recommend for selling non-sport related ephemera?

Facebook Marketplace - can anyone recommend specific Facebook marketplace groups that you have had some success with selling, not only sports cards, but other non-sport ephemera? If so, do most groups allow for shipping your items, instead of meeting locally, like with Craigslist, which I don't care to use anymore? I've tried Googling for such groups, but I've not found much promising yet. I'm not a big fan of social media, but use it when I have to.

Auction houses - Seems like this would be a good option if I wanted to unload all or most of my collection. But I prefer to sell a little over time, until such time as I grow tired of selling it. Hence I've been using eBay. The thought of shipping a collection to a AH is not attractive to me. I'm not very trusting of dealers and AH's. There is a very dark side to this hobby (and other hobbies), which is a sad thing for collectors. I've seen it, and experienced it. I prefer selling to other collectors directly whenever possible. I see using a AH as a last option when you need to liquidate.

Right now I'm leaning towards trying the Facebook marketplace, and/or maybe selling privately here, or elsewhere, and seeing how that goes. Any comments/suggestions welcome. Thank you.

[OhioLawyerF5]

I prefer Facebook groups to marketplace. I find marketplace to be like a glorified craigslist in the wild west, sifting through 99% junk. However, there are Facebook groups for different types of collectibles where you can network with other people who are specifically interested in the things you collect. Selling privately through there is a good way to get actual value as well as getting your stuff in the hands of actual collectors.

[Jewish-collector]

Facebook Groups
Sports Collectors Digest ads
COMC
Sportlots
Get a table at card shows
Net54 B/S/T forum
Collectors Universe B/S/T
Blowout forums B/S/T
Auction houses - besides the large ones (Heritage, REA, etc,...) there are smaller ones that will be happy to sell your stuff.

Good luck !!!
beer chug.gifbeer chug.gifbeer chug.gif

[bmattioli]

Facebook Marketplace with a local 50 mile radius is what I do and have had success..

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by obcbeatle

And the eBay search engine is often erratic.

Huh?! How so?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

Huh?! How so?

Not sure if this question was a joke. I’ll proceed assuming it’s not for now, although you can taunt me later for not understanding Canadian humor, eh?

But the issue is that eBay searches often return a long list of irrelevant nonsense. So you either have to wade through a long list of unrelated items, or you have to spend a lot of time refining your search parameters, and hope that you don’t accidentally exclude some items that you really want included.

There was a time not long ago when it wasn’t so terrible. But it’s really gone downhill in the last year or two. I assume it’s because they deliberately adjusted how the search function works. I also assume it’s because they wanted to make it better, although my experience has been the opposite.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by raulus

Not sure if this question was a joke. I’ll proceed assuming it’s not for now, although you can taunt me later for not understanding Canadian humor, eh?

It was a straightforward question. I don't understand why you would think otherwise.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by raulus

Not sure if this question was a joke. I’ll proceed assuming it’s not for now, although you can taunt me later for not understanding Canadian humor, eh?

But the issue is that eBay searches often return a long list of irrelevant nonsense. So you either have to wade through a long list of unrelated items, or you have to spend a lot of time refining your search parameters, and hope that you don’t accidentally exclude some items that you really want included.

There was a time not long ago when it wasn’t so terrible. But it’s really gone downhill in the last year or two. I assume it’s because they deliberately adjusted how the search function works. I also assume it’s because they wanted to make it better, although my experience has been the opposite.

I hear about this so much on this forum but do not experience it. Like Baltic, I'm in Canada, so perhaps this annoyance is limited to Americans. I use ebay.com and ebay.ca and this doesn't happen.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Back to OP's question.

Regarding Facebook Marketplace & Facebook groups:

Use Marketplace more for cheaper, pedestrian listings that will appeal to a broad audience. Also, this is a good place to list larger/bulkier items that would not make sense to ship. Batches of hobby supplies such as Ultra Pro pages, boxes, top loaders, etc. are good for Marketplace. Monster boxes of junk wax are a biggie, too.

With Facebook groups, do some searching and find the best groups suited to your interests. Then, further refine these searches to cherry pick the groups that appear to have the best group moderation and least kooky members (that last point being akin to rediscovering Noah's Ark).

There are next to no blocking features as on eBay which save you from dealing with lowballers and tire kickers, and Facebook brings out the worst of them. No automatic decline feature if somebody offers five cents for your 1933 Dusenberg. Be prepared for a lot of wasted time and general annoyance. You will be hearing from a lot of people who apparently only started learning how to type in English in spite of it being their first language. Also, nobody is interested in paying anywhere near what something is actually worth unless it's a super high demand item. Few people seem to bother properly reading your description. Things like "PRICE FIRM" and "NO TRADES" are routinely ignored. You'll be offered to swap their $20 item for your $1000 item, or $150 for your $2500 piece. The only thing that can be done is to individually block their incoming messages via Messenger if you don't wish to spend any more time dealing with them. It honestly feels like every buyer on there is playing that asinine game of trying to turn a red paperclip into a three bedroom house by always getting the better end of the deal.

There have been upsides, however. If you are willing to put in all that time dealing with the riff-raff, you can occasionally (and I mean very occasionally) make a great, longstanding connection with a buyer or seller who approaches being rational! I value the few decent contacts I have made through this, so it all depends on how much time you're willing to invest and how much patience you have in dealing with the public. Hey, at least it's free. Then again, I wouldn't pay a dime to use it.

[Snapolit1]

eBay gets my items before literally tens of millions of eyeballs. Around the world. Just sold a card to a dude in China. No, I’m not interested in some 50 miles nearby Facebook group. Not interested in any aspect of Facebook.

[jingram058]

I agree with raulus. eBay searching is horrendous, with sponsored highlights and totally irrelevant items. I used to love eBay. Constant "improvements" and tinkering have ruined it. For me. Of course there's always those who disagree.

[obcbeatle]

Thank you for all the replies so far. So I see that the Facebook groups are either public or private. Looks like the private groups have fewer participants then the public groups, so perhaps I'll join and try to sell a few things in a private group first. Maybe less noise in the private groups, than public? As for the eBay search, I was mostly referring to more recent mods eBay seems to have made that render a lot of sponsored listings and such that fill a page search with a lot of irrelevant search results. And, the fact that I have to save a crazy amount of searches using a crazy amount of special characters, just to accurately search for a handful of collectibles. I guess the sheer amount of items listed on eBay plays a role. But search in eBay renders a lot of noise. It's eBay's platform, so they can do whatever they want to enhance their bottom line, but sometimes it feels like it is impacting me as a buyer AND seller. And yes, I too have routinely sold internationally with eBay, so I understand their market is huge. I posted here earlier this year that I thought the time was ripe for someone to compete with eBay. I believe e-commerce tech/security is much more robust now, so hopefully some startup will have some success entering the market. Or perhaps many more will flourish eyeing specific markets. I may be naïve but I do believe if enough people get frustrated with the eBay's and Amazon's of this world that someone else eventually will enter the market with some success. Not saying it will be easy, and it will surely take some time. But to my eye's eBay is going in the wrong direction, particularly for sellers. Monopolies suck. But only my opinion.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Maybe less noise in the private groups, than public?

Not in my experience. It's the same old things as I described. You just have to answer a very simple question or two ("What is your favorite team?", "What is the third letter in 'baseball'?") and agree to their terms before a moderator accepts you into the fold.

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Maybe less noise in the private groups, than public?

Not in my experience. It's the same old things as I described. You just have to answer a very simple question or two ("What is your favorite team?", "What is the third letter in 'baseball'?") and agree to their terms before a moderator accepts you into the fold.

Thank you , I will give this a try , hopefully I can negotiate for shipping items.

[notfast]

A few of us started a vintage non sports card group that has grown to over 2000 people in just a few months.

Mainly focused on vintage non sport cards but postcards/tradecards are included in that.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/824631...767/?ref=share

If you shoot me your name, I’ll make sure you are approved to get in.

Thanks
Matt

[notfast]

Also Tom @ vintangenonsports.com runs a great non sports auction. One coming up in February. Linked at top of each page here on n54.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by obcbeatle

Monopolies suck. But only my opinion.

Monopolies are no fun, unless you’re the monopolist.

At the same time, I’m not convinced that the label fits, particularly in our world. eBay has been losing a lot of consignments to the more traditional sports card AHs, and my sense is that trend has accelerated bigly in the last few years. Partially from self inflicted wounds. Probably also partially from tax reporting rules that impact eBay but not the AHs.

If anything, the demise of eBay as a serious place to buy cards, and particularly auctioned cards with low starting bids, has been the bigger issue.

Naturally, your place in our world may be a wrinkle that makes it difficult to play in the AH space. Or maybe you’re concerned that the AHs don’t offer a compelling value proposition for your stuff. All of which could definitely be true.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Just about anything vintage baseball (especially pre-war) priced right will sell on Net54, even run of the mill stuff if near or below current market. If you are looking to get eBay or above prices, your items will probably need to be particularly interesting for one reason or another, ie- marquee player, rarity, high-grade, etc. It’s much easier for buyers looking for run of the mill stuff to search on eBay where they likely have dozens of copies to choose from. That’s why your price point on here is the key enticement to find buyers for that stuff.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by notfast

A few of us started a vintage non sports card group that has grown to over 2000 people in just a few months.

I don't understand. What's the attraction of Facebook? Why not just post on vintagenonsports.com?

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by raulus

If anything, the demise of eBay as a serious place to buy cards, and particularly auctioned cards with low starting bids, has been the bigger issue.

Truth!

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

Just about anything vintage baseball (especially pre-war) priced right will sell on Net54, even run of the mill stuff if near or below current market. If you are looking to get eBay or above prices, your items will probably need to be particularly interesting for one reason or another, ie- marquee player, rarity, high-grade, etc. It’s much easier for buyers looking for run of the mill stuff to search on eBay where they likely have dozens of copies to choose from. That’s why your price point on here is the key enticement to find buyers for that stuff.

I can mostly only speak to autographs, but in the nearly 20 years I've been here, sellers have to be practically giving the stuff away if it's going to sell in the BST section. The only exceptions are, as you say, high demand items. People want bargain basement, otherwise they're not opening their wallets. I so much wish it made more sense to list here, but I've never held a fire sale and never will. The best material has always fared better for me using other outlets. It's understandable that everybody wants a deal; it just doesn't help the sellers unless they're looking to quickly liquidate at bottom dollar.

I think there has only been a single occasion where I listed something on the BST that was out of my usual wheelhouse. The material wasn't even this board's usual wheelhouse, but certainly closely related. I priced the material a touch under recent sale prices, but not dramatically. A week later, a very kind buyer came along and paid me my price. We were both happy with the transaction, and it's always rewarding to deal with a friendly person. Thanks to that experience, I'm certainly more open to listing unsigned material on the BST should any of it come my way.

[scooter729]

I wish more people realize the benefit of selling on here vs. eBay is that you're saving on fees, and if you pass some of that along in the price, it'll go far.

A common item which sells on eBay for $100, will net you around $85 when you sell it on eBay. So if you go to sell it on N54, list it for $90. Or maybe even $85. A buyer is more likely to buy it here for the slightly lower price, you may end up netting out higher - everyone wins (except eBay).

Don't try to sell that common item for $110 on here or even $105; it won't work. But remember that you're saving a good chunk for not having to deal with fees - price it smartly, and it'll sell.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by scooter729

I wish more people realize the benefit of selling on here vs. eBay is that you're saving on fees, and if you pass some of that along in the price, it'll go far.

A common item which sells on eBay for $100, will net you around $85 when you sell it on eBay. So if you go to sell it on N54, list it for $90. Or maybe even $85. A buyer is more likely to buy it here for the slightly lower price, you may end up netting out higher - everyone wins (except eBay).

Don't try to sell that common item for $110 on here or even $105; it won't work. But remember that you're saving a good chunk for not having to deal with fees - price it smartly, and it'll sell.

Sure, but how about the same price, and the buyer still saves the sales tax? Then, it's an even nicer win on both sides. It shouldn't perpetually have to cater to the buyer at the expense of the seller. Let both parties make off a bit better. I guess that's unfair to those who reside in OR, MT, AK, NH and DE, not to mention us Canadians, but...

To further bolster your suggestion, my lone successful sale in recent memory was structured just as you outlined.

[swarmee]

COMC for all kinds of trading cards that would sell individually for between $2 and $100.

[notfast]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

I don't understand. What's the attraction of Facebook? Why not just post on vintagenonsports.com?

Active users. Ease of private messaging. Ease of posting pics…

[timn1]

I imagine it's because the shortcomings of ebay's search functions seem painfully self-evident to the poster (and to me). My impression is that they've gotten worse over the years rather than better, probably because ebay is trying to force users to view a larger number of pages before they find what they're looking for. For example, there used to be a dedicated search available for pre-1942 baseball cards - not any more.

Originally Posted by Balticfox

It was a straightforward question. I don't understand why you would think otherwise.

[Leon]

Tim, my friend, you know the answer to anything crazy that eBay does, is to make more money. You would think they would quiz collectors and dealers about what they want, but I doubt they ever have. One of my more recent purchases from ebay, below. Personally, I still buy a fair amount on our BST too....

Originally Posted by timn1

I imagine it's because the shortcomings of ebay's search functions seem painfully self-evident to the poster (and to me). My impression is that they've gotten worse over the years rather than better, probably because ebay is trying to force users to view a larger number of pages before they find what they're looking for. For example, there used to be a dedicated search available for pre-1942 baseball cards - not any more.

[timn1]

Yep, that's it, of course - yet as you say, once in a while something worthwhile still shows up, and we actually spot it. Not like in the ebay golden age c. 2003-2007 or so, though

Originally Posted by Leon

Tim, my friend, you know the answer to anything crazy that eBay does, is to make more money. You would think they would quiz collectors and dealers about what they want, but I doubt they ever have. One of my more recent purchases from ebay, below. Personally, I still buy a fair amount on our BST too....

[campyfan39]

Agree. I struggle with posting pics on here. Half get rejected and won't load and I don't know why. The ones that do load are often super giant-sized.
It's probably and likely, my fault, yet eBay i just add straight from my phone, and it looks great.

Originally Posted by notfast

Active users. Ease of private messaging. Ease of posting pics…

[rand1com]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

Agree. I struggle with posting pics on here. Half get rejected and won't load and I don't know why. The ones that do load are often super giant-sized.
It's probably and likely, my fault, yet eBay i just add straight from my phone, and it looks great.

I have the same problem on here. Digital pics load some of the time but it is hit or miss for me. I assume it has something to do with the size but my pics are taken exactly the same yet some load and some do not. Obviously, I am a dinosaur technology wise but like you never have any problem posting the same photos that will not load here to Ebay. I have to assume there are size restrictions on here and that slight changes can kick some out while others load fine but that is an unintelligent guess on my part!!! I am just happy to find out that at least one more user has this problem. I assumed it was only me so thanks for insuring I am not alone.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

I hear about this so much on this forum but do not experience it. Like Baltic, I'm in Canada, so perhaps this annoyance is limited to Americans. I use ebay.com and ebay.ca and this doesn't happen.

Search 1914 Cracker Jacks, you'll get 1915s, 1990s reprints of Mike Piazza, stupid algorithm additions, and all sorts of irrelevant results. Not my idea of a good time.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

Agree. I struggle with posting pics on here. Half get rejected and won't load and I don't know why. The ones that do load are often super giant-sized.
It's probably and likely, my fault, yet eBay i just add straight from my phone, and it looks great.

It's not your fault. The forum software is just old and outdated. Updating the site would be a fair amount of work though, and you'd probably have half the users complain even though it could be greatly improved. ImageMagik would solve all the photo uploading & sizing issues here.

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

Search 1914 Cracker Jacks, you'll get 1915s, 1990s reprints of Mike Piazza, stupid algorithm additions, and all sorts of irrelevant results. Not my idea of a good time.

"1914 Cracker Jack -1915 -1990 -reprint"

You're welcome

[Beercan collector]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

Agree. I struggle with posting pics on here. Half get rejected and won't load and I don't know why. The ones that do load are often super giant-sized.
It's probably and likely, my fault, yet eBay i just add straight from my phone, and it looks great.

I don’t know why but if I shrink the borders just a tiny bit - then they’ll load .
Pretty sure it’s me not knowing What I’m doing than it is the website

[theshowandme]

Originally Posted by Snowman

"1914 Cracker Jack -1915 -1990 -reprint"

You're welcome

Wish this worked with auction house software.

Would love to immediately discard the endless wave of T206 cards moving through every auction.

[Leon]

Correct. We are on an old version of Vbulletin. The same one as Blowout. The upgrade to the newest version would be some major heavy lifting and probably not worth the sh** to equity ratio.
IF folks don't want to learn how to downsize a photo, or post pics, one of the many other ways on this forum (from a host site) then that is on them.
I am pretty sure we would have a whole new look to the site.
I have never had a problem uploading pics to this site, but then again, I know how to downsize photos. IN today's world if it isn't instant gratification folks have no need for it.

and a card.....looks like a perfect download to me.

Originally Posted by Snowman

It's not your fault. The forum software is just old and outdated. Updating the site would be a fair amount of work though, and you'd probably have half the users complain even though it could be greatly improved. ImageMagik would solve all the photo uploading & sizing issues here.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by campyfan39

Agree. I struggle with posting pics on here. Half get rejected and won't load and I don't know why. The ones that do load are often super giant-sized.
It's probably and likely, my fault, yet eBay i just add straight from my phone, and it looks great.

It is a PIA but I send all photos I post on here from my phone to myself via email. Then on my laptop I resize them and they work great on here. I am sure there is a way to reduce the image size on a phone with an app but I rarely post on here from my phone. On images that won't post on here it is always because they are too big.

I haven't bought or sold much for a while but the $1 auction section is a great place that needs to be used WAY more. I have found the BST section to be an amazing place over my 10+ years on here for buying, selling, and a ton of trading.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

I don’t know why but if I shrink the borders just a tiny bit - then they’ll load .
Pretty sure it’s me not knowing What I’m doing than it is the website

I do something similar sometimes. I will take a pic of the card so it is just a small portion of the picture and then crop it down on my phone to just the card. It is one way of reducing image size so they post.

[Leon]

100%. This post should be stuck to the top of each page.

Personally, I am on the forum 90% of the time from a laptop pc, from my home office with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. I don't even try posting pics from my phone (and it's a S23 Galaxy).

A lot of images I post are hosted on my personal website, luckeycards.com.
If they are there I take the url and insert it where you would normally upload a picture. It works perfectly but sometimes I still need to resize them before posting.

When that happens-
I right click on images to save them to "my photos" . Then open them with MS Paint, downsize them appropriately and save. Then I can then upload them onto the forum.
This whole process takes about 2? minutes; less if I've had 2+ cups of coffee.

Nowadays, in the instant gratification environment we are in, anything more than 3 seconds is slow.

That said, anything less than 3 minutes is fast to this dinosaur.

**Young ones don't remember John Spencer's (hi Yoda) first iteration (circa 1997-8?) of this forum. They would go bat-shi$ crazy.

And a tintype...(not many ladies baseball tintypes out there...)

Originally Posted by bnorth

It is a PIA but I send all photos I post on here from my phone to myself via email. Then on my laptop I resize them and they work great on here. I am sure there is a way to reduce the image size on a phone with an app but I rarely post on here from my phone. On images that won't post on here it is always because they are too big.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Leon

and a card.....looks like a perfect download to me.

d310weaver.jpg

Time to buck the downsizing trend...here is Weaver, large scale, different owner. Flaws so blatantly evident even a Mongolian blind mole rat should be able to see them.


Brian (that is, if Mongolian blind mole rats actually exist. And according to the dots placed on the back checklist, the original owner was only 9 cards or so away from a complete D310 set. Quite the accomplishment for the little card destroyer from 110+ years ago)

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by Leon

100%. This post should be stuck to the top of each page.

Personally, I am on the forum 90% of the time from a laptop pc, from my home office with an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. I don't even try posting pics from my phone (and it's a S23 Galaxy).

A lot of images I post are hosted on my personal website, luckeycards.com.
If they are there I take the url and insert it where you would normally upload a picture. It works perfectly but sometimes I still need to resize them before posting.

When that happens-
I right click on images to save them to "my photos" . Then open them with MS Paint, downsize them appropriately and save. Then I can then upload them onto the forum.
This whole process takes about 2? minutes; less if I've had 2+ cups of coffee.

Nowadays, in the instant gratification environment we are in, anything more than 3 seconds is slow.

That said, anything less than 3 minutes is fast to this dinosaur.

**Young ones don't remember John Spencer's (hi Yoda) first iteration (circa 1997-8?) of this forum. They would go bat-shi$ crazy.

And a tintype...(not many ladies baseball tintypes out there...)

Whoa...cool tintype!!

[obcbeatle]

Just following up to thank everyone for their comments/suggestions. Shortly I will try selling a few non-sport items via a private Facebook group. I have never sold via Facebook, so these are my final questions. And feel free to PM me privately since these questions aren't necessarily pre-war baseball related:

1) What 3rd party payment/shipping app. are you using for selling/shipping items on FB? I've been using eBay's built in payment/shipping system for years, so I'm a bit behind the curve. I plan to use Paypal for payments whenever possible, and I do use Venmo when my daughter needs money fast. I'd like to be able to to do invoicing and print labels, like in eBay. So not sure if printing eliminates using an iPhone app (I have an old printer)? I prefer using my laptop for most things.

2) Have you had any luck with DOND (deal or no deal), or just stating the asking price? I see a lot of DOND in Facebook groups, but as a buyer I want to know the asking price. The advantages of using DOND as a seller are obvious. So just wondering if DOND is a waste of time?

Any other advice/comments welcome. Thank you.

Edit: Forgot to ask, is there a specific way to invoice from within Facebook? I can't find it if there is.