You Favorite Auction House

[rainier2004]

OP - I think youll get killed at an auction house, they take 20% bud.

If you go that route I would go with a smaller AH so your cards can be front and center, selling singles and I believe Sterling only takes 10% and Lee has a good name. In the bigger venues I fear they'd get lost in the shuffle and you want someone that focuses on that era, vintage guys will just blow by those as I do. If they are as nice as you say then they need their own audience.

Also...the BST here can fulfill a lot of needs, just be transparent and up front...but this place can go crickets as well if no one is beating your door down. Real high grade 50s stuff should sell themselves...

[kmac32]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

OP - I think youll get killed at an auction house, they take 20% bud.

If you go that route I would go with a smaller AH so your cards can be front and center, selling singles and I believe Sterling only takes 10% and Lee has a good name. In the bigger venues I fear they'd get lost in the shuffle and you want someone that focuses on that era, vintage guys will just blow by those as I do. If they are as nice as you say then they need their own audience.

Also...the BST here can fulfill a lot of needs, just be transparent and up front...but this place can go crickets as well if no one is beating your door down. Real high grade 50s stuff should sell themselves...

Hi Steven,

I had a nearly complete set of W572 strip cards and Heritage charged me 5%. REA also was only going to charge 10%. And as it was an unusual collection, Love of the Game would have done it for free. I went with the big name in auctions and did as I expected so I am quite happy. I do have some other stuff that I am ready to consign so I probably will go with LOTG or REA as it is not as critical that I get big numbers for what I have. It just depends but nobody charged 25%.

[oldjudge]

Deciding on what auction house to consign to requires you doing your homework. Small auctions offer lower buyer's fees and a more prominent place for your material, but often have poor, or in some cases no, physical catalogs, and smaller mailing lists. My advice is always to go with the largest auction house which will accept your material and be willing to work with you on commissions. Obviously, the higher the quality of your material, the better the deal you will get.

[orly57]

I think if you want to sell and maximize your profits, you should get them graded. Maybe just pick a few of the better cards. If you aren't in a hurry, get a cheaper, slower grading option. But I think that in your case the grading may be more important than the AH you use.

[mark evans]

I've had good luck with Huggins and Scott.

[rainier2004]

Originally Posted by kmac32

Hi Steven,

I had a nearly complete set of W572 strip cards and Heritage charged me 5%. REA also was only going to charge 10%. And as it was an unusual collection, Love of the Game would have done it for free. I went with the big name in auctions and did as I expected so I am quite happy. I do have some other stuff that I am ready to consign so I probably will go with LOTG or REA as it is not as critical that I get big numbers for what I have. It just depends but nobody charged 25%.

That's crazy, I got offered 2 vig points on my 80k CJ set...good for you, you must know something I don't.

No one charges 25% to my knowledge.

[edjs]

Originally Posted by kmac32

Hi Steven,

I had a nearly complete set of W572 strip cards and Heritage charged me 5%. REA also was only going to charge 10%. And as it was an unusual collection, Love of the Game would have done it for free. I went with the big name in auctions and did as I expected so I am quite happy. I do have some other stuff that I am ready to consign so I probably will go with LOTG or REA as it is not as critical that I get big numbers for what I have. It just depends but nobody charged 25%.

Nothing personal here, but if the auction house charges a 20% BP, that is 20% of what the buyer was willing to pay. It is still money out of what your item sold for. People can call it what they want, but it is still a cut of your sale. Most AHs earn the money, but it is the seller paying that fee.

[T206Collector]

I think you have to consider where people looking for your cards are most likely to be visiting. Check prior sales at Huggins, Heritage and REA (for example) for what you have, and see what the bidding activity was, and how much similar cards went for. I have had great experiences consigning to Brockelman and Sterling. But, my wife knows that Brian Dwyer at REA is who to call if I die and the kids don’t want the cards.

[rlorenz]

Thanks guys for the advice....And your right condition is all in the eye of the beholder. but as I am a condition junky... i just looked at it like this....the auction houses take 20%...ish. but they also net a high price.....like PWCC or REA or what ever they will get a high price for the card as they will get by default more traffic.

if they net a higher price... add in my time to list them... if i am taking a loss but i gain time it makes sense to me. :-) thanks for all of the advice guys.

[smtjoy]

I have had great consigning experiences with LOTG and Sterling, I also think BST, Brockelman and REA are top notch.

When I first started to sell I sent small groups of cards to multiple AH's, basically to test the waters. I would recommend for you to do the same (if the AH only wants to auction all of them move on). That way it will protect you from getting hammered on selling everything as well as you will get a feel for which AH fits you and your cards best.

Nearly all my cards were graded so I dont know much on the raw cards, I would ask the board for any horror stories selling raw cards through an AH they have, also ask them to message you if they dont want to say it in public. I did this way back and was surprised/shocked at the feedback I got, i literately marked off 5 AH's from my initial list.

Good luck with your AH search and sale.

[Yoda]

I used to favor Heritage primarily for the depth and quality of their offerings, but no more simply because their mandate to include Florida sales tax. My understanding is that sales tax should be charged to residents at the point of sale, in this case Texas. I live in Palm Beach and Heritage claims since they have an office here I am subject to the tax. I have tried to find evidence of this office, is it a fully functioning branch or a PO box, but to no avail, and I have to wonder if they actually sent my sales tax dollars, paid in previous auctions, to Tallahassee or simply pocketed it. At any rate, I no longer deal with them, favoring my consignments these days to Love of the Game