What to expect from AH consignments?

[bobbyw8469]

That is entirely too much. They are basically telling you they don't want your consignments in a roundabout way. No one likes to hear that their consignments are "not good enough" for a particular auction house, but that is what they are telling you. I would hold onto the items or try to get rid of them yourself.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

That is entirely too much. They are basically telling you they don't want your consignments in a roundabout way. No one likes to hear that their consignments are "not good enough" for a particular auction house, but that is what they are telling you. I would hold onto the items or try to get rid of them yourself.

Edited for clarification.....I misread what you are saying. So one auction house only wanted to charge you 7.5 and the other 10%??? That is great. You can't factor in the buyer's premium. That is not yours. You can TRY to get 0% commission, but the norm seems to be to extract a little bit from the buyers AND sellers.

[bnorth]

Bobby is correct on both posts depending on their fee.

This is my best advice I learned the hard way. You need to know exactly what one of their auctions your stuff will be listed in. I had a AH contact me about a set I was selling. I consigned it to them stupidly thinking it would be in their online auction. Nope they put it in their little rinky dink local live auction. I easily lost over $1000 because I didn't read the contract or ask exactly what one of their auctions it would be listed in. So when consigning be sure you know all the details.

[jh691626]

If it helps, they are all easy to post, PSA-slabbed items, like a Willie Mays or Duke Snider autograph on a baseball card. I'd say they are of medium interest--vintage players/cards, usually good players, likely to grow in value over time, but nothing like WOW.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by jh691626

If it helps, they are all easy to post, PSA-slabbed items, like a Willie Mays or Duke Snider autograph on a baseball card. I'd say they are of medium interest--vintage players/cards, usually good players, likely to grow in value over time, but nothing like WOW.

You should consider trying to sell them on the BST here first. No cost and no problem if they don't sell.... Be sure to vet your trading partners. You can always PM me or another moderator with questions.
.

[raulus]

There does seem to be a tale of two worlds around here:

1) for really nice stuff with high price tags that will drive a lot of traffic to the auction (think 6 or 7 figures or more), then I’m hearing from a lot of people around here that there is no cost to the seller, and you would probably even get a piece of the bidder’s premium, depending on just how nice it is. I’ve never consigned items this nice, so I’ve never gotten this deal. But on this board, many have asserted its existence, so I am inclined to believe that it exists.

2) for the stuff that you describe, the deal that you described is what I’m used to getting. You might be able to get a slightly better deal from another auction house by shopping around. My guess is that the BP is going to stay with the AH, and it’s just a question of how low the seller’s fee will be, even potentially as low as zero, although that might be a stretch.

I will also observe that you have a few auction options that are less expensive but might be less effective, depending on your perspective, to wit:

1) PWCC. They tend to be vilified around here based on some of their past scandals, which I won’t recount for you here, but my recollection from reading their terms is that they will give you a good chunk of the bidder’s premium. I will hasten to add that there is some question about how many bidders actually go to their weekly auctions. They also typically only accept slabbed items, or if they do take raw, it’s at a much higher fee level.

2) Use an eBay broker like Probstein. You usually end up paying around 10%, maybe slightly less, and large well-known brokers tend to get a lot of eyeballs on eBay.

3) Sell it yourself on eBay. You will pay about 10% to eBay, and might not get the attention that you’re hoping for, depending on whether or not your items go viral and/or get outed around here.

[sb1]

Ebay is going to cost well more than 10%, 13-14% for higher volume sellers, about 20% for casual sellers once they collect their fees and the payment fees. I have only sold a few hundred dollars on their in the last year and looked at my total sales/tax withheld/payout, etc and their take was 21.2%.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by sb1

Ebay is going to cost well more than 10%, 13-14% for higher volume sellers, about 20% for casual sellers once they collect their fees and the payment fees. I have only sold a few hundred dollars on their in the last year and looked at my total sales/tax withheld/payout, etc and their take was 21.2%.

Went back and double checked the rates. Looks like it’s 12.9% for the first $7.5K for any given item you sell on eBay. If the item is over $7.5K, then the percentage declines.

You’re right that PayPal or credit cards charges another 3%, give or take.

Depending on where the buyer lives, they do pay sales tax, although they are going to pay that on any platform or retail venue, except for maybe the BST here. Naturally, some states (like my home state) have zero sales tax. So it’s hard to figure it, although for some buyers it could be as much as 10%.

So more like 16% selling costs on eBay, all-in, ignoring sales tax, which could be nothing, or could be a lot.

[Ray Van]

Originally Posted by sb1

Ebay is going to cost well more than 10%, 13-14% for higher volume sellers, about 20% for casual sellers once they collect their fees and the payment fees. I have only sold a few hundred dollars on their in the last year and looked at my total sales/tax withheld/payout, etc and their take was 21.2%.

Agreed! I usually net around 80% of the final selling price on eBay once all fees are factored in. So 7.5-10% consignment fee at an AH is much better.