Do auction houses buy cards outright?

[Johnny630]

If the price is right!

[Snapolit1]

I would think this would be a poor way of maximizing your value. Wouldn't you rather put it in an auction and hopefully let a bunch of collectors fight over it?

If an AH was going to buy it, I assume their calculus would be what's a purchase price I can easily exceed by putting it in my next auction and turning a quick profit.

[Casey2296]

I'm just taking a stab at it but would imagine you'd get .60 -.70 on the 1.00, and if that's the case plenty of guys here would pay that.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

We get asked that a lot by people who want to sell. We don't do it because we feel it presents a conflict of interest. If my brother or I or the company is buying cards to put in the auction, the temptation to give them the best placement, the most advertising etc. could be seen as a detriment to my consignors.

The first year or two I kept the company afloat by selling off the vast majority of my inventory, now-a-days it's pretty rare for me to have something in my own auction, and I'm certainly not out looking for collections to buy and auction off.

[Mike D.]

On Clean Sweep Auctions web site it states "We are aggressively buying outright and accepting consignments for all future auctions."

They appear to have a "store" on the site, in addition to the auctions, so maybe that's where purchased items go.

(I'm in no way affiliated with CS, just remembered seeing it on their site when researching last night)

[mrreality68]

how big a collection? why type of cards? perhaps that can help but I agree with others selling to an auction house is not the best return on investment

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

how big a collection? why type of cards? perhaps that can help but I agree with others selling to an auction house is not the best return on investment

I agree that a seller would probably get more by putting cards in an auction, but if they need money faster then selling is probably the way to go.