When to sell privately, when to use auction house?

[x2drich2000]

To me it really is a matter of what is important to you. From a basic stand point you can look at time, convenience, risk, and fees. I feel like these should be obvious, but maybe not.

Time - How quickly do you need the money and get the item sold. You can get the money quickest selling yourself or to a dealer. An AH, without an advancement, will take longer as the card needs to be sent to them, prepped, wait for the auction, and then have the funds send to you.

Convenience - How much effort do you wan to put out? AH takes on all the headaches. Sell on your own you have to deal with customers, shipping, scanning, collecting payments, negotiating, unhappy buyers, etc.

Risk - Do you want to dictate a price or let someone else? Going with an AH there is a chance the card goes higher, but also chance the card goes lower than expected. Are you willing to sell your $3k card for $2k at auction, or would you rather have kept it if you knew you were only getting $2k? Selling yourself you don't have to go through with the deal if the offers aren't to your liking or you can price the cards in a manner where you only sell if you get a premium. Risk might not be as much of an issue with common cards in common grades, but still we have all found bargains in auctions.

Fees - Sell yourself your fees are usually going to be lower. Facebook is free. BST here is free. Maybe you have paypal fees or Ebay fees. AH needs to pay their employees whether that is through a Buyers Premium, Sellers Premium, or a straight commission you're not getting the full amount of the total sale.

[Belfast1933]

Awesome feedback… I think I will first try to sell privately for the many reasons listed above. If we don’t get the prices we want, we can always turn to an AH down the road.

FYI, here are the two will be posting for sale soon

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

Awesome feedback… I think I will first try to sell privately for the many reasons listed above. If we don’t get the prices we want, we can always turn to an AH down the road.

FYI, here are the two will be posting for sale soon

Beautiful cards!

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

Beautiful cards!

I know, thx! Selling for a friend… wish I could buy them myself.

[Johnny630]

Beautiful Cards !!

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Those are awesome. You don't need an auction house for them.

[Snapolit1]

I would guess this board gets the eyeballs of a large segment of the vintage market of heavy hitters, big spenders. Not all of them of course. Selling here always a great move. The issue is that even among the informed consumers on this board, there is presently a huge disconnect in what a fair price is for a lot of items. If an item is of some significant value, I am skeptical a deal will be worked out "among friends". That's why 99% of "make me an offers" go nowhere.

Potential buyer: "I could do $3,000."

Potential seller: "Uh, ok . . . that might be a typo but I'll just be polite and say no. Thanks for looking."

But of course there may be other benefits to a private sale.