[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

In that video the Pwcc guy said we get 5-10% higher sales because of scans, packing, and shipping methods.

There are many reasons why a company like PWCC would produce higher sales prices than other sellers. This stuff isn't rocket science.

I would probably rank order the reasons for higher sale prices as follows, with #1, without question, being the primary factor that would explain the majority of the differences we see in sales prices vs the rest of the market.

1. #1 - The number of followers that they had far exceeds that of nearly every other eBay seller in this market. The more eyes you have on your auctions, the more they will sell for. This should be obvious to everyone.

1. #2 - They have better images of their cards than every single other seller, full stop. Nobody else offers high-definition scans that allow you to zoom in on a card at 20x magnification enabling you to see the individual paper fibers on a card. You can see exactly what you're bidding on. With so many other sellers, you often can't see a card's flaws. Blurry images, low-def scans, front-only scans, etc. It allows them to sell a card at it's maximum value because they eliminate so much of the guesswork. It's about as close as you can get to holding a card in your hands when purchasing online. Most other sellers will get less for their items simply because there is more uncertainty in the card's condition, even if it's slabbed.

1. #3 - They offer multiple creative ways to pay for items. Not just PayPal or Credit Card. I've paid for high-dollar cards with them using personal checks and even Bitcoin. They even accept trade value if you have cards sitting in your vault with them. They also offer loans that leverage cards in your vault as collateral. These might seem like small benefits to some people, but it is a huge perk for many buyers in the high-end market.

1. #4 - Their auctions are always well organized. All the 1950s Topps card listings end around the same time. Same with vintage Hockey, or 1980s basketball. So if you're interested in a particular segment of the market, you see not only the cards you're looking for, but you also get exposure to numerous other listings that you might not have even otherwise thought to look for if you are watching their auctions. Again, this leads to more eyes on their listings, and more eyes equal more money.

1. #5 - Shill bidding. Certainly, some of their consignors shill bid in their auctions. This is true for all sellers on eBay though. We can argue about how much of an effect this has and how widespread it is, but it likely has a small but measurable effect. Every consignment company is subject to these same issues, as is every dishonest individual seller on eBay who shills their own auctions. And even random listings get shill bid on by people who have copies of that same card who are just trying to bump its value. This is an eBay problem to solve though, not the consignment companies'.