Decline in eBay listings?

[Cubswin82]

Originally Posted by pawpawdiv9

Correct me if wrong. But the consignor gets the final bid amount/hammer price
The buyer pays that plus the BP (buyer premium)
Scenario: If the buyer places a 500$ bid, then you get 500$
Now if the BV of it is 500$, then buyers would take the BP into consideration into their bids henceforth, their max would be near 420$ (BP would be 84$) and also consider the S/H plus taxes, which could make that even lower.

The way most auction houses work is there is a BP (typically 20%) that the Buyers pay and a co-signment fee that the seller pays (or actually comes out of the final sales price)...which typically ranges from 5%-20% depending on what the item is and how much money the AH thinks they can make off of it.

So for instance...I want to sell an item and lets say it goes for $1,000. Well, when you consign it to the AH, you agree on a fee, lets say 5% in this case. So, if the hammer drops on final bid at $1,000...I get 95% of that so $950. THe buyer of that lot pays the $1,000 + 20% BP, so they are paying $1,200 for that item. The AH makes $250 in that case.

[pawpawdiv9]

Just want to point out above ^^ : There are some AH's that charge 0% commission.

[Peter_Spaeth]

For about the millionth time, the relevant number for the consignor is the sum of the seller's premium/consignment fee (if any) and the buyer's premium.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks guys - in my head this is what I was thinking.... Card sells for $500 on eBay with 88% consigner, I get 440.

Same card for auction house, the first thing that comes to mind is they would want more on a item that will sell for less than 1000 (maybe I'm wrong here??) - at least the emails and mailers they send me, they always ask for high end consignmnets. So, say they ask for 3% and the buyer's premium is 18%. The buyer only wants to pay 500 so he bids 424 and wins. I get 97% of 424 or 411. I've done about 30 dollars worse than I would've done on eBay.......

[glchen]

Originally Posted by DezHood

Thanks guys - in my head this is what I was thinking.... Card sells for $500 on eBay with 88% consigner, I get 440.

Same card for auction house, the first thing that comes to mind is they would want more on a item that will sell for less than 1000 (maybe I'm wrong here??) - at least the emails and mailers they send me, they always ask for high end consignmnets. So, say they ask for 3% and the buyer's premium is 18%. The buyer only wants to pay 500 so he bids 424 and wins. I get 97% of 424 or 411. I've done about 30 dollars worse than I would've done on eBay.......

The issue here is that you can't always guarantee that you will get the same price on ebay that the items sells for in the auction house. Auctions in ebay are usually 7-10 days in length. There are tens of thousands upon thousands of cards listed on ebay (via BIN and auction) on any given day. You are hoping that the right eyes that want your card are seeing your auctions during that time. If not, you are at high risk that your card will not be seen by the right audience that wants to buy your card. If the card that you are selling is a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth or a T206 Ty Cobb common back, you will probably get enough eyes on ebay where the auction will sell close to VCP. However, if you have a rare Kalamazoo Bats card which typically high rollers go after, your card will probably not bring the best price on ebay in an auction.

Auction houses typically run from 2 weeks to a month (and some start showing your item on their site even earlier via previews). They advertise on many areas such as sites like this and other places. The larger auction houses even ship a print catalog to their mailing list so that there is an even greater chance that your item will be seen by the right people who want to bid on it. Therefore, there is a better chance that the card will achieve a higher price in the auction house. However, there are drawbacks, especially with the higher BP and seller's commission noted earlier. In addition, if it's a high end auction, and your consignments aren't so "high end," your items might be "lost" among all of the other top tier items that are being sold in that auction. That is, bidders will be bidding on those "iconic" cards and may miss your listings or not bid in them because they want to save their funds for the items that they are really trying to get.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Gary, as a seller 100% agree. I'd go with eBay for "mainstream" cards - Topps, Bowman, etc. In fact with the huge AH catalogs, my theory is those kind of "ordinary" cards might be ignored. I'd definitely be wary about auctioning off anything even slightly obscure, like say a program, on eBay because the right people may not see it. Using a football example, I'd sell my 1950 Bowman Otto Graham on eBay, but my 1948 AAFC championship game program with an AH - it seems like the "rational" way to go.....

[glchen]

Originally Posted by DezHood

Gary, as a seller 100% agree. I'd go with eBay for "mainstream" cards - Topps, Bowman, etc. In fact with the huge AH catalogs, my theory is those kind of "ordinary" cards might be ignored. I'd definitely be wary about auctioning off anything even slightly obscure, like say a program, on eBay because the right people may not see it. Using a football example, I'd sell my 1950 Bowman Otto Graham on eBay, but my 1948 AAFC championship game program with an AH - it seems like the "rational" way to go.....

I agree. I'd sell ordinary cards or mid-grade sets on ebay rather than send them to auction houses.

[sycks22]

Originally Posted by Cubswin82

The way most auction houses work is there is a BP (typically 20%) that the Buyers pay and a co-signment fee that the seller pays (or actually comes out of the final sales price)...which typically ranges from 5%-20% depending on what the item is and how much money the AH thinks they can make off of it.

So for instance...I want to sell an item and lets say it goes for $1,000. Well, when you consign it to the AH, you agree on a fee, lets say 5% in this case. So, if the hammer drops on final bid at $1,000...I get 95% of that so $950. THe buyer of that lot pays the $1,000 + 20% BP, so they are paying $1,200 for that item. The AH makes $250 in that case.

If you're selling with an auction house that charges a consignment fee you're going to the wrong one. Depending on the value of the cards (nothing super low) you should be getting 0%

[TanksAndSpartans]

Originally Posted by sycks22

If you're selling with an auction house that charges a consignment fee you're going to the wrong one. Depending on the value of the cards (nothing super low) you should be getting 0%

Thanks - I wasn't aware of that. Still most of the buyer's premiums I see are around 18% across the board where the eBay consigners are only taking around 12% for items valued above 100 bucks.

Back to the original question, I suspect it is getting tougher for the average seller on eBay - you have to deal with fees, non-payers, irrational customers, etc. - I wouldn't do it and maybe that's why we see less of them. And one question that wasn't asked - do we really want to deal with more sellers? Wouldn't most of us chose say BBCE (just as a top of my head example) over Joe Smith with decent feedback, but 3 negatives - one of the negatives calls him a "scammer". Sure, I'll take a chance, but it doesn't give me a great feeling.

The large consigners are now basically acting as "eBay auction houses" - they pay good rates and a lot of collector's have eBay searches that work pretty well. Buyers' know the card will arrive shipped relatively quickly and packaged relatively well. I don't see that part of eBay going away right now.

[smtjoy]

I use both ebay and AH's for buying and selling. For auctions IMO eBay is best if your item is less than $100 and even more so if less than $30. Ebay has a broader audience, you pick when your auctions run, I can choose my starting price to protect myself and I feel they bring higher prices on low dollar items. I also have good luck with my ebay BIN's as I feel if you list close to a fair price your card will sell over time.

I prefer AH's if the item will likely sell over $100 and even more so over $250, my reasons are greater exposure and I dont have to worry about payment or returns. The though of selling a $1000 card and 80 days later the seller files for an ebay return I find unacceptable (they can file from 90-180 days after the auction closes), I just don't trust eBay enough on expensive cards. I also feel the big high dollar collectors spend more of their card budget in AH's than ebay. I have had a number of cards sit in my eBay store for a year then I pull and send them to an AH and they sell higher.

For disclosure sake I have had an ebay store for over 7 years and I have consigned to LOTG, Sterling, Goodwin and B & L.

To me the choice comes down to -

If its most important to maximize profit on everyday stuff (say a common T210-1)-

List as a 7 day auction on ebay at the lowest price you are ok selling it at and hope you get interest and a couple bidders to compete, if items fails to get any bids I then convert it to a BIN at the starting bid price (also list on boards BST with 10% discount after auction). If priced within 5% of VCP normally it will sell within 6 months. I try to price from +15-20% which can mean up to 3 years to sell. Also note these are usually cards with no other listing at that condition on ebay and the higher graded are priced much higher. If you are selling a common card like a T206 common in SGC 40 and there are 10 for sale, you had better price it at the lowest or 2nd lowest if you want to to sell anytime soon(a card like this at auction plan to for it to sell for a lot lower than those listed generally).

If I want the money now then an auction is the only way to go-

For low dollar I just list on ebay at either a .99 or 9.99 start and let it ride. For higher value I send to an AH that's right for what I am selling and let it ride.

[pwang100]

Sniper services killed Ebay for me.

[Sean1125]

I have seen much less coming up recently online - I see many "groupings" being sold at auction houses instead of broken up. I think due to value and logistics. I run everything $.99 no reserve. I don't have as much pre-war material as I used to.