Consignment/Auction House Question

[oldjudge]

Everyone has their own views on this; here are mine.

1. If you have a unique, important item consign it to the auction house that will have the most people see it. That means one of the big ones with a fancy catalog and a huge mailing list.
2. If you have good items but ones that will already be plentiful in the big auction catalogs consign it to a still solid but smaller auction house. Why add another mid-grade Aaron rookie to a catalog that will probably already have ten?
3. Consign lower value items to smaller auction houses, perhaps even those without catalogs. They will have smaller bidding pools but be realistic--small items are not worth the big boys time and you will not get the best service for these.The owners of these small auctions consign their own cards to the big auctions which should tell you all you need to know.
4. For good or great items not only should you not be paying a seller's premium, you should be getting back a portion if the buyer's premium. How much? That depends on what you have and the deal you can negotiate.
5. Read the contracts the auction houses send and if there are clauses you find troublesome try to get them eliminated. Those contracts are starting points, those words are not carved in stone.
6. Find an auction house whose staff you like and trust. Ask yourself, if my consignment is lost or damaged do I think the auction house will compensate me fairly. This last item pares the list down quite a bit for me.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Everyone has their own views on this; here are mine.


3. Consign lower value items to smaller auction houses, perhaps even those without catalogs. They will have smaller bidding pools but be realistic--small items are not worth the big boys time and you will not get the best service for these.The owners of these small auctions consign their own cards to the big auctions which should tell you all you need to know.

As a part owner of a small auction house, I would never consign to another auction house, and would be shocked to find that others do. Nothing against bigger auction houses, I shop at other auction houses all the time (can't bid in your own auction for a number of reasons both obvious and obscure), but why would I expect anyone to consign good cards to my company, if I'm sending items from my personal collection somewhere else?

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Everyone has their own views on this; here are mine.

1. If you have a unique, important item consign it to the auction house that will have the most people see it. That means one of the big ones with a fancy catalog and a huge mailing list.
2. If you have good items but ones that will already be plentiful in the big auction catalogs consign it to a still solid but smaller auction house. Why add another mid-grade Aaron rookie to a catalog that will probably already have ten?
3. Consign lower value items to smaller auction houses, perhaps even those without catalogs. They will have smaller bidding pools but be realistic--small items are not worth the big boys time and you will not get the best service for these.The owners of these small auctions consign their own cards to the big auctions which should tell you all you need to know.
4. For good or great items not only should you not be paying a seller's premium, you should be getting back a portion if the buyer's premium. How much? That depends on what you have and the deal you can negotiate.
5. Read the contracts the auction houses send and if there are clauses you find troublesome try to get them eliminated. Those contracts are starting points, those words are not carved in stone.
6. Find an auction house whose staff you like and trust. Ask yourself, if my consignment is lost or damaged do I think the auction house will compensate me fairly. This last item pares the list down quite a bit for me.

I agree with this 100%.

Brian, I am surprised by your interaction with REA. In my experience, there are few AHs (hell, companies) better at customer service.

I would never sell privately on eBay. That place is dogshit. eBay was once the greatest venue on earth. Now, for me, it’s the venue of last resort for buying and zero resort for selling. Also, there are non-eBay auction houses that I do not buy from and/or look at

[YazFenway08]

I really have to echo what Rhotchkiss said...

I am nowhere near the level as buyer OR seller as many on this Board, but REA has always gone above and beyond in terms of service for me. Responsive, fair, patient...

This holds true for Scott and Collector Connection as well...Buying from Love of the Game and Brockleman has also always been pleasant so I bet consigning would be as well

ebay still works for me as a buyer of modern stuff and some graded cards from reputable places...but almost every selling experience, even with modern "junk" has just been a hassle.

that's my view from the cheap seats...

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Everyone has their own views on this; here are mine.
6. Find an auction house whose staff you like and trust. Ask yourself, if my consignment is lost or damaged do I think the auction house will compensate me fairly. This last item pares the list down quite a bit for me.

Funny to see this, now, given the memory lane theft. Memory Lane paid me out 100%, long before they ever got the cards back (not sure they even have the cards yet). And, I went with them almost entirely because I trusted Joe T, a good friend, to take great care of my consignment, which he and the rest of the ML team did.