REA Marketplace Open

[ruth-gehrig]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

So basically they hold your cards hostage forever unless you pay them. No thanks

How does that equal hostage? Lol

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

How does that equal hostage? Lol

How does it not, if you have to pay them to get your item back?

[sbfinley]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

How does it not, if you have to pay them to get your item back?

I agree. They should provide the scans, the write up, the marketplace, the pool of buyers, and the risk of sale for free.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

I agree. They should provide the scans, the write up, the marketplace, the pool of buyers, and the risk of sale for free.

They take a cut of the sales don't they?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

They take a cut of the sales don't they?

Yes, although if you ask for your items back, then they obviously didn't sell.

Really a question of whether there should be a handling fee associated with the work that REA is doing to list your items and maintain the platform for stuff that doesn't sell, or whether REA should just eat those costs.

Or better yet, they could always shift those costs by bumping up the fee that they charge on items that do sell to cover any cost of their work on items that don't sell. Although consignors who are actually selling stuff through the marketplace would probably feel like they shouldn't be subsidizing the freeloaders whose stuff isn't selling.

I think the whole purpose of the $5 fee is just to keep people from sending in lots of stuff, asking for the moon for it and then turning around and pulling it right back out when it doesn't sell. In that case, REA has real costs to provide that service, but little or no opportunity to get paid for it.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by raulus

Yes, although if you ask for your items back, then they obviously didn't sell.

Really a question of whether there should be a handling fee associated with the work that REA is doing to list your items and maintain the platform for stuff that doesn't sell, or whether REA should just eat those costs.

Or better yet, they could always shift those costs by bumping up the fee that they charge on items that do sell to cover any cost of their work on items that don't sell. Although consignors who are actually selling stuff through the marketplace would probably feel like they shouldn't be subsidizing the freeloaders whose stuff isn't selling.

I think the whole purpose of the $5 fee is just to keep people from sending in lots of stuff, asking for the moon for it and then turning around and pulling it right back out when it doesn't sell. In that case, REA has real costs to provide that service, but little or no opportunity to get paid for it.

That's certainly a fair assessment. Right now are they letting anyone put anything up for any price, or do they have some restrictions? (I see that it has to be graded cards)

[philliesfan]

Besides graded, the minimum value is $100.00 and must be on a minimum of 30 days.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

That's certainly a fair assessment. Right now are they letting anyone put anything up for any price, or do they have some restrictions? (I see that it has to be graded cards)

My understanding is that they reserve the right to decline stuff that is massively overpriced. At least, that's what they told me when I called to chat with them about adding some of my stuff to the marketplace.

Although that's always going to be a judgment call, and it's not clear to me how aggressively they've applied that screen so far.

Some might argue that some of the existing items are generously priced (including some of my stuff that is currently on the marketplace), but certainly not all of them.

I suspect they were just wanting to avoid complete and utter nonsense that would make the whole enterprise look like a waste of time, like someone asking $500k for an 87T McGwire in PSA 8 or something.