Auction Houses....fun for you or not?

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Posted By: David Poses

I like them. I like receiving the catalogs and I love browsing through the websites. A couple of things I don't like, however, are the higher prices that some relatively easy cards seem to go for versus on eBay.

I also don't like the idea that I have to pay to register at one particular auction house. I imagine this is a touchy issue, but I'm just being honest. I resent the fact that that place thinks I should give them $75 for the privilege of bidding. There's a card I want right now which I think will sell for around $500, but the idea that I'd have to pay the buyers premium plus the $75 plus the shipping makes the actual price way more expensive than it should be. They probably lose a lot of business to people like me who only want a card or two at any given moment and don't want to pay to play.

As far as selling goes, more and more I like the idea of consigning my stuff to an auction house, or at least one of the companies who sell on eBay. My cards sell for ridiculous losses anytime I put one up. My scans are always big and crisp, my auctions are listed on Sunday nights, in the right category, with accurate listing titles, but I think that because I'm not a bigwig with a gazillion positives, I don't get the kind or prices that consignment places get. I definitely follow the same skewed logic as a bidder (I tend to bid higher on a seller with 30000 positives than someone with 300), but I don't understand why that is how it is. I can see not trusting someone with only 30 positives selling a high-grade HOFer and his positives were all from sales of Milli Vanilli records, but there doesn't seem to be much room in the middle. On the other hand, ultimately, I don't know if I'd have more cash in my pocket if I do the work myself and take a loss versus consigning and paying more fees.

I should also mention that I prefer the real auction format "going once, going twice, etc." I think thats better for buyers and sellers. Commands higher prices, but I can't tell you how many times I've kicked myself for not bidding higher for something on eBay.

Interesting question.