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How difficult is it to do a transaction with Stephen Donnelly?

Started by jbud73,

17 posts in this topic

jbud73

jbud73

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So there is a piece I'm interested in, but given the fact that SD has so much art, none of which has prices associated, and a lot of which has been on their site / CAF for a while I am thinking that there is a reason. Personally, given the lack of experience in OA (having only been researching and buying for about a year) I avoid art for sale with Offers, or Inquire associated with them.

 

I also haven't heard of many transactions occurring through word of mouth with them and those that I have heard were associated with terms like "it was expensive" - "I had to pay that price", or "it was more that I wanted to pay".

 

Just curious as to an open solicitation of opinion, if you want to PM me that's fine to. The piece is not a must have, and there are other examples of the artists work that have hit the market, or sold previous to my interest, I was just curious as to whether its worth the effort to even inquire - would the likely ask be in the ballpark of previous sales?? hm

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thecollectron

thecollectron

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I don't think they have a good reputation in the hobby. They have had high priced OA lingering on their Ebay store for a long time, and if you inquire about pieces on their CAF site, you'll eventually get a reply with a very large figure. I also bid on items in their Ebay auctions years back before I knew who they were, and I didn't meet the reserve but I was the high bidder and they then offered me the item at a much higher price than my high bid.

I think they like to trade more than sell, which is fine, but it looks like they avoid selling by putting really high cash prices on pages and then the pages just sit there.

My experience with them at conventions is that they have tons of pages that they've had for years and still don't have price tags. One of the Donnelly's apparently can't put a price on anything and has to defer to one of the others, who is usually busy holding court. When I finally got a price on something, I walked away disgusted. I no longer waste any time at their table when I see them at conventions.

Don't bother inquiring or making offers unless you don't mind being gouged. In fact, I would avoid them altogether.

Just my 2 cents.

 

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jbud73

jbud73

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Thanks, for the reply, I think that echoes some of the sentiments that I have heard, I guess it might be better to ask if there is anyone that has completed a transaction for cash only. Did they feel good about the experience, and why, if not why again? If what collectron said is true I could of course inquire, or make an offer, have the astronomical sticker shock back and just move on.

 

I have also had the not meet reserve and subsequent email from Neatstuff on a piece I was high bidder on, with them revealing that the reserve was double my max bid, and double what the piece received for a max bid at three previous auctions. I guess you just have to shake your head and know that the market has spoken and the piece is not going to be sold, which of course is the right of the seller as well.

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Mephisto

Mephisto

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I've never dealt with the Donnelly's but expect to pay a lot for a piece they have. I inquired about a piece shortly after they purchased it from ebay and the price was more than double what they has bought it for. I did get a response at least because some people I've talked to never hear anything back. I know some people don't like the jacked up prices. I personally don't have a problem with it, as it's their art and they can ask what they want for it. You just have to be prepared that a price they ask maybe MUCH higher than what you would expect the current market range to be. I'm not as worried about the prices with them, as I am some of the stories I've heard about not receiving art for a long time and having to constantly bug them to send it after paying for it.

 

I've also had the same experience as you with Neatstuff. My bid was about $835 reserve not met. $2,000 was the reserve price. I offered a cash/trade deal that would've equaled the reserve but never got an email back.

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r1982rhoads

r1982rhoads

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I echo the sentiment of the others posted here. I have tried to work something out with them, they rarely reply. As a general figure, their prices are about 2 to 3x what fair market value is. My advice to you, if it is not a must have or a piece you have been searching for, for years, to pass. You can get twice the amount of art if you sit and wait and seek out other options. It is not worth the disgust, when it takes forever to get a quote, and it is then astronomical.

 

He had a Tales of Suspense page from issue 51 for 975...4 months later he wanted over 2k for it. I recently asking him again for the same page...price is now 3750. The span of time from first quote to last, 16 months. I know the pages have gone up and 2k is fair value now, but 3750! Just an example and my 2 cents

 

Best of Luck to you

 

David.

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thecollectron

thecollectron

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I echo the sentiment of the others posted here. I have tried to work something out with them, they rarely reply. As a general figure, their prices are about 2 to 3x what fair market value is. My advice to you, if it is not a must have or a piece you have been searching for, for years, to pass. You can get twice the amount of art if you sit and wait and seek out other options. It is not worth the disgust, when it takes forever to get a quote, and it is then astronomical.

 

He had a Tales of Suspense page from issue 51 for 975...4 months later he wanted over 2k for it. I recently asking him again for the same page...price is now 3750. The span of time from first quote to last, 16 months. I know the pages have gone up and 2k is fair value now, but 3750! Just an example and my 2 cents

 

Best of Luck to you

 

David.

 

They offered a Wayne Boring Superman #200 page on Ebay not too long ago that I watched but didn't bid on. The auction ended with no takers for the opening bid, then they immediately re-listed it with a higher price, no one bid on it, and then re-listed it again, still no bids. That's an interesting selling strategy: no bids, so raise the price.

It's their art and they can do what they want with it, but I have less and less patience for greed and the OA market is rife with it.

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Pirate

Pirate

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I wasn't able to complete a long negotiated purchase either. Just more than I wanted to pay. Think the item has been on ebay 400 times with no bidders.

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Solar

Solar

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I wouldn't avoid the Donnellys - they aren't scammers. They do try to get above market value for art and can be tough to communicate with, but they arent "bad guys."

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thecollectron

thecollectron

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And....One of them posts here...and he's a nice guy.

 

I don't doubt he's a nice guy, I just don't want to do any art deals with him. He's not the only one, there are others in the hobby who are pleasant to talk to but gouge people when it comes to business. When I see that the other big art guys at conventions have just as much quality inventory, but with price tags on it, why wait around for a price quote that's going to be 50% to 100% higher than I expect?

(Well, I guess that just means I can get sticker shock more easily at someone else's booth.)

Maybe they price things higher and just wait for the market to catch up, and I'll admit that recent auctions seem to indicate that some OA prices are skyrocketing again, so perhaps the Donnelly's prices are no longer completely over the top. And, in fairness to them, maybe they deal in art with the ultimate goal of financing and enhancing their personal collections and I can't argue with that. I just get tired of the pure greed that permeates the OA arena and I'm picking on the Donnelly's because they exemplify it. I wouldn't mind at all talking about art or comics or anything else with the Donnelly's but I have no interest in talking business with them. That's just my choice, and this thread was a question about how difficult it is to do business with them, and I've just given my 2 cents. A few times. So maybe I'm up to a dime. Hmm...that's probably way over the FMV of my advice....

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chromium

chromium

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Too bad when one of the Donnelly brothers made a post in almost all the posts on the front thread-page a few days ago, this was one of the few threads he didn't participate in...

 

Maybe because he didn't want to put words in his brother's mouth, but on the other hand the thread soon was about the Donnelly brothers as a unit and not specifically about Stephen (shrug)

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jbud73

jbud73

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Chrom, Richard D actually sent me a nice email regarding my question, in the end I ended up getting a lot of PMs from board members which were extremely helpful.

 

I have been extremely wary of Offers, or Inquire pieces having been burned early on in my venture into OA. A few of the other recent Heritage pieces for sale at other dealer sites (not Stephen's) have also been listed for 2X or more what they recently sold for at public auction, so I was again wondering if this is a common ploy to try and artificially drive the price of pieces.

 

And again thanks to everyone who took the time to send me a PM and discuss situations that have occurred with them and transactions from a bunch of dealers, it was much appreciated.

 

Rgs,

 

Jason

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