Heritage or Comic Link pros and cons? seller and buyer.

[VintageComics]

That is and always will be a rip off. I cannot believe how many people take it coming and going with them.

 

R.

 

Roy, as a buyer, I simply factor in the BP into the price that I'm willing to pay, so it has zero effect on how much I end up spending. I know what I'm willing to splash out, and I don't really care whether 10%, 20% or 50% of my payment ends up going into the seller's pocket or the auction house's pocket, any more than I care when I pay my insurance premiums how much is going into the agent's pocket and how much is going into the insurance company's pocket. I DON'T CARE.

 

As a seller, yes, it would always be nice to pay a lower commission. But it is interesting (and insulting) how some people on these boards somehow presume that people who sell on Heritage, who were smart enough to acquire and afford all the great books that they're now selling, are suddenly very stupid people who don't know how to do basic market analysis in choosing which auction house they're using to sell their books. Has it occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, THIS suddenly stupid seller had indeed looked at the various options very carefully and determined that the prices I would likely realize on Heritage for my books would be that much higher compared to what they would sell for on another auction site that the additional fees would be worth it?

 

Hey, I agree that the average seller on Heritage is above average in his knowledge of retail options for his/her books. It just makes my teeth grate to think that they charge 2-3 times (when both premiums are totalled) other auction venues just because they can. I never did like snobs.

 

I'm also sure I'm a bit emotional about it because my experience with Heritage is a bit tainted. This has to do with Halperin hitting a BIN on ebay for a JIM #83 CGC 8.0 a few years ago while I was negotiating with the seller on the phone. Not that this made me terribly upset...but the fact that it came back resubbed with a 9.0 label ticked me off. Why the head honcho of one of the largest auction houses in the world needs to scavange Ebay to glean more profits when he's already giving it to buyer's and sellers through the hoop makes me a bit emotional. I guess I'm ticked at them because I lost out on a super-grail funny book. Emotions are sometimes irrational. Sorry about my rant.

 

 

 

[brasseye]

Heritage:

Pro: I do like the catalogs, and I like the "live" bidding aspect... from both a buying and selling perspective, that is a plus (from buying, allows a chance to win that "must" have book, from selling, allows price to be higher than if a closed bid win)...also like the archive!

The 19.5% is not a con for the buyer, because any reasonable bidder just factors that into their bid price (i.e. if they are willing to pay $100, bid $80.50, same diff)...

con: to the seller, the BP is a HUGE CON, because you only get 80.50% bid, and if you are not shrewd, you might actually pay a seller premium too

 

Comic Link:

Pro: great selection, attracting material that once only heritage did...listing prices might be high on some books on the exchange, but just offer what you want and negotiate...from a seller standpoint, 10% is a very reasonable price/commission to pay, and no buyer premium, so you/seller get 90% and don't have to collect payment, ship more than once, etc

 

con: outside of the non cash discount (I would like to use my CC, but don't want to lose the 3% cash discount, so I "lose" out on the miles the cc gives me) no cons for me

 

that's it all in nutshell!

 

Though when you look at Heritage policies, effectively the seller is throwing away 30% of the final price. Irrespective of what you classify as the hammer price etc.

It just doesn't make the slightest sense from the seller's perspective unless you bought your collection off the shelf, and want to move a large volume of books at a single time.

Hence why Heritage get's more of these 'collections', than the likes of Comiclink, and the like.

Heritage has the perception right, or wrongly, to weild the biggest cheque book on the block.

 

[brasseye]

I will play devils advocate here....I heard a heritage exec talking to a perspective consignor at sdcc in 2006.... the consignor was concerned about the 19.5%.... I didn't catch all the details (since I was eavesdropping, but with their knowledge), but I gathered that Heritage only nets about 7% or so after expenses....something about expense and cost of running of the site, the auctioneers and live auction expense, the printing and mailing of the catalogs (this number was large, if I remember, like 3%), the fact that they do absorb the 3% CC fees' etc.....so, all in all, I think 19.5% is about "Right" given all they do....

 

now, I am not condoning questionable bidding practices,etc, but I can certainly see their operation costing that, or am I way off

 

Now, I am a big fan of clink, that is no secret, but if you compare clink's 13% (which is what it is for CC users) to the 19.5% of Heritage, and see what all you get for the 6.5% difference, maybe it is closer to being "justified"?

 

That is what I am trying to get across. The 19.5 is a gross margin. They net nowhere near that amount after expenses. I run a small business and I guarantee you our margin is a lot higher than 19.5. Good night, retailers have margins more like 50%. I think everyone's problem is we know what their margin is. If Heritage just made it part of the price I don't think anyone would have a problem with the price they pay.

 

 

Yes but they make the same % regardless of the book, so they're working on total 'sales figure's', rather than a fixed cost per book.

Thus they need to sell a certain dollar value each auction to cover respective costs, or look at their fixed cost model.

They are perceivably a top tier auction house, full colour catalogues, national sales campaign's etc. All those costs are considerable.

But applying a retail model to the collectable's industry may not be the most cost effective way of operating.

For one it deter's more casual consigners. Guys that have for instance been sitting on books for a few years decide to sell, will make pretty much nothing after respective fee's are deducted.

But guys like Tim, with top material will set new precedents, and most likely negoiate seller friendly percentages, possibly waiving the seller's % altogether for large high calibre consignments. Books they know they'll make considerable % on even with only the buyer's premium in place.

Also the buyer's % is irrelevant. Very few buyer's wilfully neglect to factor it in, so saying it is unfair, or deceitful is simply plain ignorance.

 

Josh, has a leaner operation. No catalogue, and works with an established customer base. Hence why auctioning is a new facet to his business. But his lack of scale is both an advantage to him, and the consignor with premiums charged. Though arguably only recently have the larger buyer's moved towards the Clink.

If the clink changes it's format to attract wider audiences, I suspect their premiums will only, and rightly, go up accordingly hand in hand. Simple financial relaity. Though like I stated at the start. Is selling collectibles best suited to conglomerate styled operations, arguably not.

 

[Flash105]

I agree, Heritage is not for small spenders (dollars) or small sellers (dollars and numbers). CLink is a much better option for those buyers and sellers. Occasionally Heritage runs some auctions on Ebay without a buyers premium which can be a good deal.

 

The best thing for us as collectors is a venue that matches buyers and sellers with a low commision. Ebay used to be that spot and increasingly Comic Link and Pedigree have taken that market.

[tth2]

Though when you look at Heritage policies, effectively the seller is throwing away 30% of the final price. Irrespective of what you classify as the hammer price etc.

It just doesn't make the slightest sense from the seller's perspective unless you bought your collection off the shelf, and want to move a large volume of books at a single time.

Hence why Heritage get's more of these 'collections', than the likes of Comiclink, and the like.

Heritage has the perception right, or wrongly, to weild the biggest cheque book on the block.

You're still not seeing the forest for the trees, Stacy. Let me spell it out for you: I sold a 9.0 Flash 127 on Heritage in November 2006 for about $3K. Assuming Heritage took their full 30% total cut (they didn't), my net was $2100. The same book sold in the last auction on CL for about $600. After CL took its much smaller 10% cut, the seller's net was $540. Who was better off, the sucker paying a 30% cut, or the sharp guy paying a 10% cut? Would the book have sold for $3K again on Heritage? Maybe not, but I'm positive it would have sold for enough over $600 that the seller would have netted more on Heritage than CL.

 

Each auction house has different strengths, and the seller should be doing a cold economic analysis rather than getting emotional about fees being "too high". I could not conceive of selling a Marvel or any BA book on Heritage, for instance. CL would definitely be my first port of call in that situation.

[Aman619]

I dont know about that example. Because they sold at SUCH different prices cant be attributed solely to their venues, can it? When you sold your Flashes, wasnt yours the top copy when nearly all of us believed early Flashes were very very scarce in grade and a 9.0 might just be top (or near top) copy forever? At any rate your run was spectacular and ALL prices were sky high.

 

now years later a 9.0 just isnt nearly as exciting and doesnt sell for thousands,

 

 

 

but I agree with your math: 30% off 3100 is waaaay more than 10% off 600.

[Flaming_Telepath]

This has to do with Halperin hitting a BIN on ebay for a JIM #83 CGC 8.0 a few years ago while I was negotiating with the seller on the phone. Not that this made me terribly upset...but the fact that it came back resubbed with a 9.0 label ticked me off.

 

How the hell did that happen?

 

Oh, yeah...

[Flaming_Telepath]

Though when you look at Heritage policies, effectively the seller is throwing away 30% of the final price.

 

Only if he's clueless.

 

Any seller with decent stuff and some common sense will not be paying any fees on his end. Given the current climate, I can see this happening more and more.