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Best consignment company options:

Started by MichaelB1973,

28 posts in this topic

MichaelB1973

MichaelB1973

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PLEASE PM ME OR MAKE A COMMENT IF YOU WORK FOR ANY OF THESE COMPANIES AND I NEED TO UPDATE ANY INFO I HAVE. ALSO, IF YOU HAVE ANY STATISTICS ON VOLUME, CUSTOMER BASE SIZE, NUMBER OF HIGHER END ITEMS, ETC. THAT YOU LIST/SELL, LET ME KNOW AND I WILL LIST IT SO THAT CUSTOMERS KNOW WHAT THEY ARE GETTING WHEN THEY CONSIGN.

 

I am trying to put together a list that people can use to determine best consignment options. All of the information on the boards and internet seems piecemeal. Please add any relevant info you have to a comment and I will update the main comment here with that info so boardies don't have to scroll through everything. I will be updating this list often, so check back.

 

I would really love to hear about:

-some high visibility sites with sub 10% selling fees (all inclusive)

-some sites that will consign (they take care of everything) of lower dollar items. For example, if someone has a thousand golden age western comics that sell for $5 to $20 each, a company willing to accept a box of them and do all of the work for 25% to 40%

- Is there a viable alternative to the 13% fees that EBay, ComicConnect, & ComicLink charge, such as the 6 - 10% seller fees I see from MyComicShop, HighGradeComics, Greg Reece Comics, and others, where there are enough customers to make it a good choice. Saving 3-7% is great, but only if our comics sell in a reasonable time period.

 

1. Collector Society Boards:

 

- Cost: Free, except for any paypal fees you might incur to make the transaction.

- Ability to easily post items for sale, pictures, condition, and search ability: Low. Everything is done by hand. No database to search. A weak search functionality

- Buyer Protection: Not much. Paypal has some base protection. You can blacklisted on the board. Reputation is king. Buyer beware.

-Seller Protection: Not much. Paypal has some base protection. Although I am unclear what happens if a seller ships something and the buyer claims they never got it. It is harder to sell higher priced items without a reputation. Reputation is king.

-Buy it now or Best Offer. However, people do make up their own auctions on the fly.

-Price Minimum: Can sell cheap items. No minimum.

-Price Maximum: Reputation is king. Hard to spend $10k on an item from a random boardie.

-Graded Material Requirement: None

-Consignment options: No one at company to consign items.

-Visibility: Low

 

2. EBay

 

-Cost 10% + 3% Paypal + insertion fees

- Ability to easily post items for sale, pictures, condition, and search ability: High. Everything is pretty easy.

- Buyer Protection: High. EBay caters to buyers. Can return for almost any reason.

-Seller Protection: Medium. Paypal/EBay protection if you follow their rules. However, for any true higher dollar items ($5k and up), it seems to me that a buyer could claim they never got an item, or switch it, and the seller would be screwed. Even with signature confirmation, what happens if the buyer claims the box was empty??? I don't know but worry such things. Items up to a couple thousand are a reasonable risk, but I wouldn't sell an action #1 on here.

-Auctions, BIN, or Best Offer.

-Price Minimum: Can sell cheap items. No minimum

-Price Maximum: Reputation is king.

-Graded Material Requirement: None

-Consignment options: No one at company to consign items.

-Visibility: High

 

3. CommicConnect

 

-Cost 10% + 3% If Buyer uses credit card. This only if you keep the item at home until you sell it and post it yourself. If you send it in and have them list the items, take photos, etc then they charge 25%. They may charge less for high dollar items.

- Ability to easily post items for sale, pictures, condition, and search ability: Medium. Everything is automated, but limited space to post pictures, and extra details. Ideal for graded material

- Buyer Protection: High. Seller has to send purchased item to ComicConnect first, then thy review the grade, and then they send it to buyer.

-Seller Protection: High. Zero risk scammer buyer can hurt seller. See above for process.

-Auctions, BIN, or Best Offer.

-Price Minimum: Minimum $50 items

-Price Maximum: None. Reputation is moot. No sellers are identified.

-Graded Material Requirement: For most people, only graded material, but after being OKd, you can sell non graded material too.

-Consignment options: Stated above. I believe that this goes through Metropolis, but am not 100% sure.

--Visibility: High

 

 

4. CommicLink

 

-Cost 10% + 3% Buyer Premium if they use credit card. Buyers would likely build this in to their buy price

- Ability to easily post items for sale, pictures, condition, and search ability: Medium. Everything is automated, but limited space to post pictures, and extra details. Ideal for graded material

- Buyer Protection: High. Seller has to send purchased item to ComicConnect first, then thy review the grade, and then they send it to buyer.

-Seller Protection: High. Zero risk scammer buyer can hurt seller. See above for process.

-Auctions, BIN, or Best Offer.

-Price Minimum: Minimum $50 items

-Price Maximum: None. Reputation is moot. No sellers are identified.

-Graded Material Requirement: For most people, only graded material, but after being OKd, you can sell non graded material too.

-Consignment options: ?

-Visibility: High

 

4. MyComicShop/LoneStar Comics

 

-Cost 10% on sales less than $300; 8% from $300 to $3000. 6% for more. No credit card or Buyer Premium fee. This is very reasonable, I just don't know how they compare to ComicConnect/CLink on volume/visibility.

- Ability to easily post items for sale, pictures, condition, and search ability: High. MyComicShop does all of this for you.

- Buyer Protection: High. MyComicShop is established business.

-Seller Protection: High. MyComicShop takes all of shipping risks.

-Price Minimum: Minimum $50 items (but maybe sometimes less)

-Price Maximum: None.

-Graded Material Requirement: None

-Consignment options: Everything is consignment. They do it all, but won't deal with nicknack items ($1, $5, or even $20 items)

-Visibility: Medium. Outside of their EBay sales, it is not clear to me how many items they actually sell on their website. In addition, I assume that any items they list on EBay, they automatically have to markup an amount to cover their 6-10% commission plus the 13% EBay fees.

 

 

TEMP INFO ON CONSIGNMENTS:

 

EsquireComics - 7% seller's fee according to website. The site does not say if there is an extra fee for credit card purchases. See:

 

EsquireComics Consignment Info

 

 

Pedigree Comics - 10% seller's fee according to website for items $10k and less. The site does not say if there is an extra fee for credit card purchases. It is not clear to me if they only do auctions or also BINS and Best Offers. See:

 

Pedigree Comics Consignment Info

 

HighGrade Comics - 10% seller's fee according to website for items $10k and less. No extra fee for credit cards.

 

High Grade Comics Consignment Info

 

Heritage Auctions - 0 - 15% seller fees + 19.5% buyer premium--29.5% it has been said (???). I am not sure if there is a credit card fee too. I have seen numerous people state that the seller fee is 10% for comics, but Heritage does not make it easy to figure this out. Here is a long Legal Document stating the details that I have not read through yet. Supposedly, they are the place to use for high dollar items ($10k and above I guess).

 

Heritage Auctions Legal Document PDF

 

 

Greg Reece Comics - 10% seller fees. No credit card or buyer premium fees

 

Greg Reece Consignment Info

 

 

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namisgr

namisgr

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I've had great success with both Mycomicshop and Highgrade Comics. Our Blazing Bob consistently gets top dollar for the books I've consigned with him.

 

+1 for working with Highgrade Comics. Bob has a large customer base that can realize some of the best prices for your key and high grade books, and he is always prompt with payments and easy to work with.

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NTHstars

NTHstars

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Couple quick observations...cool list.

 

They do auctions here, with increasing popularity, just by having people put their bids into a post. It's crude but people still like it.

 

Costwise, of course there's still a charge if you use Paypal here. Im sure you know that, but maybe it's worth a mention.

 

Not the point of your post, but an observation on a buyer claiming to not receive an item---always require a signature...always...unless the sale is too tiny so it eats all the profit.

 

edit; whats the deal with Pedigree. Very little buzz here.

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shadroch

shadroch

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edit; whats the deal with Pedigree. Very little buzz here.

 

Some of us refuse to do business with scumbag ex-lawyers who ripped off elderly clients to fund their collection. Others may think a scumbag ex-lawyer disbarred for improperly mixing clients money with his own may not be be the best person to consign property to.

Or maybe he just hasn't had enuff kool books lately

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MichaelB1973

MichaelB1973

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edit; whats the deal with Pedigree. Very little buzz here.

 

Some of us refuse to do business with scumbag ex-lawyers who ripped off elderly clients to fund their collection. Others may think a scumbag ex-lawyer disbarred for improperly mixing clients money with his own may not be be the best person to consign property to.

Or maybe he just hasn't had enuff kool books lately

 

I am unfamiliar with any Pedigree Comic issues. If you have any information or citations, others may appreciate it

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Bomber-Bob

Bomber-Bob

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edit; whats the deal with Pedigree. Very little buzz here.

 

Or maybe he just hasn't had enuff kool books lately

 

I think his auctions have been boring. Doug has such a narrow focus and it's called Marvel. It's the same old, uber graded Marvels for every auction. Yawn.

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BlowUpTheMoon

BlowUpTheMoon

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edit; whats the deal with Pedigree. Very little buzz here.

 

Some of us refuse to do business with scumbag ex-lawyers who ripped off elderly clients to fund their collection. Others may think a scumbag ex-lawyer disbarred for improperly mixing clients money with his own may not be be the best person to consign property to.

Or maybe he just hasn't had enuff kool books lately

 

Link?

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shadroch

shadroch

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edit; whats the deal with Pedigree. Very little buzz here.

 

Some of us refuse to do business with scumbag ex-lawyers who ripped off elderly clients to fund their collection. Others may think a scumbag ex-lawyer disbarred for improperly mixing clients money with his own may not be be the best person to consign property to.

Or maybe he just hasn't had enuff kool books lately

 

I am unfamiliar with any Pedigree Comic issues. If you have any information or citations, others may appreciate it

 

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1049021&fpart=1

 

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1057387/site_id/1#import

This one builds slow, but its worth reading if you are truly unaware of Schmells actions.

 

 

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ny-supreme-court-appellate-division/1022446.html

Since respondent's intentional conversion of client funds, misappropriation, and other misconduct are undisputed, the only issue is whether a sanction other than disbarment is warranted. - See more at: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ny-supreme-court-appellate-division/1022446.html#sthash.8GIVL20F.dpuf

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bb8

bb8

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Since I don't want to offend the 'there's already a thread for that, n00b' members (BlowUpTheMoon, etc.), I'll post this here.

 

Stopped off at one of the lcs's here to peruse their back issues. The owner has his Christmas sale going, which includes 15% off of back issues. He said all the 'wall' books were 15% off except a section that is consignment items.

 

I was surprised and said, 'You do consignment? How does that work?' He then explains the fee structure and my eyes about bugged out of my head. $50 a month for a section of the wall. He said you can arrange your comics however you want (any stack would require the customer to ask to see them as they are behind the counter), but the way that displays individual issues can fit about ten books.

 

This was the way he recommended and the current consignor had them arranged. So, ten books. $50 a month. And 25% commission on top of that! 'Oh, but we eat the 3.5% fee if the item is bought by credit card.' I couldn't believe it. The current guy has had his books up since September, and I think I've seen maybe one or two books that have been moved off that section. Could be more, I'm not a super regular customer.

 

His best books are maybe $50-$100 books. I guess he's never heard of mycomicshop or eBay. It was like the twilight zone. And the owner was very anxious for me to get on board. With that fee structure, I would be too!

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makeminemego

makeminemego

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I don't think the visibility is low with regards to listing books here on the boards. Lots of collectors-many of whom are know quantities with regards to transaction histories-are looking to spend money.

 

My experience, which is certainly limited when compared to others, is that the boards are a pretty safe place to conduct transactions with high levels of accountability. Price reasonably, grade tightly, and ship quickly. Plus the only fees to speak of are paypal related, and are a drop in the bucket when compared to auction or consignment sites.

 

If I were looking to consign books, I would agree that HighGradeComics would be a great way to go. Bob is an honest and fair guy to do business with, and he has a broad customer base to boot.

 

 

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vader318-migration

vader318-migration

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I'd recommend Comic Connect. I'd never go through Heritage unless they'd waive the high consignment fee in writing. They double dip meaning they charge the buyer a buyers premium and also keep money for the 25% consignment fee. They put out nice auction catalogs but they get the money to do this from the buyer's premium which could otherwise be lowered.

 

I like the Comic Connect auctions as they seem to get the best books.

 

Also they will advance large amounts of money before the auction. I once was in a bind and they wired me approx $20k in less than 48 hours. Name another comic book auction company that does that?

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comixcroz

comixcroz

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I'd recommend Comic Connect. I'd never go through Heritage unless they'd waive the high consignment fee in writing. They double dip meaning they charge the buyer a buyers premium and also keep money for the 25% consignment fee. They put out nice auction catalogs but they get the money to do this from the buyer's premium which could otherwise be lowered.

 

I like the Comic Connect auctions as they seem to get the best books.

 

Also they will advance large amounts of money before the auction. I once was in a bind and they wired me approx $20k in less than 48 hours. Name another comic book auction company that does that?

ComicLink

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