Are prices still climbing or have they eased up a bit??? 43 43

[1Cool]

On 5/6/2023 at 9:03 PM, Beige said:

@CGC Mike

Every.Damn.Thread.

[marvelcollector]

Not cool, 1Cool.

[MAR1979]

On 5/6/2023 at 7:52 PM, rsouxlja7 said:

These and the other past CL results make me wonder why anyone would consign with them. Great for buyers but awful results for the sellers time and time again. 

Zero buyers fee (for non credit cards and 3% on Credit Card) should encourage higher bidding over 19.5% Buyers fee at Heritage but in many cases does not.

I think reasons for that include but are not limited to:

1) Less promotion from Comic Link.
2) Slow and Painfully difficult to navigate CLink website with no way for average potential buyer to keep a cart of potential item to bid on.
3) Shilling shenanigans at Heritage (Alleged)
4) Heritage Buyers premium counted in final sale by most aggregators. However 19.5% of those final sales numbers do not go to the seller/consignee. 

My opinion is if CLink's Website was brought into this century they would see many more bids and far more impulse bids from easier browsing. As for me I prefer to purchase from CLink for many factors but there seemingly circa 1999 website is not one of them

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by MAR1979

[jjonahjameson11]

On 5/7/2023 at 9:53 AM, MAR1979 said:

Zero buyers fee (for non credit cards and 3% on Credit Card) should encourage higher bidding over 19.5% Buyers fee at Heritage but in many cases does not.

I think reasons for that include but are not limited to:

1) Less promotion from Comic Link.
2) Slow and Painfully difficult to navigate CLink website with no way for average potential buyer to keep a cart of potential item to bid on.
3) Shilling shenanigans at Heritage (Alleged)
4) Heritage Buyers premium counted in final sale by most aggregators. However 19.5% of those final sales numbers do not go to the seller/consignee. 

My opinion is if CLink's Website was brought into this century they would see many more bids and far more impulse bids from easier browsing. As for me I prefer to purchase from CLink for many factors but there seemingly circa 1999 website is not one of them

 

 

Just to correct a few things stated in your post:

1. the HA sellers fee is 20%.  Has been for some time now.  Likewise, the buyers fee is also 20%
2.  I know several folks who have negotiated a much lower fee with HA, some have actually negotiated 0% sellers fee!

3.  The HA buyers premium- it may surprise you to know that the 20% buyers premium isn’t always in play.  There are several ways that folks have negotiated this down to a reduced %

4.  HA’s customer base is far more expansive than Clink’s

5. clinks website functionality and user-friendliness seems as though it was created by a teenage living in his parents basement…and it hasn’t been upgraded since launch.  On the flip side, HA’s site features, user friendliness, etc are far superior 

6.  In general, you pay more for consigning with HA, but it’s a small price to pay for the benefits received

7. Given the aforementioned, clink is a great place to buy, but a lousy place to sell (unless you feel like leaving money on the table)

Edited May 7, 2023 by jjonahjameson11

[musicmeta]

On 5/7/2023 at 9:32 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

Just to correct a few things stated in your post:

1. the HA sellers fee is 20%.  Has been for some time now.  Likewise, the buyers fee is also 20%
2.  I know several folks who have negotiated a much lower fee with HA, some have actually negotiated 0% sellers fee!

3.  The HA buyers premium- it may surprise you to know that the 20% buyers premium isn’t always in play.  There are several ways that folks have negotiated this down to a reduced %

4.  HA’s customer base is far more expansive than Clink’s

5. clinks website functionality and user-friendliness seems as though it was created by a teenage living in his parents basement…and it hasn’t been upgraded since launch.  On the flip side, HA’s site features, user friendliness, etc are far superior 

6.  In general, you pay more for consigning with HA, but it’s a small price to pay for the benefits received

7. Given the aforementioned, clink is a great place to buy, but a lousy place to sell (unless you feel like leaving money on the table)

As far as selling on HA, doesn't that depend of the book you're selling?  I think Golden age books, some Silver age and a few choice Bronze age books but not so sure about the rest of the books...Just wondering is all? 
I never think to sell at HA and I live in the Dallas area so I could just drive down and hand them off.  The 20% commission seems way to high IMO.  I'm not selling a high priced book or books.  

[Number 6]

On 5/7/2023 at 7:32 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

2.  I know several folks who have negotiated a much lower fee with HA, some have actually negotiated 0% sellers fee!

This gets brought up a lot but I think it’s worth bearing in mind:  HA has a $5,000 threshold on combined estimated value before they’ll even consider taking your consignment. 
 

So in order for HA to even consider negotiating down their seller’s fee you would have to be bringing a pretty substantial dollar amount to the table. 
 

But it’s not just the total dollar value amount. If you’re offering $10,000 worth of books that would reasonably sell for $100-$500 each that’s probably not going to incline HA to budge on their fee much if at all.  (Those type of books actually tend to do ok on Clink anyway)
 

If, however, you’re looking to consign a handful of big Gold/Silver keys in grade or a couple pieces of really outstanding art, that’s a different story. 
 

I’m not disputing that the fee can be negotiated down.  But it seems like when this gets brought up people make it kind of sound like all you really need is good people skills and to just ask nicely. 
 

The key word is “negotiate”. You have to be able to convince HA that they can’t afford to have your items go to another venue.  And you’ve gotta bring the milkshake in order to make that happen. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Number 6
Spelling

[1Cool]

On 5/7/2023 at 9:49 AM, marvelcollector said:

Not cool, 1Cool.

Meant as a levity moment not as a threat.  Hawk doesn’t like snitches but he also likes a thread to not get shut down so he is conflicted!

[jjonahjameson11]

On 5/7/2023 at 1:50 PM, Number 6 said:

This gets brought up a lot but I think it’s worth bearing in mind:  HA has a $5,000 threshold on combined estimated value before they’ll even consider taking your consignment. 
 

So in order for HA to even consider negotiating down their seller’s fee you would have to be bringing a pretty substantial dollar amount to the table. 
 

But it’s not just the total dollar value amount. If you’re offering $10,000 worth of books that would reasonably sell for $100-$500 each that’s probably not going to incline HA to budge on their fee much if at all.  (Those type of books actually tend to do ok on Clink anyway)
 

If, however, you’re looking to consign a handful of big Gold/Silver keys in grade or a couple pieces of really outstanding art, that’s a different story. 
 

I’m not disputing that the fee can be negotiated down.  But it seems like when this gets brought up people make it kind of sound like all you really need is good people skills and to just ask nicely. 
 

The key word is “negotiate”. You have to be able to convince HA that they can’t afford to have your items go to another venue.  And you’ve gotta bring the milkshake in order to make that happen. 

I realize $5K may be a lot of money to some folks, but it doesn’t require a lot of books (Modern, Copper, Bronze) to achieve the minimum threshold to sell on HA.

after a few auctions, I think a consignor will have HA’s attention to negotiate the % rates, with the incentive that more consignments would be forthcoming 

[EastEnd1]

If they know you have a strong collection, say because you've bought a lot from them over the years and they can obviously see it in their archives, they will be more than happy to negotiate fees with you, regardless of the immediate consignment.  They don't want to lose a potentially strong relationship to the competition.  And from my experience, their service is second to none.

[Cratus]

On 5/7/2023 at 9:32 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

Just to correct a few things stated in your post:

1. the HA sellers fee is 20%.  Has been for some time now.  Likewise, the buyers fee is also 20%
2.  I know several folks who have negotiated a much lower fee with HA, some have actually negotiated 0% sellers fee!

3.  The HA buyers premium- it may surprise you to know that the 20% buyers premium isn’t always in play.  There are several ways that folks have negotiated this down to a reduced %

4.  HA’s customer base is far more expansive than Clink’s

5. clinks website functionality and user-friendliness seems as though it was created by a teenage living in his parents basement…and it hasn’t been upgraded since launch.  On the flip side, HA’s site features, user friendliness, etc are far superior 

6.  In general, you pay more for consigning with HA, but it’s a small price to pay for the benefits received

7. Given the aforementioned, clink is a great place to buy, but a lousy place to sell (unless you feel like leaving money on the table)

i agree that clink is a great place to buy but is there a reason why its data is not utilized by gocollect? 

[Hulksdaddy1]

On 5/8/2023 at 1:13 PM, Cratus said:

i agree that clink is a great place to buy but is there a reason why its data is not utilized by gocollect? 

They don't keep their sales info for very long.

[Number 6]

On 5/8/2023 at 4:06 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I realize $5K may be a lot of money to some folks, but it doesn’t require a lot of books (Modern, Copper, Bronze) to achieve the minimum threshold to sell on HA.

after a few auctions, I think a consignor will have HA’s attention to negotiate the % rates, with the incentive that more consignments would be forthcoming 

Your second paragraph is kind of swerving into the point I was trying to make.  Likewise with EastEnd1’s point about having a history of buying quality material from them.  
 

So IF you have a history of repeatedly consigning books with them…IF you have a history of buying nice stuff from them…basically if you have an ongoing, working relationship with them as a seller, buyer or both they yeah you might be able to start a dialog with them about reducing their seller’s fee. (although, again, I think the quality of the material matters as much or more than just the quantity)
 

That’s different than making a blanket statement to everyone - regardless of their history with HA - that one of the benefits of HA is the ability to negotiate fees.  
 

Again….I’m not saying it isn’t possible to negotiate their buying and selling fees. But if they’re doing that on a regular basis I don’t see how they would be making money.  I have to think it’s more the exception than the rule and you (collective “you” here) really have to be able to convince them that you’re that exception. 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Number 6

[jjonahjameson11]

On 5/8/2023 at 1:43 PM, Hulksdaddy1 said:

They don't keep their sales info for very long.

It would be embarrassing to show their results vs sales from other auction houses

[namisgr]

On 5/8/2023 at 2:20 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

It would be embarrassing to show their results vs sales from other auction houses

While your mileage may vary, that hasn't been my experience at all as a Comiclink seller of two high value registry sets, one Silver Age with over 40 comics and the other Bronze comprised of over 200 books that were sold over four separate auctions.  In each of the five total auctions, I had multiple books sell for GPA records in their grade, and the total sales in aggregate blew away expectations based on GPA recorded sales.

Edited May 8, 2023 by namisgr

[jjonahjameson11]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:30 PM, namisgr said:

While your mileage may vary, that hasn't been my experience at all as a Comiclink seller of two high value registry sets, one Silver Age with over 40 comics and the other Bronze comprised of over 200 books that were sold over four separate auctions.  In each of the five total auctions, I had multiple books sell for GPA records in their grade, and the total sales in aggregate blew away expectations based on GPA recorded sales.

I think that's fantastic to hear, and its nice that your registry sets sold well.  Did you sell similar books in similar grades at clink and at HA to compare results?  When did you sell the books?

Ive done it both with slabbed books and original comic art for years.  I stopped selling on clink nearly 10 years ago when I noticed HA results consistently performed better than clink (and yes, that's after all seller fees were taken into account).  

I stand by what I stated previously: clink is a great place to buy, lousy place to sell.

 

[namisgr]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:44 PM, jjonahjameson11 said:

I think that's fantastic to hear, and its nice that your registry sets sold well.  Did you sell similar books in similar grades at clink and at HA to compare results? 

I bought plenty of comics from Heritage when I was actively accumulating, but never sold through them.  Why not?

- The buyer and seller fees would have put a major dent in my net sales.

- The Silver and Bronze collections that I sold through the years on ComicLink, ComicConnect, Highgrade Comics, and the marketplace here are eras that, in my experience, do at least as well at those venues as they would be expected to do at Heritage, where the great strengths are in Golden Age material, original art, and pedigree collections reaching market for the first time.

- When finding examples in the Heritage archives in the same grades as the Bronze Age comics I sold on ComicLink, it's uncommon to find issues that sold for substantially more on Heritage around the 2020 time period they were sold.

I could give a slew of examples of books that did exceptionally well at ComicLink.  Here's six among the many picture frame Marvels that sold in 2020, from a quick perusal of my sales records.  The collection as a whole netted six figures there:

• Two-Gun Kid #106 cgc 9.6... $500
• Rawhide Kid #94 cgc 9.6... $661
• Submariner #53 cgc 9.8... $1,115
• Fantastic Four #125 cgc 9.8.... $1,688
• Conan #20 cgc 9.8.... $1,800
• Hulk #151 cgc 9.8.... $3,077

I think that the choice of best venue for a particular collection or run varies depending on the genre and era, and in many cases the books would do very well at two or three different venues with only minor differences between them.  

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by namisgr

[alexgross.com]

On 5/7/2023 at 7:32 AM, jjonahjameson11 said:

 

3.  The HA buyers premium- it may surprise you to know that the 20% buyers premium isn’t always in play.  There are several ways that folks have negotiated this down to a reduced %

 

love to hear how we can reduce the BUYERS PREMIUM at heritage. many of us have negotiated better sellers rates for better books, but i never heard of anyone negotiating down the BP. do i have to spend 50k per month or something?

Edited May 8, 2023 by alexgross.com

[jjonahjameson11]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:51 PM, namisgr said:

I bought plenty of comics from Heritage when I was actively accumulating, but never sold through them.  Why not?

- The buyer and seller fees would have put a major dent in my net sales.

- The Silver and Bronze collections that I sold through the years on ComicLink, ComicConnect, Highgrade Comics, and the marketplace here are eras that, in my experience, do at least as well at those venues as they would be expected to do at Heritage, where the great strengths are in Golden Age material, original art, and pedigree collections reaching market for the first time.

- When finding examples in the Heritage archives in the same grades as the Bronze Age comics I sold on ComicLink, it's uncommon to find issues that sold for substantially more on Heritage around the 2020 time period they were sold.

I could give a slew of examples of books that did exceptionally well at ComicLink.  Here's six among the many picture frame Marvels that sold in 2020, from a quick perusal of my sales records.  The collection as a whole netted six figures there:

• Two-Gun Kid #106 cgc 9.6... $500
• Rawhide Kid #94 cgc 9.6... $661
• Submariner #53 cgc 9.8... $1,115
• Fantastic Four #125 cgc 9.8.... $1,688
• Conan #20 cgc 9.8.... $1,800
• Hulk #151 cgc 9.8.... $3,077

 

Thanks for your quick and thoughtful response.  I’m glad you had the success you did with the various sales venues.

My experiences were/are vastly different 

[jjonahjameson11]

On 5/8/2023 at 4:13 PM, alexgross.com said:

love to hear how we can reduce the BUYERS PREMIUM at heritage. many of us have negotiated better our sellers rates for better books, but i never heard of anyone negotiating down the BP. do i have to spend 50k per month or something?

I only know about reducing the buyers premium as a consignor.

my sales are through HA only and over the years, as my sales hit higher cumulative totals, I would occasionally reach out to HA and negotiate better terms for myself.

others have sold far more and have negotiated even better rates than I thought were imaginable.  Gives me incentive to continue selling through HA

i approached clink with similar requests to lower their consignors rates on multiple occasions, whereby I would consign more/higher priced items with them.  They wouldn’t budge, let alone entertain a dialogue.

[NewWorldOrder]

On 5/8/2023 at 12:30 PM, namisgr said:

While your mileage may vary, that hasn't been my experience at all as a Comiclink seller of two high value registry sets, one Silver Age with over 40 comics and the other Bronze comprised of over 200 books that were sold over four separate auctions.  In each of the five total auctions, I had multiple books sell for GPA records in their grade, and the total sales in aggregate blew away expectations based on GPA recorded sales.

Those books were super sweet!

Edited May 8, 2023 by NewWorldOrder