Our Recent Experience Selling Comics Through Mycomicshop 23 23

[musicmeta]

On 6/15/2022 at 1:46 AM, jjfversion1 said:

What has been people's experience with auction consignments? I have a backlog of slabs and not enough time to list them on my own. I have been trying to find a quick and reliable auction consigner. Curious how the sales compare on MCS to Ebay auctions. Also, what percentage does MCS take for auction sales?

I listed 22 mostly modern books for auction and overall I've been pleased with the results.  Some books came in lower than I thought they would and some books came in higher but most came in about what I thought I would get.  
One thing is you get paid fairly quickly.  I've already received a few checks already.  Other auction houses take around two months to get paid after the auction has ended and have 10% commission instead of 8% so that helps decide where to send the books too.  I don't do Heritage because they want like 20% commission and I don't have the high dollar books to make it worth it.  I'm keeping my Action #1 in CGC 9.8 White blue label non reprint... LOL! 
I have an advantage in that I can just drive down and drop my books off with the only expense my time and some gas money.  I plan on dropping off about 50 to 75 CGC books for auction in the next month or two.  

I plan on sending in some raws but they will not be high grade and will most likely do Lots instead of single comic listings.  It's worth checking out and to learn from the experience with them.

 

[Axe Elf]

As an occasional customer of @mycomicshop listings on da'Bay, I'll add my feedback.

I'm not particularly concerned about the grading I've seen, but I do think that most of the books I've purchased from them have presented pretty well for the grade advertised, so I do tend to feel like I've gotten my money's worth, even though that's tempered somewhat by a general trend of being more highly priced than some other vendors--so it all kind of balances out.  Maybe you're paying a little more for a 4.5 than you would somewhere else, but you may end up getting more like a 5.0 or even a 5.5 book, so that's kind of a push for me.

I'm a little more annoyed by their tendency to use stock images instead of actual pics of the book for sale, or only including front cover pics with no back cover/additional pics at all.  In fact, I was kind of put off before I had ever bought anything from them and I contacted them about a mid-grade book that was listed with a front cover pic only to see if they had any back cover pics, and they said, "No, the book's in our warehouse and we don't have time to post more pics of it," or something like that, so I kind of avoided them for a while after that.

Eventually, though, I took a chance and bought from them, and my third or fourth order with them is currently en route to me now; I haven't had any problems with my actual orders with them.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Axe Elf

[shadroch]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:24 AM, Axe Elf said:

As an occasional customer of @mycomicshop listings on da'Bay, I'll add my feedback.

I'm not particularly concerned about the grading I've seen, but I do think that most of the books I've purchased from them have presented pretty well for the grade advertised, so I do tend to feel like I've gotten my money's worth, even though that's tempered somewhat by a general trend of being more highly priced than some other vendors--so it all kind of balances out.  Maybe you're paying a little more for a 4.5 than you would somewhere else, but you may end up getting more like a 5.0 or even a 5.5 book, so that's kind of a push for me.

I'm a little more annoyed by their tendency to use stock images instead of actual pics of the book for sale, or only including front cover pics with no back cover/additional pics at all.  In fact, I was kind of put off before I had ever bought anything from them and I contacted them about a mid-grade book that was listed with a front cover pic only to see if they had any back cover pics, and they said, "No, the book's in our warehouse and we don't have time to post more pics of it," or something like that, so I kind of avoided them for a while after that.

Eventually, though, I took a chance and bought from them, and my third or fourth order with them is currently en route to me now; I haven't had any problems with my actual orders with them.

Anything you can buy from MCS off of ebay can be purchased at a substantial discount off of their website. I think it's a 15% discount, but don't hold me to that.

[1Cool]

For those that sell a lot does it really even out in terms of prices realized on MCS?  A book that is a 8.0 / 8.5 on E-Bay would probably be a 6.0 / 6.5 on MCS so I find it hard to believe people are getting 8.0 / 8.5 prices for 6.0 / 6.5 books on MCS but maybe they are.

[Axe Elf]

On 6/15/2022 at 11:31 AM, shadroch said:

Anything you can buy from MCS off of ebay can be purchased at a substantial discount off of their website. I think it's a 15% discount, but don't hold me to that.

That would have been good to know a few orders ago; my collecting is just about done now.

But it does bring up an interesting point that I didn't mention--I have never successfully negotiated a "Best Offer" price with My Comic Shop through da'Bay; every time I've ever asked if they would accept a lower price for a book, they've always said that unless the listing had a "Best Offer" option, their prices should be considered as firm.  Ok, that's their right, but it seems inconsistent with offering a 15% discount on their website.  I get that it's against the rules to direct me off-site to make the purchase, but I would think they'd be a little more flexible on-site if that's the case.  I guess they're just discounting for da'Bay's seller fees or something.

Ce la vie...

Edited June 15, 2022 by Axe Elf

[shadroch]

Their consignments offer the owner a chance to accept best offers. If they don't, you can't expect MCS to do anything. I accept offers but don't accept many.

[mycomicshop]

On 6/15/2022 at 11:35 AM, 1Cool said:

For those that sell a lot does it really even out in terms of prices realized on MCS?  A book that is a 8.0 / 8.5 on E-Bay would probably be a 6.0 / 6.5 on MCS so I find it hard to believe people are getting 8.0 / 8.5 prices for 6.0 / 6.5 books on MCS but maybe they are.

I would say that people often don't get 8.0 / 8.5 prices on eBay for books listed as 8.0 / 8.5. Buyers assume those books are actually lower than claimed, and a lot of the time they are.

Edited June 15, 2022 by mycomicshop

[mycomicshop]

On 6/15/2022 at 11:37 AM, Axe Elf said:

That would have been good to know a few orders ago; my collecting is just about done now.

But it does bring up an interesting point that I didn't mention--I have never successfully negotiated a "Best Offer" price with My Comic Shop through da'Bay; every time I've ever asked if they would accept a lower price for a book, they've always said that unless the listing had a "Best Offer" option, their prices should be considered as firm.  Ok, that's their right, but it seems inconsistent with offering a 15% discount on their website.  I get that it's against the rules to direct me off-site to make the purchase, but I would think they'd be a little more flexible on-site if that's the case.  I guess they're just discounting for da'Bay's seller fees or something.

Ce la vie...

Consignors have the option to turn on best offers if they want to accept best offers.

For our own non-consignment inventory, we currently do not have the make an offer option turned on--our price is our price, and if it doesn't sell we'll lower the price over time. The one exception to this is expensive books (say $5K-10K or more). If somebody contacts me directly, or contacts our customer service with a serious offer on a book like that, it should get passed through to me and I'll respond. Sometimes I'm happy with our price as-is and willing to hold on to it, other times I'm willing to negotiate. We recently sold a comic we originally had priced at $25K, and the buyer contacted me with an offer and we ended up settling on $21K.

[Ed Hanes]

On 6/14/2022 at 11:46 PM, jjfversion1 said:

What has been people's experience with auction consignments? I have a backlog of slabs and not enough time to list them on my own. I have been trying to find a quick and reliable auction consigner. Curious how the sales compare on MCS to Ebay auctions. Also, what percentage does MCS take for auction sales?

I have been pretty happy with auctions at MCS ...I tried Ebay and had a miserable time...Ebay charges 12.5 % , MCS only 8% (7 dollar minimum). Also, MCS or any other like place deals with the customer , not you. The only real drawback is that it takes more time for you to get your funds from MCS et al...just because of the logistics of sending them the slabs and being assigned an auction slot, and winners have two weeks to pay. I would say that from time of sending them off to getting paid averages about a month/6 weeks...but I have my slabs going in on a rolling basis...so I am at the point that I am getting funds every week. I have been doing this for almost a year...oh and another thing about Ebay that irks me...if the auction winner is from a state that pays sales tax..they charge the seller 12.5 % of the tax..so if you auction off a book for  2K ..and the sales tax is 10% (like in Seattle)..you will pay 12.5 % on 2200 , not 2000. As far as what you get in sales at MCS v Ebay...it feels like I got better sales at MCs..but that's just a gut feeling...dont hold me to it...but MCS has all their sales listed for each issue (raws and slabs) if that issue is under auction or listed in future auction..you can compare to go collect /GPA for ebay sales...but it seems to me that its about the same for slabs. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Ed Hanes

[Ed Hanes]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:31 AM, shadroch said:

Anything you can buy from MCS off of ebay can be purchased at a substantial discount off of their website. I think it's a 15% discount, but don't hold me to that.

Yes, this is true..they mark up their offers on Ebay (to cover the commission Ebay gets, I imagine) ...15 % sounds about right

Edited June 15, 2022 by Ed Hanes

[Axe Elf]

On 6/15/2022 at 12:44 PM, mycomicshop said:

Consignors have the option to turn on best offers if they want to accept best offers.

For our own non-consignment inventory, we currently do not have the make an offer option turned on--our price is our price, and if it doesn't sell we'll lower the price over time.

So is the 15% discount on your website a myth, or is the "our price is our price" stance only applicable to the site where the item is listed and not universal across all listings?

[sckao]

I think MCS just adds on the EBay fee to the Consignment price so I don't know if they actually make any profit on whether it sells on eBay versus their website besides the increased exposure. The Best Offer option differs drastically from actually listing it on eBay yourself since you cannot converse with the person doing the offer by way of messaging. It's either a counteroffer, accept or deny. It's a much better percentage than listing it yourself on eBay so that's the tradeoff although I realize that eBay buyers who make a best offer probably may not realize their messages don't make it through? (I'm not sure if comments can be turned off for eBay offers.)

[Axe Elf]

On 6/15/2022 at 12:58 PM, sckao said:

I think MCS just adds on the EBay fee to the Consignment price so I don't know if they actually make any profit on whether it sells on eBay versus their website besides the increased exposure. The Best Offer option differs drastically from actually listing it on eBay yourself since you cannot converse with the person doing the offer by way of messaging. It's either a counteroffer, accept or deny. It's a much better percentage than listing it yourself on eBay so that's the tradeoff although I realize that eBay buyers who make a best offer probably may not realize their messages don't make it through? (I'm not sure if comments can be turned off for eBay offers.)

I've sent messages with Best Offers that were responded to (not necessarily to My Comic Shop, but other sellers), so I know the messaging works with offers--although I have gotten some offers from sellers after "watching" an item that did not allow messaging--just accept, counter or decline.  I don't know what the difference would be; I just assumed that the seller making the offer could turn off the messaging feature if they wanted.

[Ed Hanes]

On 6/14/2022 at 4:55 PM, Number 6 said:

That only works if customers continue to consign raw books with MCS. 
 

You just said you’re not going to consign raws with them anymore. I’m not going to consign raws with them anymore for the same reason. 
 

Consigners are their customers too. The model you outlined above depends on bending their consigners over. Clearly that’s not sustainable. 

I think MCS is the only place that consigns RAWS (online)..so they fill a niche that is badly needed ..I wouldn't have really even questioned their grading if it weren't for the knock down in grades of issues I bought from them. For other raws, I understand the subjectivity in grading and maybe MCS just looks at grades differently than CGC..for example , maybe MCS significantly knocks down a grade for defects due to manufacturing but CGC doesn't knock them down. I imagine that most people who send in their raws wont have a strong reference point like the raw formally coming from MCS..so they wont know and if they are selling raws from a collection they bought decades ago, the returns are significant enough to overlook any issues with grading. For me, I will just feel better sending the raw to CGC, get it slabbed then send it to MCS...reduces the variables and so far, my experience with doing this with previous raws has net me larger returns (considering all the associated costs). 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Ed Hanes

[shadroch]

As I understand it ;

I list a book  on MCS for $100.  If it sells, I make $90 and MCS gets $10.   MCS will list it on ebay for $115. After fees, they clear $100 and keep 10%. 

If I listed it myself on ebay for $100, it would be a lot more work, more worry and I'd clear less.  It works for me.  The problem is when there are more consigners than buyers. 

[Ed Hanes]

On 6/15/2022 at 11:32 AM, shadroch said:

As I understand it ;

I list a book  on MCS for $100.  If it sells, I make $90 and MCS gets $10.   MCS will list it on ebay for $115. After fees, they clear $100 and keep 10%. 

If I listed it myself on ebay for $100, it would be a lot more work, more worry and I'd clear less.  It works for me.  The problem is when there are more consigners than buyers. 

For some issues this is a problem...like say ASM 300 ...but there are a few things going on here...some consigners list their books on MCS and post a ridiculously high price..these people are just storing their book , waiting for the next spike in prices and then they will either auction or sell at FMV. You can list your comic to be competitive or not, up to you. So the listings on MCS for a particular issue don't necessarily have anything to do with market dynamics. (people do the same thing on Ebay).  For auctions, MCS seems to have a process where they only list one issue ( more if a popular issue) ...if you consign you get a list of auction slots that are available to you based on the comic and how many of that issue are listed for consignment 

Edited June 15, 2022 by Ed Hanes

[shadroch]

I don't use their auctions much for individual books. I win some but don't sell many.  90%plus of my sales are BINs or I accept an offer.   Of the offers I recieve, I turn down most, and make a counter-offer to  about a third.  I've been using the auctions for some lots, with mixed results so far. 

Edited June 15, 2022 by shadroch

[Ed Hanes]

On 6/15/2022 at 12:01 PM, shadroch said:

I don't use their auctions much for individual books. I win some but don't sell many.  90%plus of my sales are BINs or I accept an offer.   Of the offers I recieve, I turn down most, and make a counter-offer to  about a third.  I've been using the auctions for some lots, with mixed results so far. 

Ebay or MCS? 

[shadroch]

On 6/15/2022 at 12:08 PM, Ed Hanes said:

Ebay or MCS? 

I sell thru MCS. 

[Ed Hanes]

On 6/15/2022 at 12:24 PM, shadroch said:

I sell thru MCS. 

got it...I didnt know MCS had counter offers...I may try the BIN