Best sales venue for raw PCH reader grade books 0

[fifties]

I have accumulated a small number of PCH, and a few pre code crime books, all raw Fair to VG under copies, that I'd like to offer for sale in October.  

For this kind of fare, which venue, eBay or HA, do you think would get the best net, after deducting their commissions?  

Also, about how long does it take, between submitting books to HA, and their putting them on the Sunday-Monday weekly auction?

Thx for any advice.

[Nic8612]

You could always list them here 

 

Depending on how many books and their value, you can negotiate the commission with HA. If the books are high enough value, they will want to get them graded through CGC first though.  I know HA has a contract with them that basically puts their books at the head of the line, but I have no clue how long that actually takes.  If you send them graded books they go to auction 4-5 weeks after they receive them from you.  You can negotiate a cash advance too, so that's always a fun option.  I would personally steer clear of Ebay if the books have significant value. But if they are all low grade/low value, then Ebay is probably the way to go

[Sqeggs]

On 7/14/2022 at 4:40 PM, fifties said:

I have accumulated a small number of PCH, and a few pre code crime books, all raw Fair to VG under copies, that I'd like to offer for sale in October.  

For this kind of fare, which venue, eBay or HA, do you think would get the best net, after deducting their commissions?  

Also, about how long does it take, between submitting books to HA, and their putting them on the Sunday-Monday weekly auction?

Thx for any advice.

HA has been getting strong prices for raw books. Last weekend they had a bunch of raw PCH books up. You may want to look through the results to see if the prices are about what you're hoping for. Their commission on raws is higher than on slabbed books, given that they have to grade them. You may want to contact @Ricksneatstuff. There's a lag between when you send the books in and when they can get them graded and listed and another six weeks or so before you'll receive payment.

If getting the dough faster is important, you can ask them about an advance or you may want to consider selling the books outright to MyComicShop as another possibility, although, obviously, you'll net less. 

[Courageous Cat]

MCS is a good fast venue but expect less, maybe even significantly less. So, if you’re not in a big hurry I would opt for the HA venue IMO

eBay is good, but generally speaking the guys who run continually every week and establish a good fan base (Blizzard) are generally the ones who walk away with the most $

Edited July 15, 2022 by Courageous Cat

[fifties]

Thx for the information guys.  I really don't need the bucks, just wanted to clear out some under copies.

[telerites]

On 7/15/2022 at 4:17 AM, fifties said:

Thx for the information guys.  I really don't need the bucks, just wanted to clear out some under copies.

Just curious, what do you think an average FMV is per book?

And it sounds like you are set on auction format?

 

[Jayman]

On 7/15/2022 at 5:17 AM, fifties said:

Thx for the information guys.  I really don't need the bucks, just wanted to clear out some under copies.

Donations are accepted!!! 

[Robot Man]

I don’t think a big auction site is probably the best for low grade average PCH. The fees would be pretty high.

Ironically, the bay might be your best shot. I have gotton some suprisingly high bids recently there.

Or, if you know what you want, right here on the boards might be a good option. No fees or hassle and a lot of eyes on them. 

[rjpb]

I'd try the boards first. No fees and it's easy to list on, with above average quality of buyers. GA sales seem slower than in the past on the boards though, and if the initial demand for a given book isn't there, often folks are waiting for sizable discounts.

Ebay auctions are a mixed bag, sometimes raw GA sells for more than slabbed copies do at the other auction houses in lower grades, but as often they sell for substantially less (it's where I pick up a lot of bargains). I prefer fixed price myself, but even priced less than the competition, if it doesn't sell quickly it can take months. As others have said, you can sometimes see eye-popping results on HA auctions as well on lower grade raw PCH, but after their sizable commission, I don't think on average one would do much better than on ebay and you could be waiting longer, but you don't have to deal with individual buyers either. 

Instagram is pretty solid, but you need to build up followers or sell through someone that has. I haven't gone the commission route, but I gather the fees are often lower than ebay or auction houses.

[BakerFanOne]

I would push for selling on the boards if the books are reasonably priced and of lower value and/or demand.

If they are high demand/higher value PCH, definitely sell them on Heritage.  

If you are not in a rush and want to maximize value, sell them on MCS or Buy It Now on eBay.

Just my two cents.

[fifties]

I've sold GA books to MCS that were not really in-demand, and received lower than they might have garnered on eBay, IF they sold. 

PCH as I think we all are aware, is hot right now, so I think that using a fixed eBay BIN price or posting here on the board, would deprive me of the best bang.

  eBay now gets 14.6% of the take, including shipping and sales tax.  HA apparently gets 10%, but of course if they take as long in sending the money as they do in shipping the books I win (about 3 weeks), that might be a consideration, as I'd like the transactions to be over and done with as soon as possible.

What am I going to part with?  A couple of crime books including a GGA, Journey Into Unknow Worlds 16, Weird Mysteries 5, Mysterious Adventures 12, and Hand of Fate 15 & 18.  The Monkey brains book is in Fair or Fair minus condition, with a quarter or more of the FC gone, the rest are in the G-VG to VG range.

[Ryan.]

I usually start by listing books here and, if they don't move in a few days, which they usually don't, I send raws to MCS and post slabs on Shortboxed. 

Generally I'll sell books for much less here than through other venues, but there are no fees and transactions are immediate. 

[rjpb]

My understanding is that unless you have the quantity and quality to make a special deal, you'll be handing a lot more than 10% of the final price with Buyer's Premium to Heritage, and it's that 20% BP added that contributes to record prices. 

Ebay auctions won't always do better than fixed price. I've purchased plenty of pre-code horror at auction on ebay and turned around and sold it there at a higher fixed price. You can see great results, but that's the thing about auctions, they can go either way. It seems the best auction performances of raw books on ebay come from sellers who have established a reputation for selling at auction there.  

[fifties]

I guess HA is out of the picture for me.  I've been told that they'll only handle a minimum total value of $5,000, and of course my total is nowhere near that.  I'll be putting them on eBay in about 3 months, and will post on the board here, for anyone interested.

[Dr. Balls]

I'd say give the Boardies a shot first - the ease of selling here and the less problems you have deal with would trump the other venues in my opinion. Then you move on to other venues.

I sell 10-20 records per week on Ebay and I have at least 2-3 non-paying bidders, bid retractions, request for cancellations, etc every week. I hate using EBay, I cannot wait until I am done selling there.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Dr. Balls

[rjpb]

On 7/15/2022 at 8:16 PM, Dr. Balls said:

 

I sell 10-20 records per week on Ebay and I have at least 2-3 non-paying bidders, bid retractions, request for cancellations, etc every week. I hate using EBay, I cannot wait until I am done selling there.

It does seem the auction method brings out the flakes on ebay. I see stuff relisted or get second chance offers sent to me regularly. Selling items as BIN I rarely have buyers flake on me. Maybe GA and pulps don't attract as many deadbeats, but in selling well over 1000 items on ebay in the last several years, I've probably only had about 3 or 4 non-payers. I've had a couple returns for flimsy reasons like "decided I didn't want it", and a few slow to pay buyers, but haven't really had the hassles with buyers many seem to have experience with on ebay. Maybe I've just been lucky. 

[fifties]

I'm no stranger to selling on The Bay; been there since 1998.  There have been a few buyers wanting a partial refund for one reason or another over the years, but nothing really intolerable, and the last one of those was ages ago.  These days one is lucky to get the book he wants in damn near any condition, and at a price that just two years ago would have fetched two grades higher.

PCH is hot, because sources have simply seemed to dry up lately.  I have frankly been astounded to see hammer prices both there and on HA  this year and last. 

As for selling on this board or doing BIN's on eBay, I just wouldn't know what price to set for each book.  I think therefore it's better to let the market decide in an auction.

I do appreciate all the responses, and the information they rendered.

[telerites]

On 7/16/2022 at 1:52 AM, fifties said:

As for selling on this board or doing BIN's on eBay, I just wouldn't know what price to set for each book. 

I have this same issue with some books - I have GPA but on raws rarely sold books even HA archives, EBay and MCS don't much if any data.  Plus I really don't pay much attention to sales and buy somewhat infrequently now so I couldn't even say which genres are hot.

I wish we could have a separate auction thread here apart from the ages or as a subset of the ages so they can get more focus.  I had proposed that one time but no traction.

I have thought about FB auctions but am pretty social media anemic.  

Good luck and would interested which way you go and how it turns out.

[Courageous Cat]

On 7/15/2022 at 10:23 PM, fifties said:

I guess HA is out of the picture for me.  I've been told that they'll only handle a minimum total value of $5,000, and of course my total is nowhere near that.  I'll be putting them on eBay in about 3 months, and will post on the board here, for anyone interested.

yeah, HA is pretty picky (I guess they can afford to be), but then again if there was no 5k min, their site would be pretty cluttered with garbage

[rjpb]

On 7/16/2022 at 6:28 AM, Courageous Cat said:

yeah, HA is pretty picky (I guess they can afford to be), but then again if there was no 5k min, their site would be pretty cluttered with garbage

Though their "garbage lots" of mixed lower grade, lower interest GA often seem to fetch higher prices than one might imagine.