So I've been seeing some good comics for auction online at www.EBTH.com (Everything But The House) and decided to try the waters with some better bronze age books. Here's what you need to know"
1. They don't appraise anything and use a generic description for all unslabbed comics including the default phrase "various degrees of wear, fading and discoloration present on the spines and covers of the comics;". I didn't realized this was put there by default when I submitted 5 flawless NM comics. Specifically, "Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man" #1-4 (1976-77) and "Web of Spider-Man" #1 (1985).
2. You have to submit pictures with your application to get approval to sell on their sight via consignment.
3) All items can be had for a starting bid of $1 (no minimum). In my case, I applied to sell all 5 comics as a bundle hoping to get into a higher commission bracket (wise?, unwise?, answer is pending).
4) Your pay-back depends on how much they go for: $0-75=50%, $76-250=60%, $251-750=65%, $751-$2500=70%, $2501-5000=75% and $5001+=85%.
5) You mail the comics into one of the companies regional offices and they photograph them and run the sale and you get a commission check 3-4 wks after the sale closes.
6) All sales last 5 days. EBTH pre-paid for me to ship them via UPS and mailed me the mailing label. I had to package them up and was responsible for insurance over $100 if I wanted it (didn't).
7) You are given 2 days to review your auction listing before it goes live.
8) You don't get to pick when it goes live. In my case, I had to wait about 2-3 wks after they received it for the auction to start.
9) If you don't like something on the listing, you can inform EBTH via email or phone but phones are not open on weekends.
10) They may hint that they will change the listing if you don't agree with it, but, in my case, did not follow through.
11) There is a way to plug in your comic to a feature called "Ended Items" and see past auction sale amounts earned for your comic. This is a great feature, much like ebay's, that I discovered late in the game. If I had found it sooner, I may have gone a different direction but I chose the comics I did because I had multiple sets of the same and wanted to see how a series of NM comics might drive up the price.
The GOOD:
Lots of people are mixing a few good comics with a whole bunch of bad comics and selling as a package with some decent returns
The BAD:
Really good comics that are not slabbed and not pictured professionally don't get the attention they should. My batch of 5 NM comics has been languishing at $60 for the past 2 days with 22 hours left in the sale. That means that if there isn't a final flurry, my take will be $30 and someone will get a hell of a deal. I sent daily requests to change the incorrect default description to seller support and have many return emails from seller support stating they have sent my concerns to sales but no reply or changes ever came from the sales department.
Verdict:
Use the site wisely for unloading lower-rated comics by mixing in a few decent books. That seems to be the best strategy. Slabbed comics seem rare on the site but may be a good move for more expensive comics that get up higher in the commission schedule. I recommend you DO NOT put good quality unslabbed first or key issues on this site unless you just need to unload them fast and cheap. This may evolve into a better system if more attention is given to comic sales but right now they seem sophomoric (No office staff on weekends!!!)
This is a much better site for buyers than for sellers. I saw some outstanding deals people got on rare golden age comics in the "Ended Items" comic inventory.
My sale ends tomorrow night so I won't offer this as a final seller's verdict until the gavel falls. Stay tuned tomorrow night....
