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Best auction site to sell OA - Heritage, ComicLink or ComicConnect

80 posts in this topic

Rick, many thanks for the very in-depth response, it is sincerely appreciated! I am leaning towards CLink for many of the reasons you've listed. The more poking I do, the more it seems like a good fit. I am myself a longtime power seller on eBay, but after coming off of a personal record-breaking 2015, I've found 2016 has been very rough for auctions and realized prices. So, I was thinking a more focused auction site might be the answer. I think I'll fire a message off to Clink and see what they have to say. Thanks again, lots of good info here!

 

You're welcome. I've had nothing but truly sincere and pleasant experiences with Doug. Below is what I lifted from their website for you as far as contact information goes....

 

 

Contact Information/Mailing Address

 

For Inquiries Related to Selling via ComicLink or Investing in Vintage Comic Books or Comic Art:

E-mail buysell@comiclink.com (or phone 617-517-0062, select option 1).

 

You may also e-mail the ComicLink auction and Exchange consignment staff directly, as follows:

 

Douglas Gillock, Consignment Director ( dgillock@comiclink.com ) (or phone 617-517-0062 ext 102)

 

Jason Crosby, Sales and Auction Coordinator ( jcrosby@comiclink.com )

(or phone 617-517-0062 ext 106)

 

Jon Signorelli, Sales and Auction Coordinator ( comiclinkadmin@gmail.com ) (or phone 617-517-0062 ext 108)

 

Ross Kearney, Sales and Auction Coordinator ( rossk@comiclink.com ) (or phone 617-517-0062 ext 104)

 

For Billing Related Questions:

 

Please e-mail Sue Edwards, our accounts receivable manager, at billing@comiclink.com (or phone 617-517-0062 ext 103)

 

For Seller Payment Related Questions:

 

Please e-mail Bobbi Fraser, our accounts payable manager, at bfraser@comiclink.com (or phone 617-517-0062 ext 109)

 

For Shipping Related Questions:

 

Please e-mail Sean McCausland, our shipping and accounts receivable manager, at customerservice@comiclink.com (or phone 617-517-0062 ext 110)

 

For All Other Inquiries contact Customer Service:

 

From the U.S. and Canada: 617-517-0062 (option 3)

From all other countries: (country code) + 1-617-517-0062

 

Mailing Address for items to be sold at Auction or on the Exchange:

 

ComicLink

2 Monument Square

STE 300

Portland, ME 04101

 

Other Office Location:

 

ComicLink

70 Hudson Street, Suite 3D

Hoboken, NJ 07030 G

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I'll chime in my two cents...

 

I also haven't dealt with Comic Connect, but have with Heritage and Comiclink.

 

Recently I haven't been happy with either of them. They push hard against using reserves so sometimes you'll just watch your items tank horribly.

 

I used Heritage a couple of years ago with about a dozen pieces and almost every one undersold, some as a result of being shifted into their lesser internet-only auctions. I haven't used them since and thanks to their high fees and iffy customer service I'm not sure I will again.

 

That said, I do believe they get higher premiums on GREAT art and seem to constantly be hitting new high prices with top tier stuff. It's the second tier stuff that doesn't do as well. I also get the feeling that more investors who aren't real fans hit Heritage.

 

My last experience with Comiclink was earlier this year when they gave me a cash advance on a piece that undersold so horribly I had to send them back money. I don't view that as a good sign since the tradeoff for the advance was not doing a reserve auction. It was painful.

 

By the same token, as a buyer I consider Comiclink a great place to get bargains since some items just don't attract the attention needed to sell high and I walk away with great art for a fraction of what it would hit elsewhere.

 

 

 

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"My last experience with Comiclink was earlier this year when they gave me a cash advance on a piece that undersold so horribly I had to send them back money. I don't view that as a good sign since the tradeoff for the advance was not doing a reserve auction. It was painful. "

 

That's a terrible story

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"My last experience with Comiclink was earlier this year when they gave me a cash advance on a piece that undersold so horribly I had to send them back money. I don't view that as a good sign since the tradeoff for the advance was not doing a reserve auction. It was painful. "

 

That's a terrible story

 

OUCH

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I'll say this, and I gave the same advice to a friend of mine.

 

You really need to be educated on the art market to figure out what is the best forum to sell your artwork through.

 

If you're dealing with modern works that are somewhat sub-par by artist or character; items that you recently acquired that are not fresh to market; paid a high price for a piece you're trying to get out of; or over-value your art beyond reasonable market value, then most auction houses are not for you.

 

If you just bought a piece from Jim Lee, Adam Hughes, or J. Scott Campbell, odds are you won't be able to turn around and sell it right away for a profit in most cases.

 

Art is becoming somewhat sophisticated like fine wine, and needs to age.

 

If you have a bunch of commissions, generally, there's a lack of interest in commissions unless it's a quality rendering by one of the top 10 current artists or a deceased legend.

 

I get a sense that right now, if you have published Super Hero artwork that's at least 30 years old, from Marvel, you'll do well.

 

If you have stuff by Image, Top Cow, Aspen, Dark Horse and the like (sans material by artists like McFarlane, Lee, Mignola, Silvestri, Turner, etc.), those characters and properties aren't in huge demand (yet).

 

Comic Link and Heritage both will deny consignments as lower level items bring down the prestige of the auction as well as the simple fact that their overhead costs of managing consignments makes it difficult to put up $300 pieces to then earn $30 for the sale.

 

I'm not a huge fan of ComicLink's Focused Auction nor of Heritage's Sunday Internet Auction nor the Internet Only Lots within their Signature Auctions. Those feel less supported and lackluster in the material that resides within those auctions. Personally, I'd roll the dice on eBay with a starting bid of what I want for the piece before jettisoning the art as a consignment to an auction house. Once in a while those tier-2 auctions will garner surprise results of high final sales prices, but generally they're not that exciting for sellers and more bargain opportunities for buyers.

 

I, personally am a supporter of rolling the dice with a no-reserve auction, but in my world, I only consign items I've researched knowing I'm able to profit on, either because my acquisition costs are low or the market value (historical precedent of sales) is strong.

 

Reserves have not served me well in the past, I think there's a lot of negative stigmas buyers have towards bidding on items with a hidden minimum sales price. There's a psychology behind the thought that if the item does not meet the reserve, then it could be acquired at a much lower offer price. At times, too many people think too highly of their own possessions, over-valuating them only to be disappointed. A friend of mine has an Adam Hughes piece he feels is worth $30k+, but the market probably would bear less than half of that. To that point, my friend should just keep the art instead of taking less than what he thinks it's worth and not bother to solicit his piece for his gaudy overpriced value that will be ridiculed.

 

The reason why I like no reserves is that it tells everyone looking at it, that no matter what, this item will sell and find a new home. So, if buyers are interested, they need to step up or step aside. To me, no reserves inspires bidding wars.

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One thing I'll add about eBay, is sometimes their promotions can make a difference on the back end.

I got an offer last month, where if I listed and sold a certain amount by a set date, they'd send me a 20% off coupon.

I did, and they did, and I used it today and saved an insane amount on a piece. I'm half expecting them to email me later in the week, but...

 

Look out for promotions on final value fees or future kick backs. It can make all the difference.

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Thanks everyone, lots of great info to digest! I used to do very well auctioning my lesser OA on eBay, but as I said earlier, auctions have been tanking for me lately (BIN's do ok...but just ok) and for higher dollar items, I thought a more focused arena like Clink or HA might draw more "serious" eyeballs.

 

The covers I'm interested in selling were purchased about 7 years ago at what I felt was a fair price based on similar samples in the market. I don't know that they have appreciated at all in that time, because similar pieces haven't shown up lately (at least not that I've seen.) So it will be a bit of a roll of the dice. 25 year old Justice League covers by Hughes and Maguire, I'd think there'd be some interest, but one never knows. I am normally loathe to use reserves in my eBay auctions, but this is a different arena, so I will need to carefully weigh my options. I'm not expecting to run laughing to the bank, but I'd also prefer to not lose my shirt on them either.

 

Thanks everyone, very much! Still some thinking and research to do, but this thread (and the forum as always) is an invaluable resource!

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"My last experience with Comiclink was earlier this year when they gave me a cash advance on a piece that undersold so horribly I had to send them back money. I don't view that as a good sign since the tradeoff for the advance was not doing a reserve auction. It was painful. "

 

That's a terrible story

 

I had a similar thing happen with another auction house when selling key CGC graded comics. At this point I won't sell without a reserve. Have been burned enough times.

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I've sold numerous pieces on ComicLink in the past two years narrowing down my collection while paying off student loans and other expenses. All except for two sold for above what I was expecting to receive as the approximate "market value" and far above what people offered me while haggling and negotiating on Comic Art Fans.

 

One piece had a reserve on it and had to be relisted after failing to meet reserve. The second piece sold for slightly below what I had in mind, but again reinforced my belief that I had been overvaluing the piece simply because of a nostalgic attachment to it.

 

In the end, I believe the pieces went for what they should have gone for. They didn't go higher or lower because of some "grail" status to certain collectors, nor because a lack of visibility or funds availability hampered some buyers. ComicLink did a great job providing descriptions and I was perfectly happy with the way they handled all aspects of the consignment.

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One piece had a reserve on it and had to be relisted after failing to meet reserve.

 

I've had similar experiences where I had pieces listed with a reserve, and failed to meet that number. ComicLink then asks to hold the piece and find the seller a buyer at the reserve price, and also allow the opportunity for an "or best offer" for the seller to approve or deny. It's a good process on ComicLink's part.

 

Inversely, I've had big pieces with no reserve, rolled the dice, and one piece sold for $20,000 more than estimated and another, about 2x what was estimated... So, ComicLink was able to attract the right bidders/buyers and extract the right bidding action for the right pieces.

 

I'm a bit of a gambler at heart, so I don't mind going "no reserve" on pieces knowing I may take a loss, but won't get my butt handed to me, as the market value and those who buy to resell will always not let a piece go for dirt cheap. I just make sure my consignments are more treasure than trash. ...and I do have a lot of art in my collection that falls into the "one man's trash is another man's treasure" and vice versa where I have and like a lot of stuff generally nobody wants or cares about, so would never put those to auction.

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The covers I'm interested in selling were purchased about 7 years ago at what I felt was a fair price based on similar samples in the market. I don't know that they have appreciated at all in that time, because similar pieces haven't shown up lately (at least not that I've seen.) So it will be a bit of a roll of the dice. 25 year old Justice League covers by Hughes and Maguire,

 

I think ComicLink is perfect for your Kevin Maguire and Adam Hughes covers.

 

You've aged them perfectly at 25 years and removed them nearly a decade ago, so they are fresh-to-market in offering them up now.

 

If you ask Doug @ ComicLink, he gives very fair, reasonable/realistic and honest estimates, if anything he tends to be conservative and ComicLink ends up outperforming his evaluations at times. He speaks from education and experience having represented so many pieces. Send him photos of your pieces and ask what he thinks.

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The covers I'm interested in selling were purchased about 7 years ago at what I felt was a fair price based on similar samples in the market. I don't know that they have appreciated at all in that time, because similar pieces haven't shown up lately (at least not that I've seen.) So it will be a bit of a roll of the dice. 25 year old Justice League covers by Hughes and Maguire,

 

I think ComicLink is perfect for your Kevin Maguire and Adam Hughes covers.

 

You've aged them perfectly at 25 years and removed them nearly a decade ago, so they are fresh-to-market in offering them up now.

 

If you ask Doug @ ComicLink, he gives very fair, reasonable/realistic and honest estimates, if anything he tends to be conservative and ComicLink ends up outperforming his evaluations at times. He speaks from education and experience having represented so many pieces. Send him photos of your pieces and ask what he thinks.

 

Thanks Rick! I've been talking to Doug, and he seems like a super helpful guy. HA have also reached out to me. So now I guess the wheels are in motion! Thanks again to you and everyone else, it's been a very helpful and interesting discussion!

 

best,

Brent

FFF

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hi

 

i have a question for everyone : i live in france, and have been collecting OA for about 15 years now

 

i'd like to sell some pages, but i wonder how Cl and CC are working :

 

do i have to ship them the pages before auctioning them, or do i simply have to send a good picture, and ship the page to the buyer directly when the auction ends?

 

thanks for your help

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hi

 

i have a question for everyone : i live in france, and have been collecting OA for about 15 years now

 

i'd like to sell some pages, but i wonder how Cl and CC are working :

 

do i have to ship them the pages before auctioning them, or do i simply have to send a good picture, and ship the page to the buyer directly when the auction ends?

 

thanks for your help

 

With Comiclink I believe you have to send the art to them before it can be entered into the auction. I don't know about Comic Connect. You can always send them scans of the work and get their opinions on what it will go for in an auction or just ask for a reserve on the piece if you don't want to let it go below a certain amount.

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With Comiclink I believe you have to send the art to them before it can be entered into the auction. .

 

Yes, I know ComicLink, and believe Heritage both require having the art "in hand" as part of their business practices and integrity to then authenticate the pieces as well as facilitate the sale full circle by fulfilling it. As a buyer, I'd have it no other way and would be weary of an auction house that does not posses the artwork they're representing. As a seller, it's in part what makes the consignment easier, they take the high res scans, write the elaborate descriptions, advertise/promote the sale, create the bidding system, collect the winning bid amount and ship out/fulfill the order. It's pretty hand's off / hand's free for a seller to consign.

 

Preliminarily, sending ComicLink (or Heritage) images, even as simple as a quick one via your cell phone or camera, as a consignment submission inquiry to seek out valuation and interest is both free and easy through email before you decide and commit to the consignment.

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ok, i'd then have to pay international shipping to send them the art......but will i have to pay again for them to send it back to me (for example if it doesn't meet the reserve price)?

 

With CLink I am pretty sure you would need to pay international shipping on the way back. What I have done in one instance, I had them keep the item on the OA Exchange until I won one item in the Featured Auction and then I got both in one single shipment.

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I would go with Comic Link . I've bought and sold with CL a few times and been pretty satisfied.

I really can't understand why any one would try to sell thru Comic Connect as their site is difficult to maneuver , outdated and unsearchable for the buyer. It's been that way for years and they don't seem to care.

Go with Comiclink!!

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And while I'm thinking about it,both Heritage and Clink offer several auctions a year but I think that the auctions in November seem to bring the highest prices.

Is it because of the holidays or just my imagination .

Has anyone else observed this ?

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On 6/16/2016 at 1:21 PM, rrichards said:

I would go with Comic Link . I've bought and sold with CL a few times and been pretty satisfied.

I really can't understand why any one would try to sell thru Comic Connect as their site is difficult to maneuver , outdated and unsearchable for the buyer. It's been that way for years and they don't seem to care.

Go with Comiclink!!

Can't stand Comic Connect.  They get interestin stuff every so often, but when I go on to investigate, the site is so totally not user friendly, and slanted so far towards the comic book collector, that I can't take it seriously.  A shame, because I think the market could benefit from a solid third auction house.  

Having said that, I tend to love clink.  Won a handful of auctions over the years, and no BP (vs Heritage 20%) is a huge incentive for me to work harder to get that piece.  They could benefit for a site overhaul, but only to modernize.  It's not the difficult mess that Comic Connect is.

 

 

 

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