Consigning to Heritage 2 2

[Bird]

I sell on ebay all the time, little stuff mostly. I do not think that I have ever sold a $1000+ piece there but sold a $340 comic last week and that is about my comfort limit on ebay due to return/loss/scam concerns. I used HA recently and they were open to negotiating fees and I knew going in that the buyers premium would depress my take but felt that was the price to pay for the security and exposure I got.

[Ricksneatstuff]

All I can say is if you have books you are looking to bring to auction send me a list and I will be happy to help assist.

Heritage offers services to consignors that set us apart. Anyone who has a consignment of significance who does not discuss consigning with Heritage is leaving money on the table.

Happy New Years everyone 

[fifties]

1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

    The other alternative is that you could simply consign it with either CC or CL and you should be able to net $900 after the fees are taken in account.  

If you choose either of these 2 alternatives, you also don't have to worry about doing any of the associated tedious work in terms of auction listing and shipping.  

I presume "CC" is Comic Connect, AKA Metropolis?  What does "CL" stand for, and I'm sure neither is gonna host an auction for free, so what are their fees?

[lou_fine]

13 minutes ago, fifties said:

I presume "CC" is Comic Connect, AKA Metropolis?  What does "CL" stand for, and I'm sure neither is gonna host an auction for free, so what are their fees?

CL stands for ComicLink which is one of the 3 major auction sites along with both Heritage and ComicConnect.  

I believe the fees for both CC and CL are pretty well set at 10% of the final auction price.  

[manetteska]

1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

    The other alternative is that you could simply consign it with either CC or CL and you should be able to net $900 after the fees are taken in account.  

If you choose either of these 2 alternatives, you also don't have to worry about doing any of the associated tedious work in terms of auction listing and shipping.  

Not to pick on l_f specifically, but I have seen a couple/few people point out that Heritage (or insert other auction/consignment site here ___) will do the shipping for you. Unless you pass over books at a major convention, you still have to ship the books to the company first, so not really gaining much on that front.

As one more alternative, MyComicShop has really good rates on consignment items, starting at 10% and decreasing based on sales price. I have not used their auction format before, but the BIN has worked well for me and they have just added a Best Offer option. If they were to setup at a major convention (as I have a couple near me) and accept consignments in-person, they would be getting my business.

[manofsteel]

As a buyer, HA also charges a CC fee, shipping, and sales tax. I recently bid on a book for $3217 (3860 with the 20% BP). Add in the 8.75% NYS tax, 3% CC fee, $30-$40 shipping, and this would've been an almost $4400 comic. I know the OP is referencing selling, but as a buyer/bidder, I have to figure those costs in too. The book hammered for $3400 (4080 with BP), the seller would've netted $2890 for the book. Yikes!!!! Give me 10 at that price!!! Lol

On the flip side, I sold a cpl pieces of art from the Death of Superman series. Both of them were purchased close to 20 yrs ago. One from HA, and the other from eBay. Both pieces went for many times what I actually paid for them. So, I didn't care that they were getting that 15% from me. Also, Afaik, there's no GPA for comic art. I really didn't know what they'd go for, but was happy in the end  

If it were me, I would only consign with them if it's a rarer piece of art or book. As ppl will pay more, and not care about the extra fees. 

[buttock]

You wouldn't have been able to pay that credit card fee on a purchase since heritage caps them at $2500 and even less currently.  

 

Click charges a card fee and I think CC caps theirs also.  

 

All 3 charge shipping and taxes. 

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, manofsteel said:

The book hammered for $3400 (4080 with BP), the seller would've netted $2890 for the book. Yikes!!!! Give me 10 at that price!!! Lol

On the flip side, I sold a cpl pieces of art from the Death of Superman series. Both of them were purchased close to 20 yrs ago. One from HA, and the other from eBay. Both pieces went for many times what I actually paid for them. So, I didn't care that they were getting that 15% from me.

Not sure how you can say that you are paying only 15% from a consignor point of view if you take a closer look at the numbers which you are presenting here.  

If you take a look at your own example above, for all intents and purposes, the market or selling price for the book for GPA, Heritage reporting, Overstreet reporting, etc. would have captured this sale at the $4,080 price point.  The hammer price of $3,400 is only a temporary interim valuation that disappears once the hammer comes down and the auction is over.  What is really happening is that although you think the buyer is indeed paying the 20% BP or $680 in your example here, this money is still really coming out from your pocket because it is being kept by Heritage instead of going to you.  As a result, although you may think you are paying only the 15% SP or $510 in your example here, this sale at a price point of $4,080 is actually costing you total auction fees of $1,190 or over 29% of the final auction realized price.  

Now, if you had consign the same piece with either CC or CL and they were able to fetch the same market price point of $4,080; you final dollars dropping into your pocket would be substantially higher.  Especially since their standard consignment fee is only 10% which means your auction fees would work out to only $408 in both cases, and hence you would walk away with $3,672 in your pocket or about 27% more than the $2,890 amount from Heritage.  Of course, the underlying assumption here is that you would have been able to hit the same market price of $4,080 with the other 2 auction houses which might not necessarily be the case when it comes to original artwork where HA seems to possibly have a stronger customer base. 

With comic books though, I personally believe the price points for all 3 auction houses are much more similar and it really depends on the types of books which you are consigning as to which one of these auction houses will possibly do better.  It's really up to the consignor to do their own due diligence if they really want to maximize  their dollars when selling their books, along with a bit of luck of course. Plus the fact that you can apparently negotiate some of the auction fees downwards with HA to bring them closer to their competitors, depending upon the types of books which you have up for consignment.   

Edited January 2, 2020 by lou_fine

[manofsteel]

16 hours ago, buttock said:

You wouldn't have been able to pay that credit card fee on a purchase since heritage caps them at $2500 and even less currently.  

 

Click charges a card fee and I think CC caps theirs also.  

 

All 3 charge shipping and taxes. 

I'm not advocating for one auction house over another. Stating the tax and S/H was just for overall pricing. eBay and this site do not charge sales tax.

I did not know they capped their CC saes at 2.5k.

[manofsteel]

16 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Not sure how you can say that you are paying only 15% from a consignor point of view if you take a closer look at the numbers which you are presenting here.  

 

 

I said 15% because I had no clue what the art would be worth. But I def get what you're saying. Hence my "YIKES" for what that seller netted from that book I bid on. 

[Arkadin]

Does anyone know if Heritage requires a minimum value for a consignment? I seem to remember them mentioning $5,000 minimum at one point.

[LearnedHand]

On 12/31/2019 at 3:10 PM, lou_fine said:

    The other alternative is that you could simply consign it with either CC or CL and you should be able to net $900 after the fees are taken in account.  

If you choose either of these 2 alternatives, you also don't have to worry about doing any of the associated tedious work in terms of auction listing and shipping.  

 

When I decided several years ago to sell a few books, I experimented by giving some to Heritage and some to CL (CC wasn't yet a player).  I was happier with HA than CL for several reasons.  

I was recently solicited to sell again through CL and compared it to HA.  In broad strokes, I concluded that CL's sales model is laser focused on a single selling facet - internet capture.  There are flyers that come via spam emails; and the auction participant capture is purely via on-line bidding.  HA sends out a set of slick physical catalogues; there is a physical gallery where you have the option to see the actual books; there's a website with high quality front and back cover scans of all Signature Auction books; and there is internet bidding; live phone bidding; and live auction floor bidding.  In essence, a multi-faceted advertising, marketing, and sales campaign.  Based on this, and a competitive fee arrangement, I again went with HA.  And, in the process, sold the 2nd highest graded National Comes #7 for an enormous premium - but this of course is anecdotal (but thought you'd appreciate it, Lou Fine).  

The real question is: despite the vast differences between these two sales models, is there an appreciable difference (statistically, not anecdotally) in what the consignor nets using one auctioneer over the other?  

Lou Fine - it seems you have exp with CC and CL, so I'd be grateful for your input here too ...      

[Math Teacher]

On 1/2/2020 at 11:47 AM, manofsteel said:

eBay and this site do not charge sales tax.

As someone who has books on eBay recently, I can assure you that they DO charge sales tax.

 

Joe

[Dark Knight]

3 minutes ago, Joe Ankenbauer said:

As someone who has books on eBay recently, I can assure you that they DO charge sales tax.

 

Joe

I know I have been charged sales tax living in CA when checking out of ebay, but I believe some states who are tax exempt do not.

[manofsteel]

I do NOT pay sales tax on books, and I’m in NY. I have for other items, but def not books. 

[Math Teacher]

7 hours ago, manofsteel said:

I do NOT pay sales tax on books, and I’m in NY. I have for other items, but def not books. 

So it seems that different states have different policies. I'm sure Iowa and California are not the only two states who charge sales tax for Internet purchases. I also get charged sales tax when I buy from Amazon and Heritage.

 

Joe

[jmg3637]

I realize that now Heritage's BP is 20%($19 min)  but I noticed that back in the day it was 19.5% or only $9 min.  When was back in the day?

that increase must have hurt the sellers and discouraged lots under a hoped for yield of $100

[MrBedrock]

On 1/2/2020 at 11:47 AM, manofsteel said:

I'm not advocating for one auction house over another. Stating the tax and S/H was just for overall pricing. eBay and this site do not charge sales tax.

I did not know they capped their CC saes at 2.5k.

It has come to our attention that indirectly eBay does charge sales tax by dinging the seller fees through Paypal if the buyer is a resident of a state that actively collects mail order sales tax or is in the process of enforcing the collection of interstate sales tax. We are still trying to get an understanding of what is going on but this has been happening since November.

[fifties]

I live in California.  My Comic Shop, located in Texas, does not charge sales tax on my buys with them (so far).

[mycomicshop]

We do now charge sales tax to California and all other states where it's required, but this is a recent change. Prior to this we only charged sales tax to Texas, where we're located. This is all because of state laws passed after the 2018 supreme court ruling that let them start requiring sales tax from out of state sellers (South Dakota vs Wayfair).

Marketplaces like eBay are already collecting sales tax on behalf of all sellers on their platform. The tax changes have been phasing in on eBay over the past few months. Like Bedrock said Paypal skims off the portion for tax and handles paying it to the state without any involvement from the seller.

Each state sets a minimum level of sales at which you're required to collect tax. The criteria varies from state to state but for most states you're required to collect sales tax if you had $100K in sales or 200 transactions into that state in the previous year. All the registrations and filing setup has been a big annoyance but it's done now.