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Best Venue For Selling Expensive Books?
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22 posts in this topic

 

With the recent run up in values I'm considering letting some books go.  Thing is I have never sold such expensive items before.  I was hoping you all would help me out and give an opinion on who you use and trust for books with values ranging between $7,000 and $15,000.   

What shipping service do you all use to mail items like this out?  Not sure if it has changed or not but I believe the max you could insure for via USPS was $5,000.  

Any info and tips would be greatly appreciated.

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Best to ship expensive items by Registered Mail.  You can insure for up to $50,000.  The insurance coverage is relatively cheap per $100. 

The total for expensive items is cheaper by Registered with insurance than Priority with insurance.  Go down to "Valuable & Fragile Items" on this page and expand: https://www.usps.com/ship/insurance-extra-services.htm

Find out more about Registered Mail with a Google search or the USPS site.

Signing off the for the night, so I won't be around for follow-up questions if you have any, sorry.  Not that I have all the answers anyway.

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With eBay fees and scams I’d stay away.  Hi value items might be best to sell on comic link.  It will take longer to get paid but I just wouldn’t chance eBay.  With the values soaring on some key books you can bet there will be people trying to scam and steal. Or find a good group though Facebook and work with known community members to sell private party.  Good luck. 

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There may be other reasons to not use eBay, but fees are not one of them. If you plan to sell such volume on eBay, sign up for a Basic Store for $28 a month. eBay caps a portion of your fees (fee cap starts at $2,500 sales price) if you are a store subscriber. A $10,000 sale on eBay would cost $468.75 in seller fees. That same sale would be $1,000 on Comiclink and $2,500 on Hertitage (assume you pay the full 10% seller's commission and adding in the full 20% buyer's premium).

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All good advice so far. 

For shipping big books, I got private insurance that covers shipping.  It probably depends on how many books you are thinking of shipping, but paying the post office insurance quickly adds up and surpasses the price to insure your collection.  

As for where, in my opinion the big 3 comic Auction houses have been returning great results.  I would research fees and expenses and go with cheapest. 

It's also worth considering MyComicShop. 

I have never sold to any of these shops personally, but understand they are all pretty easy to work with. 

 

Last thing - if you are comfortable assessing the value, you could try selling here. You avoid most fees. 

 

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32 minutes ago, mycomicshop said:

The info in the table is based on these terms:

  • MyComicShop auction 8% seller's commission, commission amount capped at $1000, 3% buyer's premium waived to 0% for payment methods used in this price range
  • ComicLink auction 10% seller's commission, ~3% buyer's premium waived to 0% for payment methods used in this price range
  • ComicConnect auction 10% seller's commission no buyer's premium, potential 3% payment fee to consignor depending on how the buyer pays, but usually 0% for sales in this range
  • Heritage auction 15% seller's commission, 20% buyer's premium
  • Large enough consignments can negotiate better terms with Heritage. It's a range depending on what you're able to negotiate. This example shows what it looks like if they agree to waive the seller's commission to 0% and tell you they'll pay you 105% of the hammer price, which is accomplished by taking a quarter of the 20% buyer's premium, 5%, and paying it to the seller.

I think this info is accurate, but please let me know if I've got anything wrong. The seller payouts for Heritage are calculated as: amount paid by buyer / 1.2 * 0.85 for standard Heritage rates (equals 29.2% of what the buyer pays), and amount paid by buyer / 1.2 * 1.05 for the negotiated rate example (equals 12.5%).

image.thumb.png.13a6faa6cf7173cb29f7194c1bb4f509.png

More options:

  • Consign with well respected dealers mentioned in this thread like Bob Storms or Greg Reece for 10% or less for higher value items.
  • If you're comfortable with the idea of selling a high value item on eBay, shipping it, and dealing with buyer concerns/returns, then you can get an eBay store account to cap your final value fees at $750. Caps at $350 or $250 are also available for more expensive store tiers, but those may not make financial sense unless you're selling a high volume on an ongoing basis.
  • MyComicShop buy it now consignment rates are almost exactly the same as the auction rate for items in this price range, only difference is our BIN rate is 10% on first $300 and 8% past $300. So if you prefer BIN to auction you can do so for essentially the same rate as shown in the table, 8% capped at $1000.
  • Heritage has a newer buy it now type option for 10% on sales $250-$5K, 9% $5K-10K, 8% $10K-25K, etc. Haven't heard much about that yet, not sure what seller experiences are with it.

Sometimes, CC uses 15% Buyer's Premium.

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Lots of good info above.

Also, depends upon how many books you're trying to sell and how quickly you want to move them.  If you're trying to take advantage of the high prices, you'll likely want them to move fairly soon, as prices good move lower.  If it's 3-4 books, I would try on the boards to see if reputable members are interested.  If it's a lot of books, I would try Bob or someone you trust.  Bob moved a ton of books for me, but nothing this high in value.

What you plan to do with the proceeds makes a difference.  If you're looking at money for comics, no issue.  But if you're paying down debt, the "return" would be based upon the interest rate you're retiring.  If you want to invest the money, consider carefully where you put the money as the market is pretty high, in my opinion.  Perhaps that cool new way to buy into high-priced keys...kidding.

Good luck with whatever you decide!  Nice to have some big books to sell!

V/R, Mike

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9 hours ago, mycomicshop said:

The info in the table is based on these terms:

  • MyComicShop auction 8% seller's commission, commission amount capped at $1000, 3% buyer's premium waived to 0% for payment methods used in this price range
  • ComicLink auction 10% seller's commission, ~3% buyer's premium waived to 0% for payment methods used in this price range
  • ComicConnect auction 10% seller's commission no buyer's premium, potential 3% payment fee to consignor depending on how the buyer pays, but usually 0% for sales in this range
  • Heritage auction 15% seller's commission, 20% buyer's premium
  • Large enough consignments can negotiate better terms with Heritage. It's a range depending on what you're able to negotiate. This example shows what it looks like if they agree to waive the seller's commission to 0% and tell you they'll pay you 105% of the hammer price, which is accomplished by taking a quarter of the 20% buyer's premium, 5%, and paying it to the seller.

I think this info is accurate, but please let me know if I've got anything wrong. The seller payouts for Heritage are calculated as: amount paid by buyer / 1.2 * 0.85 for standard Heritage rates (equals 29.2% of what the buyer pays), and amount paid by buyer / 1.2 * 1.05 for the negotiated rate example (equals 12.5%).

image.thumb.png.13a6faa6cf7173cb29f7194c1bb4f509.png

More options:

  • Consign with well respected dealers mentioned in this thread like Bob Storms or Greg Reece for 10% or less for higher value items.
  • If you're comfortable with the idea of selling a high value item on eBay, shipping it, and dealing with buyer concerns/returns, then you can get an eBay store account to cap your final value fees at $750. Caps at $350 or $250 are also available for more expensive store tiers, but those may not make financial sense unless you're selling a high volume on an ongoing basis.
  • MyComicShop buy it now consignment rates are almost exactly the same as the auction rate for items in this price range, only difference is our BIN rate is 10% on first $300 and 8% past $300. So if you prefer BIN to auction you can do so for essentially the same rate as shown in the table, 8% capped at $1000.
  • Heritage has a newer buy it now type option for 10% on sales $250-$5K, 9% $5K-10K, 8% $10K-25K, etc. Haven't heard much about that yet, not sure what seller experiences are with it.

 

Wow.  Thanks.  That is fantastic info.  

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On 4/3/2021 at 4:18 AM, Lightning55 said:

Best to ship expensive items by Registered Mail.  You can insure for up to $50,000.  The insurance coverage is relatively cheap per $100. 

The total for expensive items is cheaper by Registered with insurance than Priority with insurance.  Go down to "Valuable & Fragile Items" on this page and expand: https://www.usps.com/ship/insurance-extra-services.htm

Find out more about Registered Mail with a Google search or the USPS site.

Signing off the for the night, so I won't be around for follow-up questions if you have any, sorry.  Not that I have all the answers anyway.

You can insure up to $50K via USPS?!?!?!? Wow. I think we're limited to $1K with CanadaPost.

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Right now, depending on where you live, selling them locally might even be an option given demand. And when I say “locally” give yourself a good range of 300 miles or so and think about meeting someone halfway if needed. I’ve done sales/buys this way where even on the spot, we transfer/receive funds electronically, and it’s worked out great 👍

Edited by snitzer
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For anyone interested in using my consignment service I offer two types

Consignor listed,  works pretty much just like everybody else.  You submit for an approval,  you list the book,  you price the book,  you upload a scan and bids come directly to you.  Depending on how you price generally determines if you are listing museum pieces or books that will sell.  

Or you can ship me the books for consignment.  "We" can price them,  I can price them,  I scan them,  bids comes to me.  

Consignment rates are 10% up to $9999, 8.75% up to $99,999, 7.5% over $100K.

I've bought and sold a lot of high ticket items over the years.  

www.highgradecomics.com

 

 

Edited by blazingbob
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54 minutes ago, blazingbob said:

For anyone interested in using my consignment service I offer two types

Consignor listed,  works pretty much just like everybody else.  You submit for an approval,  you list the book,  you price the book,  you upload a scan and bids come directly to you.  Depending on how you price generally determines if you are listing museum pieces or books that will sell.  

Or you can ship me the books for consignment.  "We" can price them,  I can price them,  I scan them,  bids comes to me.  

Consignment rates are 10% up to $9999, 8.75% up to $99,999, 7.5% over $100K.

I've bought and sold a lot of high ticket items over the years.  

www.highgradecomics.com

 

 

I can attest that Bob’s service is the best! Purchased big books from him and can say that I’ve never had a better experience. Highgrade Comics comes with the blazing best service!

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As was mentioned, try here on the boards if you are established and or have references. 

I have seen many high dollar books go here. No fees, or commission if sold by bank transfer. Ship via pickup or registered mail. 

You might have to drop your price a little or accept a PM. 

I have NEVER had a problem buying or selling here. 

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