Marketplace for Collectors - No Commissions Involved 4 4

[OuterBanks]

Hey Everyone 

Some background here - I've been collecting for most of my life (with a long break when we had kids) and like many I hold a full time job and just want to figure out how to get the hobby to pay for itself (even partly for itself).  When I look into the commissions sites pay (eBay, Heritage etc.)- I get it, they need to make a living.  They've got staff, they've got marketing and they're in competition to earn a profit.  They also have to recruit a lot of big dealers which require some white glove treatment.  

The alternative is selling on boards or social media - I like the FB/Instagram sellers but it's hard to search for titles, the auctions are time consuming to find and it takes time to figure out someone's reputation (eBay makes it easy with a seller / buyer rating).  I like the better deals I find but it would be nice if this were all aggregated in onto one simple site for collectors (you can search, setup alerts, watch lists, buyers/sellers get feedback we can all see, and maybe we'd even feel more comfortable doing cash transactions, schedule a meetup to exchange books in person).  

I work in tech and have built e-commerce platforms before and they're surprisingly little overhead.  If I setup a site that had zero listing and commission fees done specifically for comics and the collectors community do you think people would use it?  Or are people pretty happy with FB/Instagram enough that this problem is solved? 

I'm not interested in turning it into a profit machine.  I like my day job and the idea of competing with ComicLink/HA etc.. (these are not easy business to run I suspect) is daunting.  But it would be a fun side project for me and let me connect more with fellow collectors.

So..if such a site exists , do you think collectors would use it?

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by VikramK

[Ryan.]

1 hour ago, VikramK said:

Hey Everyone 

Some background here - I've been collecting for most of my life (with a long break when we had kids) and like many I hold a full time job and just want to figure out how to get the hobby to pay for itself (even partly for itself).  When I look into the commissions sites pay (eBay, Heritage etc.)- I get it, they need to make a living.  They've got staff, they've got marketing and they're in competition to earn a profit.  They also have to recruit a lot of big dealers which require some white glove treatment.  

The alternative is selling on boards or social media - I like the FB/Instagram sellers but it's hard to search for titles, the auctions are time consuming to find and it takes time to figure out someone's reputation (eBay makes it easy with a seller / buyer rating).  I like the better deals I find but it would be nice if this were all aggregated in onto one simple site for collectors (you can search, setup alerts, watch lists, buyers/sellers get feedback we can all see, and maybe we'd even feel more comfortable doing cash transactions, schedule a meetup to exchange books in person).  

I work in tech and have built e-commerce platforms before and they're surprisingly little overhead.  If I setup a site that had zero listing and commission fees done specifically for comics and the collectors community do you think people would use it?  Or are people pretty happy with FB/Instagram enough that this problem is solved? 

I'm not interested in turning it into a profit machine.  I like my day job and the idea of competing with ComicLink/HA etc.. (these are not easy business to run I suspect) is daunting.  But it would be a fun side project for me and let me connect more with fellow collectors.

So..if such a site exists , do you think collectors would use it?

 

I think I saw something like you describe. Let me see if I can find a link...

Here it is:

Comics Market - Forum Only Selling Area - CGC Comic Book Collectors Chat Boards (cgccomics.com)

[OuterBanks]

1 hour ago, Ryan. said:

I think I saw something like you describe. Let me see if I can find a link...

Here it is:

Comics Market - Forum Only Selling Area - CGC Comic Book Collectors Chat Boards (cgccomics.com)

Yeah - I know that exists along with a bunch of other forums on Facebook/IG - I thought a site like eBay without the fees would be more user friendly though - guess not!

[Ryan.]

3 minutes ago, VikramK said:

Yeah - I know that exists along with a bunch of other forums on Facebook/IG - I thought a site like eBay without the fees would be more user friendly though - guess not!

I was just being silly. More options would be welcome I'm sure. 

[aardvark88]

16 minutes ago, Ryan. said:

 More options would be welcome I'm sure. 

Yes, ShortBoxed app is developing a way to upload raw comics, pics, and even allowing Canadians to sell later this year. 10% commission but that includes a potential cr card fee, if the purchaser uses cr card.

[Ryan.]

2 minutes ago, aardvark88 said:

Yes, ShortBoxed app is developing a way to upload raw comics, pics, and even allowing Canadians to sell later this year. 10% commission but that includes a potential cr card fee, if the purchaser uses cr card.

I use Shortboxed as a buyer and seller, and can attest to it being a great platform. I'm a big fan. 

[MetalPSI]

The biggest problem I have selling/buying outside eBay is liability 

[D84]

So, you are asking for a service that would incur expenses hosting your listings, so you can sell for free?

[Funnybooks]

[MetalPSI]

I'd do something but would still charge a fee. Much much less than 14%, but still a fee of some sort. 

There is just no feasible way to have a site hosted that doesn't cost money 

[William-James88]

3 hours ago, VikramK said:

Hey Everyone 

Some background here - I've been collecting for most of my life (with a long break when we had kids) and like many I hold a full time job and just want to figure out how to get the hobby to pay for itself (even partly for itself).  When I look into the commissions sites pay (eBay, Heritage etc.)- I get it, they need to make a living.  They've got staff, they've got marketing and they're in competition to earn a profit.  They also have to recruit a lot of big dealers which require some white glove treatment.  

The alternative is selling on boards or social media - I like the FB/Instagram sellers but it's hard to search for titles, the auctions are time consuming to find and it takes time to figure out someone's reputation (eBay makes it easy with a seller / buyer rating).  I like the better deals I find but it would be nice if this were all aggregated in onto one simple site for collectors (you can search, setup alerts, watch lists, buyers/sellers get feedback we can all see, and maybe we'd even feel more comfortable doing cash transactions, schedule a meetup to exchange books in person).  

I work in tech and have built e-commerce platforms before and they're surprisingly little overhead.  If I setup a site that had zero listing and commission fees done specifically for comics and the collectors community do you think people would use it?  Or are people pretty happy with FB/Instagram enough that this problem is solved? 

I'm not interested in turning it into a profit machine.  I like my day job and the idea of competing with ComicLink/HA etc.. (these are not easy business to run I suspect) is daunting.  But it would be a fun side project for me and let me connect more with fellow collectors.

So..if such a site exists , do you think collectors would use it?

 

Yes that sounds good, though just to be clear, the idea would be to have a site which is simply links to every non commission opportunity out there?

So if someone makes a post on these forums or facebook marketplace, it would show up on your app/site right? That sounds wonderful, I would be all over that.

[the blob]

2 hours ago, Ryan. said:

I think I saw something like you describe. Let me see if I can find a link...

Here it is:

Comics Market - Forum Only Selling Area - CGC Comic Book Collectors Chat Boards (cgccomics.com)

He wants a place where the buyers aren't all fellow flippers who expect to pay 25% of FMV

[innocuous]

I thought of this once, but the cost is not inconsequential. Especially bandwidth consumed by images.

A nice way to do it would be to post listings on your site. Then, connect and auto-post the comic to your FB and Instagram feed. You can even auto-post it to Etsy, ebay, shortboxed, etc. Then, manage them all from a console. The tools are there to get this set-up. Buyers then have a choice where they want to shop.

Good luck.

[Ryan.]

44 minutes ago, the blob said:

He wants a place where the buyers aren't all fellow flippers who expect to pay 25% of FMV

Then that's definitely not here.

[lordbyroncomics]

I'm sure one of the primary reasons eBay hasn't had a significant competitor is just because of awareness of it as an established entity- in the sense that, there's this psychological assurance that there are protections and liability, even if the seller fees, tax, ebay fees etc make it increasingly undesirable. Any site would need to do more than rely on more than word-of-mouth for it to become established as a viable source, so you'd likely have to pay for some advertising as well for it to potentially take off. 

[OuterBanks]

6 hours ago, Dr. Dank said:

The biggest problem I have selling/buying outside eBay is liability 

Do you think goods & services & the consumer protection provided by a lot of CC companies is inadequate?

[OuterBanks]

3 hours ago, wisbyron said:

I'm sure one of the primary reasons eBay hasn't had a significant competitor is just because of awareness of it as an established entity- in the sense that, there's this psychological assurance that there are protections and liability, even if the seller fees, tax, ebay fees etc make it increasingly undesirable. Any site would need to do more than rely on more than word-of-mouth for it to become established as a viable source, so you'd likely have to pay for some advertising as well for it to potentially take off. 

 

Yeah - that makes sense.  In addition to it's authority, eBay also makes things stupid easy - I really like how easy it is to list a new comic straight thru the app on my iPhone.  Doing that sort of development work isn't easy or cheap.

[Buzzetta]

9 hours ago, Ryan. said:

I think I saw something like you describe. Let me see if I can find a link...

Here it is:

Comics Market - Forum Only Selling Area - CGC Comic Book Collectors Chat Boards (cgccomics.com)

I was actually going to hit the trophy like, but I thought this post deserved the rare 5 Emoticon Response and wanted to do my part to make that happen.

Good job. 

[OuterBanks]

6 hours ago, William-James88 said:

Yes that sounds good, though just to be clear, the idea would be to have a site which is simply links to every non commission opportunity out there?

So if someone makes a post on these forums or facebook marketplace, it would show up on your app/site right? That sounds wonderful, I would be all over that.

 

I was actually thinking of eBay without the commissions (just run ads instead of taking a % of every transaction).  I think if the site ran ads and generated revenue that way, collectors wouldn't have to worry about losing 10%+ on each item sold.

 

[an99]

7 hours ago, aardvark88 said:

Yes, ShortBoxed app is developing a way to upload raw comics, pics, and even allowing Canadians to sell later this year. 10% commission but that includes a potential cr card fee, if the purchaser uses cr card.

The news about Canada is great news 😀