question about selling item thru auction house such as maestro vs. ebay

kengoldenisthedevil

I have a question for the board as you guys know a lot more about this stuff then me.If someone wanted to sell some high end items such as ruth signed baseball authenticated by psa/dna which venue would yield the best results. Do the sport auction houses bring better prices for high end stuff or have you found in your experience it is the other way around.thanks

koby

maybe for really rare memorabilia and one of a kind cards. But for more run of the mill cards, I would NEVER consign with Mastro.

15 percent seller fee

15 percent buyers fee

When it is all said and done, that will leave no money in the consigner's pockets.

I understand that sometimes Mastro reduces their fees and that might be the difference. But with 15% consignment fee and 15% buyers fee, I would never consign to them.

Knuckles

I think regardless of the buyer/seller fee's Mastronet or Lelands are the way to go with rare highly graded cards or high dollar memorabilia. Items like this tend to fetch so much more than they ever would on eBay that it's totally worth while to go with them. I see rare hockey items now and then on eBay such as game used Plante sticks end with the reserve not even met for $700 when the same sort of stick would end on Mastro or lelands for as high as $2,500.

I think a lot of it has to do with the buyers trusting Lelands and Mastronet.. they will indeed get an authentic item as the two auction houses will not put anything on the block that is even questionably fake.

baseballfanatic

Mastros and other high end catalog auctions definately are the way to go. After Ebay listing fees, picture fees and final value fees, the 15% really isnt that bad. You are also reaching the people that want to pay top dollar rather than having your item listed in the wrong catagory without the proper keywords. PLUS, the auction ends when the final bidder is left standing, not at 9:03. How many times have you seen an item go for 50.00 and said "I would have paid 10 times that!" Yeah, the catalogs are getting a little thick, with maybe too many lots anymore, but it all comes "guaranteed"

koby

<< <i>Mastros and other high end catalog auctions definately are the way to go. After Ebay listing fees, picture fees and final value fees, the 15% really isnt that bad. You are also reaching the people that want to pay top dollar rather than having your item listed in the wrong catagory without the proper keywords. PLUS, the auction ends when the final bidder is left standing, not at 9:03. How many times have you seen an item go for 50.00 and said "I would have paid 10 times that!" Yeah, the catalogs are getting a little thick, with maybe too many lots anymore, but it all comes "guaranteed" >>




15% is not that bad

....but another 15% on top of that is horrible.

IJustLoveCards

I think a lot of it has to do with the buyers trusting Lelands and Mastronet.. they will indeed get an authentic item as the two auction houses will not put anything on the block that is even questionably fake. >>



didnt the 52 unopened wax packs get refunded by mastro to the buyer after it was identified that the series that it was claimed to have come from (which Mastro authenticated) was incorrect. I am almost sure that I read about that here on the boards. If I am wrong I apoligize upfront, but I am almost sure that it was refunded after the buyer noticed the mistake by mastro.

There was also another example which was heavily reported by espn, a buyer purchased an authentic game used glove by Mantle, it was authenticated by the auction house (which will remain nameless, unless you saw the program), the buyer paid a huge amount of money, the glove maker later told the buyer it was impossible to have come from that particular year because the type of webbing used in the glove was not introduced until much later in Mantles playing years.

My point is that even auction house sell for the 30%. Thats what makes them the money. I agree that big players buying high dollar items will probably spend their money with a reputable auction house before ebay but either way.......buyer beware...

baseballfanatic

The glove was a Dimaggio, and it originally changed hands at the Barry Halper auction with a COA from Joe himself, hence the problems. A seller only gets charged 15% (with a 100.00 minimum). The buyer gets charged 15% on top of his high bid. The auction house makes 30%, but only 15% from each.

detroitfan2

I sold the following 3 items through Leland's December auction:

Brett Jersey

Rodman Jersey

55 Topps PSA Near Set

What did I learn? In a million years, the jerseys would have never sold for even 1/2 those amounts on ebay. In fact, they wouldn't have sold for what I paid for them many years ago, unless possibly I had them authenticated by someone like SCD Authentic. Even then, you'd have to be awfully lucky to find people looking for a Brett jersey on ebay at the time you list them.

The near set, on the other hand, is a different story. Next time I have something like that to sell, I will sell them on eBay. The cards were PSA graded, so there's no doubt about condition and so on. Also, the Leland's description is too small to contain the "super sales pitch" for a lot that large. Some of the nicer cards in the lot (Williams and JRobby) weren't even pictured. A nice ebay listing could give the buyer a better feel for the lot. Just my opinion, but someone was going to pay in the neighborhood of $5200 - $5500 for that lot either way, so I may as well have received the buyer's premium for myself.

By the way, not sure if it's negotiable, but I don't believe the seller's fees are 15% (at least they weren't for me).

One final thought, and again this is just my opinion, I was worried about having the Brett jersey in a December (i.e. non-baseball season auction). Now I'm convinced that Christmas time is a great time to sell things regardless of sport, because people are just in the buying mood if they see a gift they have to have.

Peace,

Tom (detroitfan2)

kengoldenisthedevil

I am enjoying all the feedback. interesting thread!! thanks