Home Buy, Sell & Trade - Cards & Memorabilia

ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENTS FOR SALE AT NATIONAL

As we all have experienced, there is nothing like National to bring out the big spenders and impulse buyers for sports collectibles. It comes as no surprise that many prices realized at the show are some of the highest of the year.


If anyone who is not attending National is interested in having some of their items sold at the Premier sports collectibles show of the year, I am now accepting consignments to sell on your behalf at the show. Also, even if you are going to be there but dont want to spend a huge amount of your time focused on selling items, there is another way for you to free up your investment in items that you are looking to sell.

The focus of my booth will be vintage unopened (primarily 1970s Topps BB with some 1960s and early 1980s as well), high and mid-grade post-war slabbed sportscards (1945-1980), BB/FB autographs spanning a similar post-war era, mid and lower grade pre-war slabbed sportscards and the Card Vault graded card storage cases. I will also have some slabbed pre-war material in mid-grade/low grade and some post-war raw cards and sets.

Much like the Ebay consigners we are all familiar with, I am trying to keep this simple. The high-level process will be:

1) Contact me and provide a list of:

- Each item you wish to consign for sale at National (can be a group lot or individual item)
- Your desired sale price (excluding taxes and transaction costs) for each item/group lot being consigned
- The minimum sale price (excluding taxes and transaction costs) that you would be willing to accept for each item/group
lot consigned (if you wish to provide me with some ability to negotiate with potential buyers who do not accept your
desired sale price)

EXAMPLE 1 (for a single item):

Item 1: 1970 Topps #712 Nolan Ryan PSA 9 DESIRED SALE PRICE: $1050 MINIMUM SALE PRICE: $975

At National this item will be priced based on the $1050 desired price but you are giving me the flexibility to negotiate
with potential buyers down to a lower limit of $975 (most of us know firsthand that negotiation is the basis of most card
show transactions).

NOTE: When figuring out what your desired sale price (and minimum sale price, if any), remember to build in the commission into those prices. I will need to add sales tax and potential payment processing fees on top the price(s)
you provide (these are straight pass-through costs that need to be added up-front, as the custom of our hobby would
frown upon adding such charges after a price has been agreed). The bottom line is that if an item sells the consignor receives 90% of the non-sales tax and payment processing revenue collected for the item. It's similar to the way shipping charges are handled that get added to ebay consignment sales (where your final percentage is determines based only on the bid realized revenue, not on the total bid+shipping revenue collected).


2) Since there is finite exhibit space, I will review your list and respond to let you know which item(s) I am willing to accept. My selection will be based primarily upon which items I believe would be consistent with the focus areas of my booth and which I feel would be best represented. By being selective in this way, my intent is to maximize exposure for the accepted item(s) being offered (so that they don't get "hidden" in massive, unoragnized mix of anything/everything).

NOTE: I am primarily looking for single items / group lots where your minimum sale price is on the order of $250 or higher. There just isn't enough exhibit space to accept lesser-valued items (unless they are offered as part of a group for which your minimum sale price for the group is $250). I will be offering items ranging in price from the hundreds of dollars into the thousands (and even higher), so I can accomodate consigned items across a wide price spectrum.


3) Once there is mutual agreement over which items will be consigned/accepted for consignment, we will complete the necessary paperwork and the consignor will be responsible for shipping the item(s) to me (including all shipping costs and any desired insurance protection) to arrive in time for exhibition at National.


4) All items received in time to be offered at National will be displayed and priced at the consignor's desired sale price PLUS the sales taxes that must be paid to the state of Illinois and potential transaction costs related to credit cards, paypal, etc. These mark-ups are intended to be straight pass-through (so that neither the consignor nor I have to bear the burden of them). As the details of a sale finalize (i.e. price is negotiated and form of payment is established) they will be reduced accordingly.

5) I will initially endeavor to sell each consigned item at the consignor's DESIRED sales price for the item. By also providing me with a different MINIMUM sales price you are giving me the flexibility to negotiate the sale of your items down to the lower limit you have provided. It is YOUR CHOICE whether or not you provide an alternate minimum sales price for each item. However, for those of you who have attended card shows you understand that transactions are mostly negotiated. If you do not give me the ability to negotiate down to a lower limit for an item I will not negotiate on it. This could limit the
likelihood that such a consigned item will be successfully sold at the show.


6) Commission for each successful sale is a flat 10% (ten percent) of the sale price achieved for the item, excluding tax and payment processing charges (if any). Thus, the incentive to sell your consigned items as close to your desired sales price as possible.


7) Any consigned items that do not sell at National will be shipped back to the consignor (unless some other disposition is agreed between the consigner and me) by the same method it was shipped by the consignor. The consignor is responsible for all costs associated with this return shipment (shipping costs and any desired insurance protection).


8) Payments for successfully sold items will be remitted to consigners within 10 business days of the end of National, except in cases involving items that were paid for using credit cards/paypal where funds are completely/partially frozen for a period by the payment processor (e.g. Paypal, Square, etc.). In such cases of payment processor temporary freezing of funds related to the sale of a consignor's item(s), consigners will be advised of this occurrence and payment will be remitted to consigner(s) in this situation within 5 business days of the release of such funds to me.


I have a solid history of significant transactions with many members of this (and other) forums, so I hope this removes any concerns about potential dishonesty. That being said, I will be happy to provide references for any potential consignor who has concerns along these lines. To prevent any possible conflict of interest I will NOT be a purchaser of any consigned items myself.

You are all capable of going through the B/S/T forum and seeing one of my current listing of high-grade post-war stars. These are certainly representative of the kinds of cards that I will be offering at the show. My concept here is that I can attract more traffic at the show by soliciting consignments to create a greater concerntration of similarly and synergistically desireable items.

For those of you who cant attend, or those who only have a few items I hope you find this offer attractive. The costs should be somewhat better than going the route of Ebay (either directly or through a consigner), and rather than having to worry about the uncertainty of an auction starting at $0.99 reaching desired level you have full control of the price (or range within which) your item(s) will be sold. And you items will be getting prime exposure at the biggest event of our collecting year, where the maximum concentration of likely buyers will all be (including many of the "whales") looking for both items from their want lists and "impulse" buys when they see something of yours that catches their eyes.


If you have items that you'd like to discuss consigning, please PM me and let's talk about it.

Regards

Dave


Dave

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