I was wondering what everyone’s preference was concerning liquidating/selling high value cards (for the sake of simplicity, I’ll say cards with an estimated value of $300+) on eBay. Do you prefer list them as an auction, or buy it now with/with out best offer? Why do you prefer one over the other?
I personally (in my albeit limited experience) almost always go with Buy it Now with best offer enabled because I like to know that I can choose the exact sell price; although lately I have been considering moving to auction with all of the record prices flying around. What do you prefer?
I think it depends largely on how niche a card is… people are searching for Charizards every day, but if you sell let’s say a low pop non-tcg card or just anything niche, there’s a chance the right buyers don’t see it in time. When I look through seller’s feedback, I occasionally see stuff like “Japanese WHF Pikachu promo mint - sold for 1.50$”. That stuff you should sell BIN imo, except if you draw a lot of attention to your account by having lots of auctions end, including popular cards.
Unless it’s a super popular card I’ll always use BIN. The trade-off of maximising the price is that you have to be prepared to wait a bit longer/there’s a period of uncertainty.
If I want a quicker sale I’ll still list BIN, just at a lower price.
1 week auction ending on a Saturday evening, starting bid 0.99 with no reserve. That’s my method to sell quickly. Its a gamble on the final price but I’ve had auctions go for higher than the BIN from another seller that is sitting on ebay.
If no rush and want to maximize the value, BIN with best offer.
Curious, why Saturday night and not Sunday night? You’re not worried that some potential buyers might be occupied with something else on a Saturday night?
Sundays are ok as well but Saturdays have been better in my limited experience. During these covid times, everyone is on their computers on the weekends lol. Sunday nights people are in not great moods cause the next day is Monday, people are getting ready for the week, and Sunday has traditionally been more family day. Saturdays are spent on hobbies.
Alternative days are week days and I really don’t think those work well, maybe Friday evening.
Hopefully people are drinking and making decisions to buy big on pokemon cards on Saturday, feeling good haha.
Might just be because I’m extremely business-minded and like to think outside the box when it comes to initiating or closing deals and always prioritize the convenience and ease of deal factors and time, but if based on what you’re saying, and I understand it properly → you’re looking to offload a decently valued/size lot of cards for most likely under market value and/or just not for what the recently sold is. (you used the term liquidation)
If that’s the case and urgency is of the nature (you need to free up some cash flow for whatever purposes) would probably create a list of people I respect in X hobby (this deal being Pokemon) and just reach out to them to sell them the whole as a lot, test the waters and see if your take all lowest price you’d take is in line with someone’s take all highest they’re willing to pay. For one, you won’t “upset” anyone who sells similar products in the space by potentially breaking current price floors and they might even appreciate the gesture and factor in the risk of a lot of that size/quality of the items disrupting the current market for certain niche items and just overpay what they would normally pay for a comparable lot / be looser on their negotiation. And on your end, you get the cash quick, the convenience and the ease of a smooth deal, and the other person continues doing what they do every single day of the year by just having added more products in their inventory.
I’m sure these types of requests or threads are prohibited here, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find which members are the ones that are all in with their eBay stores and this is their livelihood. Or almost all these IG accounts do consignment deals with people… they have the network and the target market right, more visibility. They can flip cards in a single post vs. a listing sitting for weeks. I’m sure some who operate like a business would even be open to floating a partial payment with some type of terms on how the balance of sale would happen, for lack of a better word lol
Honesty, if it’s a popular card and you list it at a fair price there’s a good chance it sells faster than the 1 week you’d have to wait for an auction. As a bonus your buyer is more likely to pay. I would avoid auctions on larger lots of cards and more niche items.
I agree with the above posts. I typically list as a BIN with best offer. I like having the ability to control what my cards go for, as with auction, this is somewhat out of control. However, I recently had about 50 auctions end on eBay and I was quite surprised by the prices. Did very very well. Granted it was lower value stuff ($5 - $150). But it just depends on your preference and the type of cards you are selling. I wish you the best of luck!
If I do auction, I prefer to group it with other cards that are similar. Say I get a jungle and fossil set back. I would auction it all off. The bigger cards help draw people in. When they look at your profile they will see lots of cards they didn’t specifically search for. Not many people look for a Muk, Magneton, or Chansey haha.
BIN also works best when selling lots. I love selling multiple cards at once and list it as BIN. Less people are willing to buy, but some people pay a premium to get multiple cards they want in one go.
Graded cards are more likely to get the premium with auction. Raw cards should be BIN unless super popular. I recently sold a NM 1st edition entei at auction and it sold for 80 dollars less than what I expected. Someone even offered me double the price just to stop the auction, so I would say BIN is generally the safer bet.
Trying to do an auction for a lot of 1st edition common and uncommon rocket cards. Hoping that sells fairly well. I just wanted to sell it quick.
Sometimes auction cards do fetch a higher price.
For example I was following a PSA 9 Venusaur on ebay which went for £320 in the end.
There were a few Venusaurs BIN between £280 and £300. I’m surprised they were still there after the auction card crept over the £300 mark.
I can only assume people get stuck in the “have to win” mentality sometimes with bidding and end up overpaying.
I had a seller offer come up for the £280 one which knocked a further £10 off so I snapped it up saving myself £50 compared to the auction card.
There are plenty of BIN cards which have been sat for ages so maybe they are abit too high.
I’ve been looking at Shining Tyranitars as I love the card. There are a few raw cards between £350 and £400 which IMO is too high.
Its hard to say what they would grade too based on the pics, anywhere between a 6 to a 9. As I’ve found its its definitely a gamble with photos of a raw card.
A PSA 8 card came up for a £200 starting bid. I offered £220 and fortunately the seller accepted.
I was more thinking single cards on eBay and which method would work best for attaining market value or even above market value in the sale of the card. I will definitely keep that in mind if I ever need to offload a large lot though!
Ah got you! No time like the present to take some profit lol! Goodluck. From what I know, if you’re trying to get maximum + quickest, I’d probably do a BIN (higher than what I want) with offer, to screen buyers. I’ve always stayed away from auctions on eBay because of the countless stories I hear of people complaining about ghost bidders who never pay and then not being able to relist quick enough… something to consider too if you’re trying to be efficient, but quick as in avoid potential headaches.
Your route—BIN with best offer. Auctions you have to wait then wait to see if they pay and if they don’t you have to go through more time and hassle. BIN should be set up so buyer has to pay immediately. Then if I don’t like the buyer’s profile after they’ve paid (anything that concerns me as a bad buyer or straight out scammer that I can’t satisfy in an email or two with them), I refund them and re-list. No returns or partial refunds are near the top of my list of priorities since that translates most directly to even more time I have to invest or lower margins if I have to do a partial refund to get out of a potentially bigger hassle with disputes, returns, charge backs, etc. I want good buyers (don’t we all?) but I want them almost foremost, and this is the best way I can sort them out when dealing with strangers.
It’s one day before payday. And you get the “new listing” advert going into the weekend.