I am the only major auctioneer that accepts inexpensive posters at all. Most places have a minimum value of $50, and one place insists that your overall consignment must have a minimum value of $5,000.
I auction a huge amount of $1 to $14 posters (over half of all I auction sells for between those amounts, whereas the company with the $14 buyers premiums never auctions a single poster for under $15).
All I ask of consignors is that their consignments AVERAGE at least $20 per item, and if they do, I take all they want me to auction (but I can easily show that on the least items, they do better to lot them up, but if they insist on single sale, I let them do so, as long as the items average $20).
I was not asking you to make an exception for my stuff, I even suggested that you lot up the ones that didn't make your cut. You are so wishy-washy; or maybe Phillip is answering your PMs sometimes?
Hi Bruce,
I have a question regarding consignment. I am trying to cull about 500 of my posters to get some organization to my madness. My question is; if I just bundle them up and basically say you can auction them as a group or individually, would your staff actually go through and pull the ones they thought would do better individually? I have several Very Good to Fine DS one sheets that I got from a theater manager and then some from a theater that are Good to Very Good. The reason I ask is because in your auctions and regarding newer materials the Very Good to Fine actually have pulled the $15 while lesser condition copies are abysmal. Your site says just get them to us and we will do the rest. Just don't know if I need to be spending hours checking prices... Of course there are some that are no brainers; got a Fargo DS and the recalled Thin Red Line Etc.. Just the commons/semi commons I am worried about.
Thanks,
Charlie
Charlie, there IS a way for you to auction those 500 inexpensive items one by one, and that is to put them on eBay yourself. But I can't possibly do so for you, because I would lose a lot of money on them (and I would lose even if you gave me 100% of the sales!). You might ask Rich if he is willing to take them, but I suspect I know the answer.
We'll auction your posters; "Just get them to us!" But if we determine through assumption that we don't want to auction them, we'll just tell you to do it yourself?
I think you're stuck on the assumption that all I am trying to trim are the posters that are inexpensive in nature. I've been sorting them out and have a stack already over $15. I have many doubles too that I don't need. My collection has just swollen and I thought I could get rid of stuff I don't care for including the $30 and $40 poster up to $100 or more.
Ask Mel or Thierry if they bought the hundreds of inexpensive posters they did thinking they could re-sell them at a profit by consigning them to an auction. I suspect I know that answer.
Another incorrect assumption. I didn't buy these specific posters as investments or to flip. At one point I thought I would never sell them. I bought entire collections from two theater managers for .25 each a few years ago. And they are not all inexpensive. I have just started focusing my collecting and don't need the Iron Giants and Fargos cluttering up my storage space. This is what irks me; you just make an assumption.
If you are buying inexpensive posters ($1 to $10 items) because you really like them great. But they just don't make sense as an investment. It would be much wiser to buy 10 $100 posters that to buy 500 $2 posters, if "return on your investment" is your primary goal.
I really could care less about specific returns on these posters (yeah I don't want to just give them away); which is why at one point I asked about auction credit. It just seemed inviting to trim some from storage, and perhaps have a few bucks to apply to a poster that interests me now. And again here we go with the attitude that I would have no idea what I am doing even if I was trying to make a return on an investment. I certainly wouldn't load up on Glitter one-sheets, but that is essentially what your attitude suggests.
When I starting thinking I would consign, I actually did make some flip purchases to include. These would all have ranged from $30 to even possibly $1000 in ending price. Your auction histories are available; would a person really not check to see what a potential investment would return if they consigned?
I auction inexpensive posters (which no other major auction does) because they are fun and cost little (often far less than reproductions). But it is not profitable to do so, so I have to draw the line somewhere, and I explain above where my lines are drawn.
Ok, thanks for the explanation. You response to my PM didn't indicate this. And it should be said that you did not say don't send them.
I guess it's not too smart to go to bat against a guy that has my credit card number.
And Bruce I've got nothing against you personally. I don't even really know you. I am just trying to point out the perception that stems from this wishy-washy attitude concerning consignment of low value posters. You should learn from this. You alienated a potential consignor and reasonably good customer (I'm not a high roller, yet. But I always pay on time); based on an assumption.
How the heck do you know that a lot someone sends you will average $20? By just accepting the consignors word? Yes, as a business sub $15 posters are "bad business" but either you do it or you don't. If they are going to be a staple, you should think of ways to bring your auction cost prep down. Do you really need to take pictures of sub $10 posters? That seems like the most time consuming part; photos. You already have a database of poster information. I think people would understand just a written condition statement for these with a standard photo. If they bitch about the condition, you can just refund them the few dollars they spent.
This has gotten way to specific to my certain experience w/ Bruce and I apologize for my diatribe. My goal was to point out the perception of "weeding-out" low value posters and how it impacts potential consignments. I'm done...