New to collecting Original movie posters

[bvick]

Hey everyone. I'm new to the movie poster world. I recently acquired a huge lot of movie posters form a theater. They range in date from 1992-2013, however some of the better posters were sold or removed before my acquisition. I have several that I am keeping for my collection but I have no idea how to value or sell these posters. I have seen prices on Amazon, EBay, and sites like movie posters.com. Any tips in these areas would be greatly appreciated. I have around 2500 posters 

[Bruce]

Please DON'T send them to us! The past year has seen us receive two gigantic lots like this (9,000 and 6,000) and they are giant money losers for us, even with us taking 75% on $1 to $7 items and 66% on $8 to $12 items, and even with auctioning most of them in bulk lots.

I am told there are people who will do all the work and auction them for you for UNDER the rates we charge (as listed above). When you find out who those people are, please let me know so I can start sending everyone like you to them.

I wish you the best of luck with these.

P.S. The WORST thing you can do is start photographing everything and making exhaustive lists, including style info and measurements. That would likely take hundreds of hours, and you won't even get minimum wage for that effort (even with the new improved $10 or $15 minimum wage).

[bvick]

Thanks for the information. I haven't even considered sending them to anyone that could sell them for me. Im more interested in getting a value on some of the posters I have pulled out to keep for myself and maybe selling a few here and there. Im also trying to learn the ropes so that i can make informed purchases as i try to compliment and grow my collection. Thanks for the information and keep it coming. I can use all of the help I can get.

[Bruce]

Stay on this forum and read all that is here, and you will learn all you could possibly need to know.

Best of luck in collecting (and in selling, if you decide to go that route at any time).

[bvick]

What makes some sites price a particular original poster at a higher or lower price (not talking about condition)?

[Tob]

Go to www.emovieposter.com, go to the search box, type the film name in and select 'auction history'. Sort on most recent sales first. That should give you an idea of value for particular titles (and if you select gallery mode you can see the design the prices relate to). They have a large database of past sales so hopefully you should find some of your posters in there. IMO, this is more accurate then comparing dealer prices as these are auction results of what people are willing to pay (as oppose to what a dealer wants to sell at). Also, note that condition can play a large part, so remember that when looking at sales data and comparing to your collection.

Note that it's just an approximate idea of value. IMO emovieposter tend to get good prices for the consignors because they have excellent service and an excellent reputation, where as if you sold as a private seller on ebay you would not have these things and the prices people are willing to bid may reflect this. Also bear in mind that in this hobby, sometimes a poster will sell for $100 one week and $50 dollars the next week, so value can be quite arbitary.

PS - Hi and Welcome! I hope you stick around and continue to grow the collection.

[erik1925]

  brett.

Sounds like just a few posters to go thru, huh? Have fun doing it.

What are some of the titles that you have already picked out to keep for your collection?

[50s]

Please DON'T send them to us! The past year has seen us receive two gigantic lots like this (9,000 and 6,000) and they are giant money losers for us, even with us taking 75% on $1 to $7 items and 66% on $8 to $12 items, and even with auctioning most of them in bulk lots.

It is only March, why did you accept them? Sounds dopey to me.

Sell them as 2 bulk lots

[Bruce]

It is only March, why did you accept them? Sounds dopey to me.

Sell them as 2 bulk lots

I was being a nice guy. From now on, I will tell them to go to those auctions that charge less than we do.

[CSM]

Welcome Brett

[50s]

Yes, check out Bruce's website (emovieposter.com) for a laugh, if nothing else



Welcome to the strange world of poster collecting

[CSM]

Wonder where that artist got the uncanny resemblance of you Steve?

[50s]

Wonder where that artist got the uncanny resemblance of you Steve?

That is my look of despair

[bvick]

Thanks everyone. Erik, I've got a handful of movies picked out but not any of the blockbusters where the value should really be from that time frame. I've got Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, From Dusk Till Dawn, Grease 20th Anniv, E.T. 20th Anniv, Grindhouse, Sin City, Fast and the Furious, Inglorious Basterds, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Rocky Balboa, MI series, Seven, Ace Ventura, Tommy Boy, Happy Gilmore, Die Hard w/ a Vemgence, Kill Bill series, and a few more I can't recall hehe

[Silhouette]

From now on, I will tell them to go to those auctions that charge less than we do.

Awwww, come on now...I am not sure what other auction's commissions have to do with the reason you are suggesting they go elsewhere.

For someone quick to point it out when others do it that there is a trollish comment (as in looking for a bite)...

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Brett, welcome to the forum. forgetting the gloom and doom some think of first, it seems like you have some titles there that people will certainly enjoy, and there are ways for you to sell yourself from single listings on ebay or a flea market if you had the time, or bulk sales on Craigslist or the same flea market

There are ways to monetize your material, but all of it does require some work.

if yo message me, I may be able to make some other suggestions to help you out

[Bruce]

Awwww, come on now...I am not sure what other auction's commissions have to do with the reason you are suggesting they go elsewhere.

For someone quick to point it out when others do it that there is a trollish comment (as in looking for a bite)...

I am saying that I had HOPED that with 75% commissions on $1 to $7, and two thirds commissions on $8 to $11 items (and putting all lesser items in bulk lots) I could provide people with a way to sell their low value items.

It has not worked. Yet others say they can charge less and take such consignments. I am suggesting this person, and everyone else with low value items seek out those people, consign to them, and then report back with the results, so I can send future people like this to those venues. I get at least one of these calls a month.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Brett messaged me and I gave him some ideas. Then I realized I might share them with anyone else in his position with stuff to sell, so here's what I said to Brett:

Brett..
this is what I would do

1) sort the very much better titles from the remaining material
this could mean posters that are worth $10 or more at a retail level

2) take the rest and offer them on craigslist for a very low price - maybe 10c a poster - pick up only & get rid of them

3) take the other material and make up a list of the titles, offer them at low prices & sell what you can by listing them on this forum

to get a handle on any pricing, aside from what databases are available, I would suggest going to ebay and watching titles in auction listings (not set sale) and seeing if the pieces actually sell for the prices they are listed. Set sale listings could have someone asking $10,000 for a $10 poster, so they're useless. But if 2 people have a poster listed at $10 and $1 and after 2-3 listings the $10 poster doesn't sell, but the other did for $6, you have some ideas.

I would create a list for Allposterforum as I'm sure you can sell some material here

=====================

maybe there are other collectors out there who might find that useful. There ARE ways for you to monetize your material and everything is not the gloom & doom that the fear industry would make you think. There are places where you can actually do selling at low cost, or like Craigslist - no cost

it does require work, but what doesn't? I can't think of anything I do on a daily basis that doesn't consume time and all work is, is time filled rather than sitting in front of a tv set watching American Idol. Hey, you can even watch TV while you're working, so you can still see Idol if you want.

Just because it takes time or money, doesn't mean you're doomed to the fires of Hell with your posters until your wife (soon to be ex) throws them out to make room in the garage. You can do it yourself AND you can make it FUN!

[erik1925]

Thanks everyone. Erik, I've got a handful of movies picked out but not any of the blockbusters where the value should really be from that time frame. I've got Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, From Dusk Till Dawn, Grease 20th Anniv, E.T. 20th Anniv, Grindhouse, Sin City, Fast and the Furious, Inglorious Basterds, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Rocky Balboa, MI series, Seven, Ace Ventura, Tommy Boy, Happy Gilmore, Die Hard w/ a Vemgence, Kill Bill series, and a few more I can't recall hehe

Nice selection of "core collection" titles there, Brett.  

-Jeff

[brude]

Brett..
this is what I would do

1) sort the very much better titles from the remaining material
this could mean posters that are worth $10 or more at a retail level

2) take the rest and offer them on craigslist for a very low price - maybe 10c a poster - pick up only & get rid of them

3) take the other material and make up a list of the titles, offer them at low prices & sell what you can by listing them on this forum

to get a handle on any pricing, aside from what databases are available, I would suggest going to ebay and watching titles in auction listings (not set sale) and seeing if the pieces actually sell for the prices they are listed. Set sale listings could have someone asking $10,000 for a $10 poster, so they're useless. But if 2 people have a poster listed at $10 and $1 and after 2-3 listings the $10 poster doesn't sell, but the other did for $6, you have some ideas.

I would create a list for Allposterforum as I'm sure you can sell some material here

Solid advice from Rich, Brett.

I'd like to see images of what will be the core of your personal collection.
Shoot pics, upload to Flicker (or another uploading site) and post them here.
Welcome to APF!

[rdavey26]

Brett.

I usually use the auction history on emovieposter.com to value some of my pieces. It will kind of give you an idea of a value range for each one. But like Rich said go through your posters and seperate them from one another with one pile being posters that are worth more. This will save you the time of having to go through them all again just to find that one poster.

Like Brude (Ted) said you should upload some pics for us to see what you have.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

also use the Heritage database and you can see Completed or Sold listings for 90 days on eBay

You'll be able to search my old auctions as soon as they merge the database formats, but you can already search the auctions I have sold on the new software site independent of the old auctions database that we are working on

[rdavey26]

also use the Heritage database and you can see Completed or Sold listings for 90 days on eBay

You'll be able to search my old auctions as soon as they merge the database formats, but you can already search the auctions I have sold on the new software site independent of the old auctions database that we are working on

+1 I agree Rich..

[Silhouette]

Or...you can drop me an email - I'll under the value the crap out of them, sell them on your behalf, do a runner with the money and deny we ever met, I'll then send you a bill for my services, charge the least amount of commission of any mofo here or anywhere else for that matter, I won't pay you for 2 years, I'll ignore the fact you have paid me and arranged to have you kneecapped, then because you are selling posters I will banish you to the dealer's corner where all others will throw rocks at you because you are scum; I'll then write a 3,000 word dissertation to eBay complaining that you haven't 'liked' me on Facebook, I'll return your posters but they won't be the same ones you sent me and...oh wait, sorry I was channeling someone else.

Welcome.

[Reggie]

Or...you can drop me an email - I'll under the value the crap out of them, sell them on your behalf, do a runner with the money and deny we ever met, I'll then send you a bill for my services, charge the least amount of commission of any mofo here or anywhere else for that matter, I won't pay you for 2 years, I'll ignore the fact you have paid me and arranged to have you kneecapped, then because you are selling posters I will banish you to the dealer's corner where all others will throw rocks at you because you are scum; I'll then write a 3,000 word dissertation to eBay complaining that you haven't 'liked' me on Facebook, I'll return your posters but they won't be the same ones you sent me and...oh wait, sorry I was channeling someone else.

Welcome.

Drugs are bad, stay off them davo..