[meteorite-list] Auction Kings meteorite - $2000 Sikhote Alin

From: Yinan Wang <veomega_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:07:22 -0400
Message-ID: <B19BC5A5-50AE-440C-8526-AC848543BC18_at_gmail.com>

Speaking from experience with many auction houses: most houses stay around the 20% range but the bigger ones charge photo fees of $100-$400 and a buy back fee. So are they a better value than eBay? With the major auction houses, I find that about 40-60% of items I consign will sell. Most will sell at my reserve, but 1 in 4 will go for a crazy high price because of bidding wars.

So I tend to use eBay for most of my low priced or specimens that are too specialized, while I consign more expensive or pretty items to auction houses. Pretty with a good story sells.

- yinan

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 23, 2012, at 8:13 PM, "Bob Falls" <bcmeteorites at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hi Adam,
> I was watching this show the other night (different episode) and did catch them say at the
> beginning that the auction house takes a 20% sellers premium. I have never worked with an
> auction house however this does not seem too bad based on the draw this auction seems to have.
>
> Best Regards,
> Bob Falls
> Colorado Springs, CO
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Adam Hupe
> Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 9:31 AM
> To: Adam
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Auction Kings meteorite - $2000 Sikhote Alin
>
> A lot of buyers judge the price of collectable items from eBay. EBay is
> not known for fetching top dollar, especially on collectables. A solid
> auction house will almost always fetch more than what would be realized
> on eBay. The problem with many auction houses is that their commissions are out of line, some
> charging in excess of 40%! Then some fleece the
> buyers with expensive shipping and handling fees.
>
> Don't get me wrong, there are a few great auction companies out there, I have used some of
> them. One problem I encountered is that if the item
> doesn't sell or the buyer can't pay for the item after bidding on it,
> then the seller can be out of some serious money including catalog and
> no-sell fees. They need to do a better job of vetting their bidders!
>
> A lot of dealers don't bother with middle men anymore since they can get
> wholesale prices right off of eBay. Some specialty shops get most of
> there product from eBay, mark it up considerably and put it on their
> shelves. The problem is that a lot the collectable items offered on eBay have no expertise
> behind them and are accidentally or purposely
> misrepresented.
>
> There are reputable independent companies that can authenticate and paper
> items so COAs are important to me. I wouldn't purchase a valuable
> coin, baseball card or any other collectable without first seeing that
> it has been papered through an independent grading and certificate
> service. A properly papered item will almost always bring in the big
> bucks in an auction house whereas it may not do so well on eBay where
> some dealers tend to print their own COAs and grade items themselves.
>
> Kind Regards and Happy Collecting,
>
> Adam
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Received on Fri 23 Mar 2012 09:07:22 PM PDT