Selling disappointments

[JasonBanz]

I'm sure this topic has come up before, but how many of you guys have been disappointed with what an item you sold went for? I sold my first jersey last night with a facemask and it went for $66. I know the jersey was not worn by a superstar but I was hoping for a little more than that. I guess thats what you get for not setting a reserve. :(

[mbenga28]

I purchased a Steiner game worn Yankees jersey directly from their site for $3,500 and it ended up selling on Ebay for $500 a couple of months later. I should have ended the auction early and kept it instead. crass.

[allstarsplus]

I purchased a Steiner game worn Yankees jersey directly from their site for $3,500 and it ended up selling on Ebay for $500 a couple of months later. I should have ended the auction early and kept it instead. crass.

I had a similar result at one of the big auction houses with a Yankees Clemens jersey that I bought at a wholesale price from Steiner. This was before Clemens had his issue with accusations of PEDs.

Just thankful I didn't pay anything close to "their" retail price. I figured with all the demand of Clemens and the fact that I bought at wholesale I would be okay. Not sure what went wrong but I lost at the time $thousands.

In hindsight given Clemen's unpopularity now, I am probably very fortunate that I sold it then. Could you imagine if you tried to sell a hologram'd Clemens today that you bought 5 years ago.

[cohibasmoker]

what REASONABLE people consider before they go out and spend money on hobby items.


Jim

[legaleagle92481]

I assume your talking about Ebay. That site is almost all bargain hunters these days. Meaning people who are weekend "dealers" who use it to buy items cheap and resell on there or on other sites for a profit. I sold some of my autograph collection on there and lost money on every sale. In some cases 50-60% on items that you would think would be desirable i.e. a kevin garnett uda signed leather basketball, a peyton manning mounted memories signed mini (the week leading up to the super bowl no less) and many others. Then a couple of weeks later the items would turn up at a fixed price at like almost twice what i sold them for. I think another issue with prices realized is when you sell. This time of year is a bad time to sell football stuff as training camp is months away and alot of people who collect football are caught up in baseball fever and focusing on buying baseball stuff.

[allstarsplus]

I assume your talking about Ebay. That site is almost all bargain hunters these days. Meaning people who are weekend "dealers" who use it to buy items cheap and resell on there or on other sites for a profit. I sold some of my autograph collection on there and lost money on every sale. In some cases 50-60% on items that you would think would be desirable i.e. a kevin garnett uda signed leather basketball, a peyton manning mounted memories signed mini (the week leading up to the super bowl no less) and many others. Then a couple of weeks later the items would turn up at a fixed price at like almost twice what i sold them for. I think another issue with prices realized is when you sell. This time of year is a bad time to sell football stuff as training camp is months away and alot of people who collect football are caught up in baseball fever and focusing on buying baseball stuff.

My Clemens sold at one of the big auction houses. When I use eBay as a Seller, it is generally BuyItNow with Best Offer just for the reasons you say.

[BULBUS]

I only use buy it now to sell, sometimes with the best offer option. Sometimes you have to be patient, but I seem to sell almost everything I list. You just have to list at a reasonable price. Don't try to get retail.

[legaleagle92481]

Correct me if I am wrong but to use fixed price don't you have to have a certain amount of postive feedbacks as a seller? When I started selling on there they forced me to use auction style listings.

[BULBUS]

Correct me if I am wrong but to use fixed price don't you have to have a certain amount of postive feedbacks as a seller? When I started selling on there they forced me to use auction style listings.

I have never heard of that. I have been selling for around 10 yrs now though.

When I list an item, and get to the "Choose how you'd like to sell your item" part, I click on the "Fixed Price" tab and enter my price.

[MarinersFan34]

Yea, if you're not willing to accept that it could go extremely cheap then setting a reserve or the minimum amount to the lowest you'd let it go for is the way to go.

Another thing, what time did it end?

I was watching an auction this weekend until I realized it ended at 5am pacific time on a saturday morning. Almost no auctions are worth getting up that early to bid on. I don't use sniping programs and almost always bid in the last 15 seconds. I hate bidding early hoping it ends under my max bid, that often results in getting bid up quite a bit.

So in a sense, I'm one of the bargain hunters on there looking for the cheapest price, but who doesn't do that? I don't do it to flip items, it's almost always for my own collection or for a friend.

[suave1477]

In hindsight given Clemen's unpopularity now, I am probably very fortunate that I sold it then. Could you imagine if you tried to sell a hologram'd Clemens today that you bought 5 years ago.

Andrew I would personally say you might have had better luck if you actually held onto it. All the PED stuff will eventually blow over and people will tend to forget and even when it comes timie for Hall of Fame voting whether good or bad, PED Isuue or not. It will spark interest again and people eventually will start picking up his stuff again. Maybe not the way they did pre-ped era but it will definitely go back up in years to come.

[allstarsplus]

Andrew I would personally say you might have had better luck if you actually held onto it. All the PED stuff will eventually blow over and people will tend to forget and even when it comes timie for Hall of Fame voting whether good or bad, PED Isuue or not. It will spark interest again and people eventually will start picking up his stuff again. Maybe not the way they did pre-ped era but it will definitely go back up in years to come.

My early collecting centered around the 500 HR guys and I am probably done with selling off the PED guys.

I bought the Clemens at what I thought was a great price with the thought of selling it right away. It wasn't even PED tainted when I sold it as it was before all the Congressional stuff. Still don't know why it sold so cheap. :rolleyes: It is a subject I have brought up before and always perfect for the category "Selling Disappointments".

[JasonBanz]

Thanks guys. I sold several things on ebay before, but this is the first time I sold a jersey. I suppose I'll have to use a reserve next time so I don't get burned. The auction went off at midnight, which may have been a little late for people on the east coast.

[karamaxjoe]

Thanks guys. I sold several things on ebay before, but this is the first time I sold a jersey. I suppose I'll have to use a reserve next time so I don't get burned. The auction went off at midnight, which may have been a little late for people on the east coast.

I wouldn't say you got burned on the sale, but probably had bad timing. I've listed many items that had no bids, just to relist them a couple weeks later and do well. It's all a gamble and you'll probably do better next time you list an item. Also, midnight is way too late for an auction end time. Due to that end time you probably lost another motivated bidder.

I, for one, hate reserve auctions and usually don't waste my time on them.

[CUTiger23]

Thanks guys. I sold several things on ebay before, but this is the first time I sold a jersey. I suppose I'll have to use a reserve next time so I don't get burned. The auction went off at midnight, which may have been a little late for people on the east coast.

Reserves tend to scare away buyers as do high BINs. It gives off the impression that the seller is overvaluing the item. In my experience, have a price in mind and make the BIN so that price is 20% less.

[MarinersFan34]

While I did mention a reserve, I will say that it does scare off bidders. I tend to try and stay away from them but I brought it up since it is a valid option.

I think the one key thing here that really hurt you was the ending time of the auction. As a bidder, I love late night auctions as I'm usually still up at that time and most of the competition has gone to bed. As a seller though, that kills your sale prices. Most of my sales when I do sell on there, the buyers are from the mainland USA, so I always consider the 3 hour time gap when putting up auctions since I'm on the west coast.

[JasonBanz]

My problem is that I work the 4-12 shift, so I am normally up pretty late. So mostly my best time is late in the evening. Guess I'll just have to wait for a night off next time! :o

[karamaxjoe]

My problem is that I work the 4-12 shift, so I am normally up pretty late. So mostly my best time is late in the evening. Guess I'll just have to wait for a night off next time! :o

Jason,

With ebay you can schedule a specific time for your autions to end. I believe it only cost a dime per auction.

[neverfinished94]

Jason,

With ebay you can schedule a specific time for your autions to end. I believe it only cost a dime per auction.

I always do this because I like my auctions to end Sunday night at 9 PM eastern.

[legaleagle92481]

another thing with ebay and this tip came from a veteran powerseller who saw one of my auctions lacked this. post multiple pics of the item from different angles and the coa if any. they charge you for more than one pic which sucks but i can see that influencing someone's decision especially with gu items. yeah they could just message you for more pics but people can be lazy so it is better to just post them.

[skinsfan0521]

another thing with ebay and this tip came from a veteran powerseller who saw one of my auctions lacked this. post multiple pics of the item from different angles and the coa if any. they charge you for more than one pic which sucks but i can see that influencing someone's decision especially with gu items. yeah they could just message you for more pics but people can be lazy so it is better to just post them.
The good news is that eBay recently changed their policy on this and now when you list an item in one of the "collectibles" categories, they let you list multiple (not sure if there is a limit) for free.

Plus, as for the ending time... it's DEFINITELY a big factor in the selling price. I always use the scheduled listing time feature. It does only cost .10 per auction, so it is worth it in my opinion.