Selling my collection - have read and done lots but need a little help still

I have finally decided that I am going to sell my camera collection, and

hopefully move on to bigger things.... But I just need a little help...

 

My dad taught me everything I know when it comes to the art of collecting.

 

When I first began I had more of an investment and business mindset - to buy and

flip.

But as time went on, and my knowledge expanded, I instead came to appreciate

these mechanical marvels and naturally shifted to collecting.

 

I'm 23 and over the past 3 years have collected over 100 cameras. I've also

vested interest in musical instruments, stamps, coins, antiques and other things

of value but never really went anywhere with it.

 

I've always had difficulty focusing and finding a goal to strive towards, never

really yielding any true results from anything I've done.

 

My dad passed away on April 11th, 2008 after a long and hard fight with a very

rare illness.

 

There's one thing I must now finish before I can move on to my own life - I've

always wanted pay off the mortgage on our house.

 

 

I think I've read all their is on the topic of "Selling your collection"

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Pb4Z

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00HLPg

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KCZU

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00JTWF

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00L7XD

 

It seems that out of all the options that exist, selling each item individually

on eBay is the best way to go.

 

What I have done so far

- Inventory of collection in excel sheet with full details

- Bought McKeown's 2006 price guide book

 

To do still

- Fill in condition of cameras

- Use McKeown's to obtain an estimate value

- Use eBay completed section to establish a "today's market value?

- Maybe use eBay Marketplace Research tool (goes back 90 days but not sure if it

will add any extra info)

- start selling - to be determined how and best method***

 

So after all that, I have 2 main questions.

 

***1st Is there a specific time of the year that one could say is the most

optimal for selling, i.e. collectors come into the market in X month and if you

waited until then to sell you would maximize the most?

- If this is true, I would take the next while to prepare and set up an eBay store

- If no there is no specific time, then go straight to auctions now

 

***2nd question

- In what order would you start selling, valuable ones first or last? Or doesn?t

no matter

 

 

Any help or suggestions would be well appreciated

Build up your feedback reputation with the modest items.

 

If you describe accurately, good photos, then you don't need to worry about reserves, the market will price them fairly.

European and Japanese prices seem to be high, but US prices are affected by the drop in the dollar. Where ever you are, I think that to get decent value for your collection, you will need to sell internationally. Work out all the details with the post or package system so that you will be set up for this from day one, with a knowledge of what needs to be done for customs declarations, etc.

 

Many of the items in your collection list are going to sell for fairly modest prices. McKoewn's prices are mostly only true for really super condition, best-of-kind of items. I've bought more than a hundred cameras over the last few years, and I can only remember paying the catalog value in one or two instances for very rare cameras. I think John's suggestion to build up an eBay presence and rating before you put expensive items on sale. Most experienced eBayers will shy at a newbie offering remarkable things for fear of some kind of scam. On the other hand, they won't worry so much when bidding on a Praktica L2, however nice a little camera it may be. Don't offer the Leicas straight off, for sure.

I do think that prices on Ebay are at their highest during the month of Nov. and early Dec. as people will buy something as a christmas gift for another person , or will buy themselves a Christmas gift. I also noticed that here in the US that people seem to have more money to spend around the time that their income tax refunds are mailed out. Summer is the slowest time as many people are doing other things than looking at Ebay.

However, slow summer may be, many people are now receiving their "economy booster" checks and may be looking to spend it on something they have wanted. That's the idea behind the checks anyway. JR

It helps to time auctions to finish at times of the day when people are likely to be at their

screens. On many items I've sold the price has jumped dramatically in the last few minutes. If

the last few minutes are in the wee small hours, you may miss out.

Sorry about your father. I recently sold four cameras on EBay in the USA and three of them went to Asia, probably because of the weak dollar. It takes a few minutes longer in the post office to ship them but much more profitable.

As a (modest) collector on the European side of the pond, I would most definitely recommend that you list your items as available internationally. The current exchange rate makes offers on E-bay US very attractive to European buyers, and European collectors would unvariably outbid their US counteparts simply by leveraging the strong euro.

Hi,

 

Ebay has now become since this last month, a nightmare for small time hobby sellers. Sellers can no longer leave any negative or neutral feedback fo buyers. Also, the feedback stars on the system (DSR's) ..detailed seller ratings, which are given by buyers are now being used by ebay to suspend any sellers with a mere 5% of unsatisfied buyers in any 30 day period.

 

This means, if you sell 20 items in one month and get just one negative f/b...you will get suspended by ebay...and it only takes one idiot buyer to do this. Also, bad buyers are now getting wise to these changes and realise they now have far more power than before...they are starting to blackmail sellers. ie, saying 'lower the post cost or I will neg you' ...ebay is now very dodgy for sellers and many have already been suspended (even good ones) and many are leaving ebay...sell there at you own risk...

 

cheers Steve.M.

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.

 

Your perspectives have greatly helped me in obtaining a better grasp of how things stand out there in the market today.

 

I have great deal of experience with eBay as in the beginning of this venture I approached it via the business model, however my last sale on eBay was more than 1.5 years ago. My feedback was 290 with 100% but with the new feedback system change it is now 188 at 100%.

 

I have no problem shipping international, in fact back then I often had buyers from Japan, China and the main Euro countries.

 

Since I have not been on the scene for such a long time my concerns have been about today's collector market and my timing for entrance.

 

I've will try and incorporate what everyone has suggested and hopefully can at least prepare something now for when times are right.

 

I probably should set up an eBay store to at least have something on display and ready to go for when conditions are right.

 

I hope the adage "1 hour preparation saves 3 hours of execution" holds true as there is lots of work to be done with setting up 100+ individual listings

Steven,<br>

Yes it's all true what you've said regarding recent eBay changes. They are trying to establish a more professional space instead of a flea market. I guess flea market will move somewhere else like "ubid" or "amazon markets".

I sell a lot of items on eBay every day, and here is my advice on these changes:<br>

- Always leave a positive feedback to buyer as soon as he paid for the item;<br>

- Work with them on every single question or concern;<br>

- Post most detailed photos you can. Several if possible. Every single scratch that was not visible on the photo may become a negative feedback.<br>

- If customer demands something extra, or leaves neg feedback over something that was clearly identified in the listing, report this user to eBay. He/she may get suspended, and in this case your neg feedback will be removed.<br>

<br>

Shahdad, good luck with selling your collection!

"I'm 23 and over the past 3 years have collected over 100 cameras. I've also vested interest in musical instruments, stamps, coins, antiques and other things of value but never really went anywhere with it."

 

Selling a large collection piecemeal on ebay sounds like a full time job at least for a while. Depends on the time/money/energy equation and what activities your energy and time will be subtracted from. Selling a collection in one transaction may gross less, but net the same. Sometimes a fast nickel and a slow dime come out to the same amount.

Just don't expect to get rich selling your collection.

so i have create a template to use for my eBay listings

 

I have tried to incorporate the many ideas and suggestions put forth in this listing as others I have read on this site.

 

If I could get some feedback on the layout and over content it would great help.

 

thanks to everyone for their help

 

I've linked the site to my isp file space at http://www3.telus.net/shahdad