I am thinking that the coming 50th Anniversary of Expo '67 will be my last best opportunity to deaccession (unload) a pile of several hundred near-mint all-different Expo '67 postcards, and I would appreciate any kind advice (or rude advice) as to how to best go about it. Options (that I see) include:
- One bulk lot. Advantage? Just about zero real work. Now? Or wait a few more months?
- Single sales, eg, an SOR Approval Book or Auctions. One fears that all that scanning & describing & invoicing & shipping won't add much cash value and that, of course, folks will buy all the 'good' cards, and leave me with the dross. (As you might guess, when it comes to my hobby, I am a buyer, not a seller.)
- Albumize. Build the cards into a proper collection, with write-ups of each subject, etc. Frankly, I am not sure that I have the talent or the time. Worse, once all that value has been added, will I have the will to sell?
I would assume just about all of you have faced this same problem, in one form or another, be it a pile of nice duplicates, or ...
What would/did you do?
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like this post
"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
I am not a regular seller - but here are a couple of random thoughts
1.Selling the whole lot as one will not bring in anything like the market value, and will limit the market to those with maximum outlay.
2. Selling individually will take too much time and the postage costs might frighten off buyers.
3. I would personally take the middle ground and "lot" them into groups of maximum weight for basic postage rate, so customers get the best value for money for the postage cost,and might be prepared to take the common to get the good if they don't have to pay additional postage.
4. I would "trickle" them onto the market over a period of time, or consider listing them in several different locations ( for example postcard or paper ephemera sites). Flooding the market will limit the number of potential customers. Those with limited resources might make further purchases when further funds become available.I am not sure that waiting for the actual anniversary will increase your sales- those who collect know about them anyway. Having said that several lots at around the time won't do any harm - and you can mention the anniversary in your "blurb" anyway.
5. A little research might be necessary to ensure that all the common cards or all the good cards don't go in the same lots.
As an aside I have often thought the dealers on e-bay who sell stamps in bulk might benefit by offering some of their stock in smaller quantities to attract the modest spenders.
Note I am not a regular buyer or seller, and have no particular interest in your material, but I do have some retail experience ( but not with stamps etc), but I am trying to apply some basic logic. Getting the best price for anything is often more about market savvy and opportunism than content, which any fulltime dealer in anything will tell you.
Good luck with it!
Malcolm
Login to Like this post
Please Note: Postings that were loaded from the old Discussion Board cannot be edited.
