Franc You are a seller and are always on the lookout for items to sell at a profit. I am a collector. I am only interested in buying and when I want something I go for it regardless of fair market value at the time but I have a limit to what I am willing to overpay and it does not border on the insane. On the other hand my policy has made me a very happy collector because my willingness to overpay for many years has paid off with today's prices. I am speaking of the major auctioneers and not the overstated prices on ebay. I paid $4,000 for Charlie Chan at the Circus many years ago. i paid $2600 for Chan at the Opera. In those days these were very high but they were all one bid higher than anyone else. I outbid everyone for a one sheet of the Marx Bros in A Day at the Races for $3500 and under 4 figures for many other posters. I do not buy posters to sell and when I want a poster I bid high. However, I am not foolish enough to spend the asking prices of a handful of dealers on ebay. Claude In a message dated 6/28/2009 1:20:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, fdav...@verizon.net writes:
Claude --- If you didn't bottom-feed, you were the exception. Everybody I know in this business, used to bottom-feed. I picked up some really great original release cards from Pinocchio on Ebay for under $200 a piece in the early days on an off-night on Bruce's auctions. That's bottom-feeding. FRANC -----Original Message----- From: twoni...@aol.com [mailto:twoni...@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 12:41 PM To: fdav...@verizon.net; MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Subject: Re: [MOPO] ebay poster prices Franc That is not the case. I have never been a bottom feeder. In fact when I want something I bid very high. I will give you an example. Many years ago there was a 1951 Realart insert of Frankenstein on ebay. I felt a fair high bid around $4,000 should get it. This was based on previous sales and rarity. I placed a snipe bid of $7,000 and won at $4100. I was fairly confident I would win but a little afraid of another very high snipe bid like mine. I have done this many times. On the other hand when a person keeps listing a poster for over $20,000 when you know the market is $10,000 or less it is frustrating because there are too many of these every day and they waste my time searching and scrolling. There is a difference between high, a little high and ridiculous. Claude In a message dated 6/28/2009 12:35:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, fdav...@verizon.net writes: I'm going to go out on a limb on this one and just say that Ebay has changed. It clearly appeals to Fixed Priced buyers now, not Auctions. I think Claude you're frustrated because you're looking for a return to the days when you could bottom-feed on Ebay and pick up really great posters at ridiculously low prices. Those days are gone probably because the d ealers who conducted auctions such as that worked on consignment and frankly only had to recover their overhead to break-even. They've moved on because overhead on Ebay became too great. What you find on Ebay now is the small dealer who invests his own money in product he buys at auction sales and collectible shows and can't take the risk of starting his auctions at $0.99 so that he can see it ultimately sold for $4.32. The buying pool for Ebay auctions has shrunk also. I also see some extremely sophisticated old-time dealers on Ebay who post really fine inventory at ridiculously high prices. I've also seen some of the same dealers bidding up prices at auctions to preposterous levels, so somehow they are selling their wares at a profit. I can only presume that they've figured out that if they get 2 sales out of every 50 they are still turning a profit. Otherwise they would not be on Ebay and they would not be buying items at levels that I think are way out-of-bounds. FRANC -----Original Message----- From: MoPo List [mailto:mop...@listserv.american.edu] On Behalf Of Claude Litton Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 11:12 AM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Subject: Re: [MOPO] ebay poster prices Dave I wasn't referring to you because you don't list prices in the thousands. Please let me explain a little further. I look at posters 3 ways. Ending today Newly listed Highest prices first The Ending Today I search at 6:30 am The Newly Listed I search at 10 to 11 pm The highest first when I have time but normally at night The last one is incredibly saturated with ridiculous prices and they never come down. Alan Adler in California has high prices to start but I think his way of selling is very astute. He lists a high price plus a buy it now. Each week he lowers both. He has created a super market for himself with the need for a person to buy it now high for fear he may get into a bidding war at a slightly lower price. I am not referring to A Todd Feiertag because he uses his not for sale posters as a lead for his regular items. I am talking about sellers who list all of their posters at very high prices and never reduce them. I only used Three Sons as an example. I know he is a fairly new seller but it triggered my email to mopo. I suggest you go to US Originals and sort by highest price first. Then read my comments again and please, by all means, reply. Claude In a message dated 6/28/2009 10:29:28 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, hah...@sympatico.ca writes: Hi, Bruce: Sorry, I actually wasn't responding to your post, which I only read after I sent in my comments. I was addressing Claude's concerns directly. And I know you weren't referring to me. That said, I finally looked at the listing Claude gave as an example: the Three Sons 1-sheet. First: The seller is new to eBay as of January of this year. So he may soon change his pricing practices once he gains some more experience (read: doesn't sell anything). Second: The item is a Buy-It-Now in his eBay Store, not an auction. Given you only pay five to ten cents a month to list an item in your eBay Store, he can afford to leave it there a long time before it sells, IF it sells. Last: The poster is linenbacked, unlike the same 1-sheet that Claude mentions was sold by Bruce for about $50. Not that that adds $550 to the price, but linenbacking can set you back roughly $100, including shipping and depending on whether or not any restoration was done. OK, even after all that, I agree the price is out of line with what the poster should bring, retail, on the open market. But if the seller feels he can get that, let him try. If he doesn't get that, then the price will come down or he won't be selling for much longer. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: _Bruce Hershenson_ (mailto:brucehershen...@gmail.com) To: _Dave Rosen_ (mailto:hah...@sympatico.ca) Cc: _mop...@listserv.american.edu_ (mailto:MoPo-L@listserv.american.edu) Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 10:06 AM Subject: Re: [MOPO] ebay poster prices Dave YOU clearly don't have ridiculous prices, and you are one of the sellers whose items I look over regularly. But I was just on eBay and I DO see lots of items that wouldn't auction for $15 with "Buy It Nows" of $100, and that IS ridiculous. I would think that Claude was surely not referring to you either. As to consignment sellers selling items cheaply, that is why I try stick to sellers who have thousands of items to sell, so that they can know that their low sale prices are offset by the high prices. I never said non-consignment sellers should sell items at cheap prices. I was just saying that prices tens times retail seem to make little sense (and in my earlier e-mail I said they were not what hurts eBay). If there were 1,000 sellers just like you, eBay would be what it once was! Bruce On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Dave Rosen <_hah...@sympatico.ca_ (mailto:hah...@sympatico.ca) > wrote: I'm not going to defend sellers who ask, as you say, "ridiculous" prices. But I will say that comparing them to Bruce or Heritage may be a bit apples-and-oranges. The sellers you refer to (though I don't know specifically who you're talking about) are retailers who purchase inventory, then offer it for sale. Thus their return has to cover the cost of the item plus overhead before they see one penny of profit. Bruce and Heritage are consignment sellers. They have overhead, certainly, but do not have cash invested directly in the items they sell. Thus, when they auction stuff off starting at 99-cents or a dollar (really $15 in Heritage's case) they are, in a sense, gambling with someone else's money, the people who consign their posters to them. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, that's the nature of the business. That's just the way consignment works. It means they can start their auctions lower and take the risk that the lower starting price will attract more bidders. It works most of the time, but occasionally items do slip under the radar and sell at prices that are much lower than the average market price. Bruce and Heritage can afford to take that chance, particularly because they sell thousands of posters and are popular online "destinations" and have a client base in the thousands. Most other sellers are much smaller and can't affordto take that chance. The other comment I have to make is, if the prices truly are "ridiculous" then the items will not sell and the prices will come down. That's market economics, I don't have to explain that to you. So your choice is to buy somewhere else (if you can find what you want there) and/or wait till the price comes down. It's that simple. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: _Claude Litton_ (mailto:twoni...@aol.com) To: _mop...@listserv.american.edu_ (mailto:MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU) Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 8:55 AM Subject: [MOPO] ebay poster prices I have been searching ebay almost daily since 1997. My areas of search are US originals Pre-1940 through 1960. I collect mainly posters in the upper price brackets. In the last few years the amount of listings by too many sellers with ridiculous prices has proliferated to the point where the only thing certain is that not only don't they sell but more and more are joining the pack. The prices are so high that you can't even make a serious offer because it will be so low that they will either ignore you or send you a snide retort. My reaction has been to totally ignore these sellers but it has become a nuisance due to the number joining them. There are some on mopo who do this but I am not referring to Todd who uses his million dollar posters to get people to look at his other posters for sale. I am talking about those who price all their posters at ridiculous prices. I don't even look at ebay daily any longer but wait for Bruce and Heritage to offer what I want. (This is a good opening for Bruce to comment.) I am still trying to understand their motives. Just look at a one sheet of "Three Sons", a poster sold by Bruce for $56 recently and priced at 10 times that on ebay. Let's face reality - People who are going to spend $500 and up on a piece of paper will know their item, will research it and will be careful about their money. $20 is an impulse purchase. $500 is not. Can anyone explain these ridiculous sellers' motives? CJL ____________________________________ Make your summer sizzle with _fast and easy recipes_ (http://food.aol.com/grilling?ncid=emlcntusfood00000006) for the grill. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at _www.filmfan.com_ (http://www.filmfan.com/) ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: _lists...@listserv.american.edu_ (mailto:lists...@listserv.american.edu) In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at _www.filmfan.com_ (http://www.filmfan.com/) ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: _lists...@listserv.american.edu_ (mailto:lists...@listserv.american.edu) In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. ____________________________________ Make your summer sizzle with _fast and easy recipes_ (http://food.aol.com/grilling?ncid=emlcntusfood00000006) for the grill. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. ____________________________________ Make your summer sizzle with _fast and easy recipes_ (http://food.aol.com/grilling?ncid=emlcntusfood00000006) for the grill. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. **************Make your summer sizzle with fast and easy recipes for the grill. (http://food.aol.com/grilling?ncid=emlcntusfood00000006) Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
