Liquidation Auction Advice

I once thought I was going to collect German stamps. I never got around to collecting, I only got around to accumulating. I have accumulated somewhere around 10,000 stamps in four stock books. They are not organized in any way. They are basically in the books in the order they were acquired during the course or the last decade. Generally speaking, I bought assorted collections from different periods of time. They cover all periods of German history. I think I am going to liquidate the accumulation. So here is my question. Do you think it's better to list an entire stock book as a single auction (probably 3500 stamps) or list each individual page (probably 60 stamps)? I was thinking of doing each page separately and doing 100 pages per month to avoid the insertion fees. I was going to start each auction at $0.01 per stamp and let the market decide the value of any particular page. Please let me know if you have any advice. Thanks, Jon

listing pages separately would give the buyer more power to pick what they want versus a buch of pieces they dont want or already have. this in turn gives you an advantage in the auction. those looking to fill out a collection may now be so willing to buy the extras and have to sell them out them selves...

If you have the time, bearwithfish's advice is one I would agree with. That being said there is certainly a market for whole collections.

The larger the amount of stamps sold as a lot the smaller price per stamp you get.

By page is good.

ebay is doing 50 pages for free at 99c now. So start at 99c, not 1c, don't assume they will automatically sell the first time. People may want them but not have the money or inclination.

If they are worth a tad more or a lot more then you better have good titles to draw attention so more people will look and not just a few if you are starting them at a low price (99c) and you aren't a dealer who already has customers looking at you all the time.

Listing fees are not that bad. Price you pay I am thinking. I think it costs 25c to list under 10.00. I have found that if the rough catalog pricing is 10.00 then start the listing at 2.25 (22.5%) at maximum so you will get a first bid and then others will look at it because humans look at what other humans look at, and hopefully think it is special and bid also.

Good pics are a must. Don't hide all the stamps behind each other. Show them and do a nice scan of pic so the stamps can be seen close up, well reasonably close. Out of focus, not centered, dirty pics are not good selling points.

If there are any stamps that you know are really nice don't be afraid to draw attention to them by saying something about them Keep it factual and to the point. Don't go all gushy or anything. Nice horse stamps, key values, complete sets, never-hinged, lots of great stamps, etc.

If you have any Bavaria numerals with star cancels sell them all to me! or not. I am poor and can't afford them anyway. A tire kicker.

Thanks bearwithfish and smauggie.. I was thinking the same thing. If I do them one page at a time, for like 50 cents starting price, then the potential buyer does not have to buy things they don't want. It's a bit more work but I think it's the right thing to do. Thanks for your advice. Jon

thanks puzzler, I appreicate your advice, yes they are all in lindner stock books with black pages so every stamp is clearly visible. actually the first 100 per month with starting prices below one dollar are free to list, with one photo. so far this year I have sold a bunch of duplicate russian stamps that I had, a comic book collection from when I was a kid, and my unused german stamps (which I sold individually). I started them all well below a dollar and only did 100 per month so I only had to pay the final selling price fees. This bunch I am going to liquidate are all postally canceled stamps. I think I am just going to do a generic title for each page since I don't own a german stamp catalog and have not checked any of them for value, etc... Thanks again for your advice. Jon

Don't use the same generic title. eBBay will bury items with similar titles and categories. Change them a bit, even with A, B, C, etc or say Nice Mixture and then Nice Selection, etc.

On April 19 ebay changed a lot of rules and final value fees also.

you said it before I could LOL!!!

yeah distinguish the lots and read all the ebay fine print before posting it up.... they are about to make things a bit more challenging.... of course in there favor but thats business right?

You could always try to auction some off here also. I know there are many Germany collectors here. I know I am one in the bunch.

oh thanks for the advice on the variety of listings and the notice that they have changed their rules/fees again. that's a good idea sharksfan, the way it was on ebay (prior to any rule/fee changes) was that every 30 days you got 100 free listings if the starting price was less than a dollar. maybe I could do 100 on ebay and 100 on here. I better set up the tripod and lights and start taking photos!

oh yeah .. lots of pix... I may even consider some after all this talk LOL J/K

Mostly it is the reduction of the 100 free to only 50 free a month, plus you get BIN added free, but shipping is now charged 9% FVF also.

All assuming you do not have a store.

From ebay dot Com
http://announcements.ebay.com/2011/...ller-update/

* Sellers not subscribed to a Store: Starting April 19, list Auction-style FREE up to 50 items a monthâ€"any start priceâ€"and add the Buy It Now option FREE to capture those buyers in a hurry. You pay only if your item sells. Auction-style Final Value Fees will apply to the total amount of sale, including shipping. Starting July 6, Fixed Price Final Value Fee rates will be reduced and applied to the total amount of sale, including shipping.

Fee Update
http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinforma...ate2011.html
Sellers not subscribed to a Store: FREE to list Auction-style up to 50 items a monthâ€"any start priceâ€"with FREE Buy It Now option starting April 19. Auction-style Final Value Fees apply to the total amount of the sale (including shipping). Starting July 6, Fixed Price Final Value Fee rates reduced and applied to the total amount of sale (including shipping).

Fee Chart
http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinforma...2011.html#fc

This is what we do at our club auction...We have some French Africa specialized albums to auction..it would be a shame to dismember the albums as they are like new...first we will try to sell the album and stamps intact...if that does not work we will sell by country...i know you have a different situation..but perhaps you should set a minimum price that you are willing to accept on a stockbook and try selling it that way..you may be pleasantly surprised..again speaking for myself if that did work I would try selling the higher catalog complete sets singly and the minimum value stuff in packs of 100 different ! I will send you my attorneys fee later on !

thanks puzzler on the ebay updates. that's unfortunate.

Not so bad really, everyone is in the same boat. If you want the market where you gonna sell?

Jon, I sell some duplicates on the internet for fun...but its WORK...if you list and sell a hundred pages..you may doing a hundred mailings ..trips to the post office etc..well you will see if its worth it once you start !!