- This topic has 11 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
I’m curious if anyone sells items on commission and if so, what rate do you charge?
A family member died recently and she had a stack of old currency / silver certificates about an inch thick from the late 1800s to maybe 1960s or so. I’ve never sold any currency before, but as the “eBay guy” in the family, they want me to sell it for them on commission. I know it’s going to take a lot of research to figure out what is junk, what is treasure, and how much each is worth.
I said 50% after fees. My aunt agreed, but when my mom heard about it, she thought that was an outrageous amount and that I should take only 30% to 35% because it’s family.
I usually avoid selling on commission, because it’s not something I really care to do.
Any thoughts? Am I cheating my family at that rate or is it a fair amount?
Thanks.
-
This is an oldie but a goodie: http://www.scavengerlife.com/2013/10/ebay-scavengers-episode-54-pros-and.html
We’ve been persuaded to sell on commission. Never worked out well because we do all the work, and it’s always more work then you think. Plus, people start acting like you work for them demanding that you price items a certain way. It’s so much easier just to buy the items from the person and have the freedom to sell yourself.
But when we did consignment, it was always 50% after fees. If someone complains, just offer in a friendly way to teach them how to sell themselves. I would think selling for family could be the biggest nightmare. Sounds like your mom wants you to work for cheap.
-
>it’s always more work then you think.
Yes, and it’s TONS & TONS more work than other (non-reseller) people think. 50% seems more than fair to me. To help justify to any relatives, maybe give an example of time spent on an item. Something like “I may spend 1-2 hours researching an item that ends up selling for only $20. That’s much less than minimum wage.”
If you have an hesitation about doing it, try to find them a dealer that they could just bring the whole stack to to sell.
Another thought: very often the time we spend researching an item is an investment in the future – it means less time to research similar items we may sell in the future. After you go through this stack and list it, you will be an expert. If you plan to resell this type of item in the future, then it’s time well spent. But if it’s just a one-time thing, it may not be a good investment of your time.
Those are just the thoughts that came to my mind when I read your post.
Good luck!
-
I agree with the 50%. They should look at it this way – take them to a coin or pawn shop and just see what they offer you for the group… it’s going to be a lot less than 50% of their value.
Also, @Zach, if in the collection there is actual gold or silver, please reach out to me. I’ll give you a good fair mutually agreed upon price without going on eBay. I’m a bit of a hoarder of that precious. I’ve worked out some great deals with Rydell Relics on silver that he had from a family member. 🙂
-
-
Invite your mom to sit in on a listing, not necessarily one from the family estate. That way she’ll get a hands-on feel for how much work it is. I had a small “discussion” about my “hobby” with a family member and did one listing with them, start to finish, and then packed up one sale item. Then I filled in the blanks with information like it requires storage (cost of storage and storage materials) and time for questions and answering offers, packing material cost, etc. It won my argument, perhaps it will help yours.
At worst, it will give your mom a new appreciation of how much work you actually do, so she’ll stop thinking you should get a real job! LOL
-
I was asked to sell some stuff for good friends of my family. Initially, they gave me stuff for free, but now I am selling for commission. I do it because they are friends, and I would not do this for someone who wanted to hire me.
I came up with a scaled commission based on the selling price. My friends actually just asked me to pay them what I thought was fair, so I did this for myself. I haven’t been subtracting out fees because I’m lazy.
Anyway, here is my commission scale for what it is worth:
0 to $60: 50% commission
$60.10 to $100: 35%
$100 & up: 25% -
I tell people 50% on hard goods and no consignment on clothing. I have a relative who asked for me to sell her dad’s model car collection that I agreed to do at 20% after fees because the proceeds are going towards his memorial project.They have given me free reign over pricing and timeline to get things listed so there isn’t any fighting or pressure to overvalue the items.
-
I appreciate everyone’s feedback. I probably could learn a lot from listing these, although I don’t really run into paper currency very often, so I’m not sure how often that knowledge would be useful. I do like the idea of tiered commission.
I’ve been amateur “appraising” items in the estate using my ebay app looking at sold listings, but they don’t really want to just sell things to me outright. They would rather do commission on the valuable stuff, and sell the rest in an estate sale. The old paper currency does have decent value, so it might be worth my time, but most of the other stuff doesn’t. For example, there were some 1980s gold-plated eyeglass readers. I guessed they are worth around $30. I had to explain that I would buy that at an estate sale if it was a dollar or two, but I’m not interested in selling it on commission, even at 50%.
Because it is family, and several heirs will split any proceeds, it definitely makes the arrangement more stressful. I’ll probably be guilted into selling stuff for a lower commission, though.
-
-
-
Set your price so that if someone accepts your terms, it is very much worth the hassle. I agree 100% with 50% of profits. I’d also not pay out until after the return window is closed. If the things you are commissioning are breakable, susceptible to counterfeit, or return fraud then avoid like the plague.
Also, you don’t owe an explanation to anyone. If they question you simply state it is your time and your time has value.
-
If they are already having an estate sale, they should sell the higher value items at the estate sale or consign them to an auction. It sounds like a lot of cooks in the kitchen at this point so I’d be removing myself from that one.
I had someone as me to sell clothing on consignment and I quickly said no, but followed up with an offer to teach them how to list the items.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.