FA Cup Medal

abandonded

Have an FA Cup medal which leading auctioneers have valued at between £5000 and £14000. However, if they sell it for me, they want 15% commission, plus a sellers fee plus £100 + vat to transport it to the saleroom. Do high value items like this sell well on e-bay and what are the pitfalls, if any?

soolin

Personally I would go with bricks and mortar, that quote actually sounds quite good re fees, my local one is higher.

The paypal fees alone on ebay would cost you a fortune and at least in a face to face sale you have less chance of ending up with problems.

cyberbob

You'll get more buyers and better prices for memorabilia like that in a specialist B&M sale than you will on ebay. Also less possible problems

soolin

One sold here at Sothebys earlier this year for £5K
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/8679833.stm
A gold FA Cup winners' medal from Preston North End's historic 1938 victory over Huddersfield Town has sold at auction for £5,000.

Another one here , less rare and expected to make between 2-3K
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/8220345.FA_Cup_medal_up_for_auction/

pseudopensioner

A particularly well known player and an equally well known team can make a lot of difference to the item's desirability and subsequent sale price.

I think I'd do my research into prices and probably set a sensible reserve, but would probably still opt for selling via a well known and respected sale room. They do their research and market items on the www.

RFW

abandonded wrote: »

Have an FA Cup medal which leading auctioneers have valued at between £5000 and £14000. However, if they sell it for me, they want 15% commission, plus a sellers fee plus £100 + vat to transport it to the saleroom. Do high value items like this sell well on e-bay and what are the pitfalls, if any?

You can shop around auctions some have different charges, but check they know what they're doing.
It may also be that depending on the medal it could sell well nearer to the home team, if its Man United, Liverpool, etc it probably won't matter as much but if its Bournemouth or Brighton or other smaller clubs it might get a better local bid.

As far as salerooms go 15% is probably not a bad rate, there are certainly higher ones around. You need to check on their other charges, lotting fees, storage, VAT etc, it could end up being nearer 25-30% paid. Also check if they charge a no sale fee, the saleroom could put a £5000 reserve on and charge 15% of the highest sale price if it doesn't sell (that's quite common practice amongst the bigger sale rooms).

There are other ways of selling it, try the club or their website they or a fan may be interested in buying it.

abandonded

Thanks for the replies guys, have now settled on Bonhams with a special 10% commission rate.;)

mandyt12

Please keep us updated on how the auction goes ......and good luck