Advice needed - selling collectables on Ebay

prophecy_grrl

Hi

I'm not sure if anyone will be able to help, but here goes...

I have a rather large collection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer memoribillia (sp?).

I love BTVS and love all my collectables, but feel that they'd do me more good paying off my debts than sitting on a shelf. I'd like to get a good price as some of the stuff I have was quite expensive when purchased.

Is Ebay the best place to sell? Or does anyone have details please of private collectors or other auction sites etc that would better serve this purpose?

Thanks all

jasmineswhiskers

I don't know of any other sites which might be best but as far as Ebay goes the best thing is to see what's selling now, what's sold and whether these prices are acceptable to you. See how many bids, hits the page has had - it will give you a 'feel' for whether ebay is the right place for your items.

soolin

The best time for Buffy prices has probably now passed, like most sci fi/cult stuff fans wax and wane.

A few years ago you would have had your hand bitten off touting Buffy stuff round one of the Buffy conventions in London, but times have moved on. (I could mention my signed Xena stuff that is worth less than 10% what I was offered in the past _pale_ ).

To answer your question, ebay might not necessarily be the best place, look through completed items and see whether Buffy stuff still sells, maybe watch the market for a while and see if other stuff gets listed which might draw buyers in. Alternatively look into the convention circuit, see if Buffy still features and if it does then talk to the organisers see whether it would be worth taking a part share in a dealers table, or whether they would let you advertise in their convention literature. Or look at multi fan conventions like eastercon, where a mix of people go.

See if there is still a Buffy fan club, they may well pay top prices as the stuff is harder to get now, talk to organisers see what they can suggest.

Good luck!

rmg1

eBay would probably be worth a go. The good news is that you can set a minimum value for the stuff before you start, and (from memory), there's a "Reserve" box, but that needs a minimum of £50 (again from memory).
You can also add a "Buy it now" price.
All these add cost to the listing so work it out carefully, or you could end up spending more than you intend.

soolin

Just a follow up, the ebay prices look quite bad for Buffy stuff unfortunately, or at least to me knowing how much some of this used to sell for.

There is a multi show convention in June called Decalogy run by a business rather than fan based and they have Buffy guests.:

http://www.starfury.co.uk/

ormus

well theres no way you can beat ebay for the sheer number of potential buyers.
i often look at the EFE models, toy section. busy as hell.
but no idea if ebay is the best place for selling buffy stuff. or for the best prices?

soolin

Ormus..a fellow EFE buyer (I wouldn't mind getting some of their stock at wholesale!)

Sci Fi stuff is sort of weird market, general buyers will probably pay a pittance for items just as a jokey present or because they used to like a show. A real fan, and believe me there are some out there, will pay *anything* for what they consider a rare item. So items like DVDs or signed photos are probably only worth pennies as there are lots around, but unique items, maybe genuinely limited stock items can be worth money. Unfortunately in sci fi the companies got greedy so we ended up with limited edition figures for instance that were limited only by the number of people who were willing to buy. I bought some old star TreK action figures for less than £3 a piece a year or two ago where dealers reckoned the book price was £50+.

prophecy_grrl

Thanks all for the feedback. I have semi decided to sell all my vids at car boot as the prices on Ebay are pretty pants. I think I'll hold onto the rest of it until Sarah Gellar signs up for a Buffy movie (bound to happen!).

Thanks again

frivolous_fay

prophecy_grrl wrote:

I think I'll hold onto the rest of it until Sarah Gellar signs up for a Buffy movie (bound to happen!).

I'll look out for it around the time the Farscape film gets made!

soolin

prophecy_grrl wrote:

Thanks all for the feedback. I have semi decided to sell all my vids at car boot as the prices on Ebay are pretty pants. I think I'll hold onto the rest of it until Sarah Gellar signs up for a Buffy movie (bound to happen!).

Thanks again

Buffy vids are worthless, even at a car boot you will be lucky to give them away.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is also off the radar now fan wise, so you might want to look at selling some stuff whilst people can still remember her.

Soo

prophecy_grrl

Thanks for the advice Soolin. I'll bear it in mind.