No idea how to price this item!

chal

Hi,

I have an item that I want to sell on eBay and I have no idea how to determine the price. It's a CD with a hand-painted cover (only 1000 in existence) that's also signed by the cello player (just her name) and the main artist ("For Steve, love, Heather Nova).

Googling around, I can see this is a rare item but it's hard to pin a price on it. One private site suggests £250, a commercial site states £50 and these are the only prices I can find. Also, these prices will presumably not take into account the signing. Would this add or detract from the value?

I haven't sold anything on eBay before, so the question is - is it worth listing the CD with a reserve price that I make up, or is it worth emailing around to see if there is a more specific price I can stick on it?

Thanks for any help,
chal

stolt

stick as a buy it now for what you want for it, and tick the box whereby buyers can make a offer to you (you can also change the offer buttons to allow you to consider a offer or reject it straight away).

it might mean that you just get a few viewers on the first listing but for the sake of a couple of quid your'll get an idea on how popular it is and maybe a couple of offers.

good luck

JPS

Go to advanced search put the name of the CD in the search box and click on "Completed Listings" to see if anyone has had one on eBay recently and how much it went for! You could do the same thing on eBay.com to get an idea of prices there too! HTH

TKPeters

I would list it as a 10 Day Auction starting 8pm on Thursday, just start it at 99p & let the market dictate the price, as you will only need 2 buyers to drive the price upto £xxx's. No Bidders before the last 24hrs, you can always pull the auction.

Kay_Peel

I would put a reserve price on it - a price that you feel comfortable with.

I think the Ebay market is a bit depressed at the moment. The site has been flooded with items following the free listing days and it's a buyer's market. While it's not a good time to sell in general, your target buyers may still be out there, looking for a limited edition, autographed CD and willing to pay over 200 quid. Or they aren't - so protect yourself and your asset with a reserve price.

Also, think about putting a disclaimer in the listing saying that you intend to advertise this rare and much sought-after item elsewhere, and that you may have to end the auction early. This may (or may not) prompt people to put their bids in early.

Good luck with it.

Bamber19

Is there a fansite for this celloist? A forum for them may either help determine the price or find you a buyer outwith ebay. As for your question about the signature, it's unlikely to reduce the value but when people are looking for autographed memorobilia they generally want "Artist's Name" and not "Steve, Lots of Love, Artist's Name" (which is unfortunate since most celebrities/musicians etc start off with "who should I make it out to") so it may not add much to the value if anything.

chal

Thanks for all your advice on this!

jasmineswhiskers

I would start it at say £50 (forget the reserve) 10 day auction and anything above and beyond would be a bonus. It's only worth what someones prepared to pay for it.

chal

I've done some checking on fan forums, and although the last one sold on there is no longer listed it sold for £311 last November.

But, it turns out a guy I work with has a friend who's rabidly into the artist so he's going to have a chat to him to see if he's interested. Fingers crossed, I can cut eBay out of the loop entirely.

Kay_Peel

Glad to hear that! It sounds like it deserves to go to someone who will appreciate it rather than to some dealer (at a knock-down price). If not, keep it for the time being. There's a lot of financial instability that is knocking the confidence out of the market at the moment. Now is not the time to sell it - unless you can match it with an enthusiast.

Good luck, Chal

chal

There are a few sites out there that will match your article to someone who wants it, but thhey take a pretty big slice in the meantime. If I can sell to someone who a) I know will care for it and b) will hand over the money as I hand over the item (having read the horror stories on this forum, I'm not overly keen on the eBay/Paypal model) it's the ideal solution Otherwise, like you say, I'll probably just hang onto it for a while - I doubt it will get any less valuable as time goes by.