Selling on MCS - any tips?13447
 Suck it up, buttercup!!
|
KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Was thinking of sending in a few books to MCS - never really sold any more than a book or two at a time. Thinking fixed price is a better option than the auction? I just don't want to deal with shipping/tracking/returns etc.!! Any advice or tips on what to do or avoid!? These are the books I was going to send - all CBCS except one bad one Batman Adventures 12 8.0 Wonder Woman #1 (1987) Witnessed -Perez 9.8 Wonder Woman #1 (1987) 9.6 Wonder Woman #7 (1987) Witnessed-Perez 9.8 Infinity Gauntlet #1 Witnessed - Perez, Starlin, Rubinstein 9.0 Batman #357 8.5 Batman Family #6 7.0 and 8.5 Detective Comics #880 Foil variant 9.8 Brave and the Bold #137 9.6 (newsstand mint collection) Walking Dead #2 7.0 Brave and the Bold 54 7.0 Brave and the Bold -PGX 60 -6.0 moderate color touch |
||
| Post 1 • IP flag post | ||
 Beaten by boat oars
|
Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I've done fixed price and auctions. You can let it ride on auctions if you got nothing invested in the book. I usually do fixed price and haven't had a problem. Just send them a list of what you got, and Este will get back to you. Then you send it to them, and they do all the work. Pretty painless. I get paid via check, so I avoid the Paypal charge. | ||
| Post 2 • IP flag post | ||
 I'd like to say I still turned out alright, but that would be a lie.
|
flanders private msg quote post Address this user | |
Start at fixed. If that doesn't work try auctions. Depending on the value fixed price fees varies and I believe auctions are always a flat rate of 8%. Try not to avoid spending all the money you make on more comics  . |
||
| Post 3 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Terry88 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| What specifics do you put on shipping forms or customs type forms? How will you handle the insurance? I'm really curious how all this works when we're up here and MCS is buried in Texas. |
||
| Post 4 • IP flag post | ||
|
Suck it up, buttercup!!
|
KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by flanders That's the whole goal of this venture!! |
||
| Post 5 • IP flag post | ||
|
Suck it up, buttercup!!
|
KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Terry88 lol!! gonna tell customs as little as possible!! I figure they haven't actually sold yet so I can't possibly declare anything! will probably FedEx these with proper insurance based on Gocollect prices @Studley_Dudley was wondering how payment worked -might have to open a USD bank account so I can just keep this separate and use the funds for other comics. |
||
| Post 6 • IP flag post | ||
|
Beaten by boat oars
|
Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @KatKomics I've seen check and PayPal as their methods of payment with PP being done G&S. They may be able to do a bank transfer for sellers outside the US. | ||
| Post 7 • IP flag post | ||
 If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
|
xkonk private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My personal factors when deciding how to list have been a) how quickly do I need the money and b) how many fixed price listings do they already have. If you need the money sooner, obviously lean toward an auction to guarantee it will sell. For b, I think it's just hard to stand out if they already have a bunch of an issue for sale. Take a look at Uncanny 266; how are you going to stand out there besides maybe being the cheapest 9.8? It's just a block of yellow. If there are lot of options, I am more likely to choose auction. I've also always gotten paid by check. The main downside to that is that you have to wait for the person to pay, which can be up to 10-14 days if they buy via auction. Then you wait for MCS processing and mail time. |
||
| Post 8 • IP flag post | ||
 To answer your question, no, this is not where the comics go to die.
|
MutantMania private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I always go with fixed price over auction and take the check payment. Also, they don't accept PGX graded books anymore |
||
| Post 9 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Rafel private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I like auctions. It's a rush watching others bid on my comics. Since I bid on auctions I keep what I got from the auctions in my account and when (if) I win it comes out of my account plus I don't pay the BUYERS PREMIUM. Which works for me. | ||
| Post 10 • IP flag post | ||
 Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by KatKomics @KatKomics I started selling through MCS about 1 year ago based on information from this board. It's now my only way of selling ( I closed my Ebay store) and I have my 4th shipment packed up and ready to go to them this week. I have certainly learned a few things over the last year: 1) On the home page make sure you understand the "New In Stock" button. Check it out and look at the dates and times that books were entered. This becomes important because your biggest exposure comes from the "New In Stock" listing. You get on the top of that list every time you discount your selling price by 5%...but you can get buried very quickly if you do it at the wrong time. I got clever this time and discounted my books late Wednesday night so they would stay near the top through Thanksgiving. But a more clever old-time dealer discounted his books on Thanksgiving morning, putting his listings on top of mine in the "New In Stock" section for all of Thanksgiving day. Think of it kind of the way that a bunch of emails sent in the early morning will bury emails sent the night before. 2) Initially price your books so there is room for you to do 5% reductions and get listed on "New In Stock". The 5% reduction has to be based on your minimum listed price. So if you start at $150, you can't raise the price to $190 and then get listed in NIS by taking a 5% price reduction. You would have to reduce the price to 5% below $150 to get relisted. I like to look at reducing prices every 14 days. If one of my listings sells before I do my first price reduction, I consider that I may have priced it too low. So don't get nervous if you don't sell anything in the first 30 days...you can always go down but you can't go up. 3) Auction will bring awareness to your book, but it's not my second choice. My second choice would be to activate the "Make Offer" function. That way I still control the final selling price. If I activate Make Offer immediately, I will put the auto-screen at 70% of asking price. I might change that to 80% or 85% even as I reduce the initial asking price further and further. 4) For me auction is the last resort before having something sent back to me. But it does bring awareness to your listing. If you go to auction at MCS make sure you are aware of your surroundings...by that I mean consider the differences between the smaller MCS market and the larger Ebay market. Be aware of what the other MCS listings for that item are being offered at. Look at the sales history of that book at MCS also. I personally would not auction low sales volume books or CBCS labeled books there. I think the MCS population of buyers is too small and I think a CBCS label (vs CGC) shrinks it even further. You can get hurt pretty bad if you try to auction the wrong thing there. |
||
| Post 11 • IP flag post | ||
|
Suck it up, buttercup!!
|
KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @EbaySeller - cool!! soooo go in 15% higher to give room to drop a few times? Right now I checked GoCollect, recent sold on Ebay and similar books (if they had them) at MCS and kind of chose a price from there. idk...might not mark up by 15% - really just looking at selling to free up locked up value - if I make like $1000 or $1500 I'll have covered off anything I paid for books and grading/pressing @MutantMania - too bad they don't take PGX - just have that 1 I'd like to sell at heavy discount....maybe raw then -lol!! |
||
| Post 12 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @KatKomics You won't have to do any research for pricing. When you go to price your books they are going to show you what the current GPS is as well as what is being asked for the other copies currently for sale at MCS. I promise it will be all the information you need for pricing. I like to go about 10% above my desired price, that way I have room to reduce or take offers. But I have to admit, the sales and stock information they put in front of you will influence your desired price pretty heavily. | ||
| Post 13 • IP flag post | ||
|
I'd like to say I still turned out alright, but that would be a lie.
|
flanders private msg quote post Address this user | |
| How do you go about sending books directly to them from CBCS after a grading submission? Is it something easy to work out? | ||
| Post 14 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
poka private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by flanders Don't know about CBCS but with CGC you use MCS as return address, give MCS your CGC account number and the rest works as clockwork |
||
| Post 15 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Speaking of selling on MCS- Their 24 hour Booksgiving sale has about 20 hours left. MCS stock only, 10%-20% off, free comics or TPB's for every $10 spent. Ends at 12 noon CST Tuesday. Best I can tell this is the only across-the-board sale that they do. | ||
| Post 16 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by poka Overall MCS is about the smoothest running machine I've found so far in the Comics industry. I guess that's why I give them such high praise, they have yet to disappoint me. This morning I took advantage of their sale and ordered some books around 11:45 a.m. I actually put them into my shopping cart last night. I wanted to see if the discount would apply to items already in my cart...it did. Anyway, at 1:04 my time (80 minutes later) I get an email that my order has been checked in. At 2:53 I got an email that my order has shipped and has a tracking number. That's 3 hours after my order was placed. |
||
| Post 17 • IP flag post | ||
|
Suck it up, buttercup!!
|
KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Anyone know how long it takes for MCS to setup items for sale? It's been about 2 week since they sent the received your books notification but they are not yet ready for me to choose a price and put up for sale  was hopeful to get the Wonder Woman books up before the movie was released. |
||
| Post 18 • IP flag post | ||
|
If the viagra is working you should be well over a 9.8.
|
xkonk private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @KatKomics It can take a while, and I imagine with current conditions it's taking longer than usual. It mostly depends on if you sent slabs or raws. Slabs just get scanned and listed and can be set up in maybe a week (just going by memory) but raws have to be graded first. That seems to add a noticeable amount of time. | ||
| Post 19 • IP flag post | ||
|
To answer your question, no, this is not where the comics go to die.
|
MutantMania private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @KatKomics keep checking your account. Mine took about two weeks. I saw that they were ready to price while I was just checking my other books. I never received an email saying they were ready to go from them though. | ||
| Post 20 • IP flag post | ||
|
Suck it up, buttercup!!
|
KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Ha...checked earlier and now 11 of the 12 books are ready to price/list!! fingers crossed I can sell these puppies!! | ||
| Post 21 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I've now sent 4 shipments of slabbed books for MCS consignment. I just sent a request to consign 20 raw books. I'm hoping it gets approved and I can give it a shot. I know they will grade incredibly tough but I figure enough people know that for me to try to get at least a lot better than the LCS would offer me. I will keep you all updated. | ||
| Post 22 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Redmisty4me private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I'm not sure if this is the same MCS that operates on eBay, but I can't say that any of it makes any sense to me. Maybe it's a place to sell modern slabs (?), but I can't see any advantage over eBay, and numerous problems and pitfalls. Good luck to any that it makes sense for! |
||
| Post 23 • IP flag post | ||
|
Suck it up, buttercup!!
|
KatKomics private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Redmisty4me I've gone the MCS route as I don't want to have to deal with buyers and shipping and any possible disputes etc.etc. MCS does list on ebay but you would silly to buy from ebay..if you go to the MCS site the same books are listed there but cheaper!! As a seller the fees are less than ebay and paypal they take the pictures and list the books and now you have more eyes on your book as people search the MCS site and the ebay exposure (again...would assume no one buys from ebay when you can save $$ buying direct from MCS!) | ||
| Post 24 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Redmisty4me @Redmisty4me although my forum name is @EbaySeller, I've actually closed my Ebay store and moved all of my sales to MCS. It's not so great for raw books because of their tight grading but for slabs the convenience is unbeatable. I ship 15-20 slabs at a time to them and they do the rest. The consignment fee is probably actually a little bit less than my total cost through Ebay and the workload drops to near zero. No scanning and listing, no packing and shipping. I don't have to pack a slab in a $15 flat rate box and hope it gets to the destination undamaged. They can combine my sold slab with the buyers other purchases and often ship for as little as $6...paid for by the buyer. The prices I can get selling there are in line with what I would expect on Ebay. And at any time I can move a book from BIN to their weekly auction...but I don't do that very often. Just looked up my stats: My first MCS sale was Nov 2019, I've sold 59 slabs there and 13 remain unsold. Mostly Silver and Bronze, some modern. |
||
| Post 25 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
Redmisty4me private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by KatKomics I've always wondered why their eBay prices are so high... Thanks for the extra info.! I don't think it works for me, but sounds like it's working for a lot of other folks. |
||
| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
Redmisty4me private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbaySeller Thank you for the additional info.! I totally see how this would work for quantities of slabbed books, but I sell maybe 2-3 of those a year, and really want the greater control over my listings & sales that eBay offers, and don't mind the extra cost/work I expend in return. MCS is clearly a good option for some, though not for my niche; I've only had one book restored, and never slabbed anything, though I've cracked a few open because lacking x-ray vision, I cannot read the comic through the plastic!  |
||
| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| MCS accepted my submission to consign 20 raw books. I have them packed and will ship tomorrow assuming Christmas Eve is not a busy day at the post office. My LCS offered me $300 in TRADE CREDIT for these books. If I can sell them through MCS consignment for $700 and net $600 I will consider it a pretty big success. I plan to reduce price every 10 days until they sell. Hope to have everything sold in 60 days. Will try to keep you all updated. Below is the grade I assigned, I assume the MCS grades will be lower: Amazing Spider-Man (1963 1st Series) 36 GD/VG Amazing Spider-Man (1963 1st Series) 62 FN/VF Amazing Spider-Man (1963 1st Series) 136 FN Batman (1940) 368 NM Brave and the Bold (1955 1st Series DC) 85 FN- Captain America (1968 1st Series) 101 FN/VF Captain America (1968 1st Series) 118 VF- Daredevil (1964 1st Series) 81 VF/NM Daredevil (1964 1st Series) 131 VG+ Daredevil (1964 1st Series) 168 VG+ Daredevil (1964 1st Series) 181 VF/NM DC Comics Presents (1978 DC) 47A VG/FN Iron Man (1968 1st Series) 2 FN Iron Man (1968 1st Series) 4 FN+ Marvel Spotlight (1971 1st Series) 32 VG/FN Sgt. Fury (1963) 13 GD/VG Spectacular Spider-Man (1976 1st Series) 64 FN Strange Tales (1951-1976 1st Series) 169 VG Tales of Suspense (1959) 54 VG Tales of Suspense (1959) 64 VG/FN |
||
| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
Rafel private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Good luck with your auctions. Your SGT. FURY 13 is one of my favorites. I have one graded by CBCS at a 7.0 and one being graded by CBCS. Do you know when the auction starts? | ||
| Post 29 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Rafel @Rafel A Sgt Fury 13 at 7.0 is a nice book to have...I've owned 5-6 copies, never owned one quite that nice. I'm not really planning to auction any of these books. I plan to start the BIN's around FMV for my grades. This will most likely be above FMV for the grade that MCS gives them. Then I plan to either take offers or lower the BIN price by about 5% every 10 days. Anything that remains after 6 price reductions (60 days) will likely be put in auction. Thanks for asking. |
||
| Post 30 • IP flag post | ||
This topic is archived. Start new topic?