The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

cmshapiro wrote:

soundgen wrote: ...http://www.stantons-auctions.com

The only way to go ! From experience

If you want common machines to sell at or below wholesale piece and then give 15% or more of sale to the auction house, then I guess it’s a great way to go!

But it will take years to sell common machines even at a wholesale price won't it ? and the auction price is the wholesale price where else but auctions can you buy phonographs in bulk

I would have to agree with cmshaoiro. You will end up selling a lot of the common machines for a lot less than what they are worth. If I had a large collection that I was wanting to sell along with the other smalls I would probably open a website and sell them that way. Look at a few of the websites that sell phonographs now and see the prices that they are asking / getting. you could price them right and still make more than an auction. Take them to UPS pack and ship to pack and send out. I have a close friend that sold his collection at auction and was sorry, he had pristine machines and did not do well. Just my thoughts.

There are many sides to this issue. A lot depends on the seller's capabilities, knowledge and time parameters. However, I don't agree with the "take it to the UPS Store" approach. Buyers of common stuff don't want to pay for premium services. So, how are you going to ship a $350 Victrola XI? I've had quotes from UPS Stores as high as $2,000 to ship a Victrola from Maine to FL.

Sort of reminds me of years ago when I was a real estate investor/operator. My dentist said he was thinking of buying rental properties and taking care of them on the side. I told him yes, I am taking correspondence courses in dentistry and hope to pull teeth on weekends. Point being, everything looks easy when you aren't doing it. Just about every dealer I know works virtually 24/7 and has new horror stories every week or so. That $100 off-brand tabletop that you sell as-is, can still come back to haunt you. Might have been the guy's last $100 in the world and he was expecting something a helluva lot better.

I sent a trailer load of slow-selling stuff to Stanton's last year. Lost money, but every month I don't have a $400 mini-storage bill to pay for it. And nobody will work harder for you and be fairer to deal with than Steven Stanton.

Putting stuff on a website is great, but you have to drive web traffic to it, after first building and maintaining the site.

No simple solutions, for sure.

Raphael

Raphael wrote:There are many sides to this issue. A lot depends on the seller's capabilities, knowledge and time parameters. However, I don't agree with the "take it to the UPS Store" approach. Buyers of common stuff don't want to pay for premium services. So, how are you going to ship a $350 Victrola XI? I've had quotes from UPS Stores as high as $2,000 to ship a Victrola from Maine to FL.

Sort of reminds me of years ago when I was a real estate investor/operator. My dentist said he was thinking of buying rental properties and taking care of them on the side. I told him yes, I am taking correspondence courses in dentistry and hope to pull teeth on weekends. Point being, everything looks easy when you aren't doing it. Just about every dealer I know works virtually 24/7 and has new horror stories every week or so. That $100 off-brand tabletop that you sell as-is, can still come back to haunt you. Might have been the guy's last $100 in the world and he was expecting something a helluva lot better.

I sent a trailer load of slow-selling stuff to Stanton's last year. Lost money, but every month I don't have a $400 mini-storage bill to pay for it. And nobody will work harder for you and be fairer to deal with than Steven Stanton.

Putting stuff on a website is great, but you have to drive web traffic to it, after first building and maintaining the site.

No simple solutions, for sure.

Raphael

All very reasonable and well informed points.

A few years ago, I was executor of my aunt's estate. I had her full household to liquidate. She had some antiques, but nothing thrilling. I called a local antique shop owner who made a lump sum offer on the full contents of the house. I probably got pennies on the dollar, but when she was done, the whole house was swept clean, wall-to-wall. Totally worth it! In addition to everything else I needed to do, it would have taken me weeks.

I don't have as much experience on this topic but do happen to agree with the previous posts immediately prior to this one... I can offer this opinion, though. The early/rare/desirable machines will do well in several venues. What "hurts" is when we go to sell the common models.... And, what I mean by "hurting" is when we find out the common upright or console machine we thought was worth $175 to $250 will only go for $75, give or take at an auction or on craigslist.

Then, take out 20 - 30% if we sell at auction...Oh well...

But, remember, time is money, LOL. There is a price to paid for the convenience of sending it all off and accepting your loses or playing around with it for 6 - 12 months selling one piece at a time.

AND, if you do sell it off one piece at a a time, when it is all said and done, you will still have some common machines left that all the seasoned collectors passed on.... Back to square one....

Just my opinion...

Duplicate post deleted

Selling a large collection by oneself does require a significant amount of time, expertise and work. In order to sell a large collection successfully the seller would need to know the relative value of each machine in order to price it correctly. Significantly underpricing a valuable machine could be a very costly mistake. Relying on buyers ‘many of whom are looking for a bargain’ to make offers without knowing the relative value of the machines could also be very costly as well. They would need to find the appropriate buyers for the large number of machines. For large and less valuable machines the cost of shipping could easily exceed the value of the machine, requiring a local buyer who can pick up the machine to make it worth while for both the buyer and seller. For really valuable machines, there is generally only a small number of buyers willing to pay the higher prices these machines can bring. A knowledgeable seller with the time and expertise who is willing to put in a lot of work, they could maximize profits by finding buyers willing to pay a fair price for each machine by renting space at shows, advertising on the forum, eBay or setting up a website. Using a reputable and knowledgeable auction house like Stanton’s with their very reasonable 10% buyers premium. For this the auction house will pickup all items (relieving the seller of shipping hassles costs), they will promote the items for sale, know the relative value of items to be sold so they can be properly promoted, and find appropriate buyers (those willing to pay higher prices for rare and valuable pieces and since many buyers will drive to the auction the shipping costs on large and less valuable items becomes less of an issue.) The seller always has the option of putting a reserve on rare and valuable pieces.


Just my 2 cents

10% buyer's premium isn't too bad, all things considering. BUT, to be clear, I have sold through some of the auction houses in Virginia and NC (no names for now... LOL) and they took 30 to 35% out of the selling price. Then the buyer got charged 10% on their end.

If one of my common machines went for say... $80, $24 was deducted and I got a check for $56.00.

In my humble opinion, local auctions are good for the non-sentimental collector to dispose of a collection and clear up some space. However, with that said, I have heard some really good things about the specialty auctions like Stantons. I corresponded with Mr. Stanton a while back and found him to be responsive to emails and professional. I tentatively plan to circle back when ready to do a clear out.

Stantons just picked up the Victrola's I wanted to sell for the November Auction.

If he is selling any old.advertising or signage...im interested.

Chris