Looking for selling advice

[CherryPizza]

Hi, all.

I have about 50 doubles of figures in my Schleich collection. My hoarder self thinks that the box of doubles is "kinda cool" but my poor self thinks that clearing out the doubles on eBay is worth considering.

My humble observations have always told me that auctions tend to have a higher clear-out rate than Buy It Nows or store listings, which often sit unbought for some time until being relisted on countless occasions. However, I'm not sure what is best when I have numerous copies of something.

Those with eBay experience, would it be best to do a Buy It Now listing and have multiple copies available in the listing? Would it be better to list as an auction and then send out Second Chance offers? Alternatively, should I just have separate listings for separate copies of the same figurine?

Any insights would be appreciated.

 

[MuppetsRule]

I would have separate auctions for each item. If you have multiples I wouldn't list them at the same time but in separate auctions spread out. Please provide us a link when you list them.

 

[CherryPizza]

Thanks, will do.

 

[Quazimoto]

I agree. Seperate listings are the way to go. But, adding a Buy It Now price to each auction can't hurt either as it's free (for the first 50 listings a month), so there's really nothing to lose in that regard.

Whenever I have multiples of collectible items, I make sure NOT to list doubles at the same time. The less of them available (or seemingly available) the higher the sales prices tend to be.

Oh, and ditto on the links. In fact, I'd be very interested in hearing what you have available. Maybe we can work something out and save you a little bit in eBay fees.

 

[CherryPizza]

Well, the bunch of doubles covers both Muppet Show and Muppet Babies figures. However, before anyone gets excited I need to give the disclaimer that of the 50, only 8 are 'regular' versions of the figures.

The others are variations of one kind or another. The variations essentially fall into the following categories:

• Figures standing on bases with messages written on them (an example of the bases is at the bottom of the Muppet Wiki article)
• Unpainted figures that are a single-coloured plastic (these are still legal figures, stamped with copyright details and manufacturer logos)
• Bootlegs in odd/incorrect colour schemes

So, I really don't know how small a sector of the collecting community would be after these items. Those of you who read the Muppet Merchandise section of this forum may have seen from my recent posts there that over the past 2 or 3 months I've developed a mission to gather as many variations on the figures as possible. Buying in bulk lots has resulted in many spares.

 

[Quazimoto]

I'm sure there's plenty of Muppet fans who would love to get their hands on varioations of different figures, even if they are "imperfect" in nature. Given the amount and variations, it might be best for you to just do a little research on prices, figure out what you want for them, and list them on eBay. I know I would be interested in some, depending on the character and variation, so I'm quite certain that other memebers of this forum and Muppet fans around the globe would be interested as well.

I know that there are Muppet fans who don't mind unpainted figures as they either appreciate the unpainted scult, or enjoy painting them themselves. The bootleg ones probably wouldn't be a big deal eaither, especially for Muppet fans who are on a tighter budget as I'd imagine bootlegs would tend to sell for less. As far as the ones with bases; Kinda hard to say on that. I suppose it would depend on what the base says or what kind of collector is looking at them.

So, in all honesty, I don't think any of the "imperfections" or "irregularties" will hamper your sales all that much. Certainly the standard scults and paints will be more widely sought after, but I'd imagine there's someone out there who'd be happy to whatever Muppet figures you have available to their own collections.