I just got off the phone with Mark. Once it's fixed they will post when it will be available.
I suggested making the autograph available at the next available top of the hour whether 2pm or 3pm to make it fair game for everyone.
Updated: It's available at 3pm
Friday, April 11, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Autograph Offering: Philip Hughes
I just added a couple of things in the right column area, links to where you can sell etopps in-hands. If you know of other websites to sell in-hands, please let me know.
Also added to the right column is an ESPN news "widget" and a subscription area that has a drop-down menu to have this blog placed in your My Google, My Yahoo page and other blog-reading sites.
Finally etopps is offering another autograph after what seemed like a hiatus that lasted a little longer than expected, especially with the delay of the intial baseball IPOs until this week.
First up is Philip Hughes. (100 offered, $59, 4/11, 1PM EST) I was expecting Hughes' teammate Joba to be offered first. Unfortunately the Hughes wave of hype has crested already, right before he tweaked his hammy during a no-hitter possibility last season. Nevertheless being a Yankee will help this auto on the secondary market.
I wouldn't be surprised if this sells for double of what etopps is asking. At 100, it looks like Philip Hughes did a good job signing each and every one. I've read on the Beckett message board that he has posted there. If he does, I'm sure he knows about the quality and value of autographs.Comparing cardboard autograph sales on ebay to this one is tricky. The most coveted ones are by Bowman Chrome from 2004 while the ones from 2007 from any card company are measley in value.
So can a 2007 etopps autographed card of Philip Hughes (#100) with the signature on the card sell as well as a 2004 Bowman Chrome of Hughes that has a sticker autograph, is numbered to 400 and is selling at least $200 in the past month?
Monday, April 7, 2008
Designing & Critiquing An Ebay Listing: Pricing
I'll break this up into two parts: pricing of the cards in the listing and shipping charges. For both, the choices you make will have an impact on how successful you will be in selling etopps cards on ebay.
For the listings, I'll break this down to three types of listings: auctions, fixed price and store.
Auction - you've got two approaches, the low road and the high road. If you want to make a profit, starting an auction listing at .99 is both risky and rewarding. You may not get the final price that will give you a profit from what you paid for the card at cost but you pay less upfront (now 15 cents) and your listing could attract more bidders than the same card starting at a higher asking price. It's something that is worth testing to see what works best for you.
Another good approach is using the Buy-It-Now offer. The bigger the discrepancy between the starting bid and the BIN offer, the more likely the potential buyer will take the low road which kills the BIN. A good combo may be a $9.99 starting bid with a $14.99 BIN. A nice incentive would be to have a subtitle offering free shipping if the buyer takes the BIN.
Fixed price - this is a good move especially when adding the Best Offer feature. I've made many sales this way. What's nice now is you can set the floor on offers to the price you want and automatically accept an offer over a certain price. For instance, I have a Mickey Mantle 1952 reprint at $150 fixed price with Best Offer. I can set a minimum for me to consider the offer for $100 and automatically accept any offer over $125. This is a great way to sell higher priced cards as well as autographed cards. Only downside to this is not all bidders are experienced with this method of buying and may not want the commitment of waiting for the seller to decide whether to take up their offer.
Another great part to the Best Offer option is Counter Offering. If I'm not happy with the offer, I can submit a counter offer. And in return, the buyer can submit a counter offer to my counter offer. In addition to both parties reaching an agreement in this haggling/negotiating process, going through this process is fun. I've had buyers who have gone through several series of counter-offers email me afterwards thanking me for negotiating with them.
Another good thing about Best Offer is setting the price of a newly-available in-hand. Rather than starting the auction at .99, why not start from the top with best offer. Ask for (half of) the sky and see how many offers you get. You have 48 hours to consider an offer so you can weigh in on which is the best.
Store - if you don't have a store, the short and long of this is it's similar to fixed price except the listings are below the core (auction, fixed price) on a search results page but the listing fee is quite cheap - 3 cents if listed below $25.
Over the last few years, more and more in-hand sellers have opened ebay stores to sell their cards and compete with one another on price. Just do a search for Derek Jeter's 2006 card. The difference sometimes between listings can be as slim as a penny.
There are also low-ball store listings prices for cards that hove a penny or more above CT's 7 day average. I used to scoop these up to replenish my inventory and get a sense of my competition's shipping process.
What I have noticed with low-ball store listing offers are less conscientiousness from these sellers. They don't communicate with the buyer even when I as the buyer inquiring about when the card was shipped because they take their sweet time shipping the card.
Ebay buyers are finicky. These low-ball offerings work only to a certain extent if the rest of the buying experience is less than desired. Buyers will look at the feedback and see how much of this feedback is from repeat customers.
As for shipping, your choice determines how you'll do.
The facts:
For autographed in-hands with the COA, I would charge a little extra than a regular in-hand because the weight is a little more. One in-hand weighs a little less than 3 ounces while the auto in-hand w/ COA is more than 3 and will be charged as 4 ounces.
If I left out something with pricing, please feel free to add your insight in the comments section below.
For the listings, I'll break this down to three types of listings: auctions, fixed price and store.
Auction - you've got two approaches, the low road and the high road. If you want to make a profit, starting an auction listing at .99 is both risky and rewarding. You may not get the final price that will give you a profit from what you paid for the card at cost but you pay less upfront (now 15 cents) and your listing could attract more bidders than the same card starting at a higher asking price. It's something that is worth testing to see what works best for you.
Another good approach is using the Buy-It-Now offer. The bigger the discrepancy between the starting bid and the BIN offer, the more likely the potential buyer will take the low road which kills the BIN. A good combo may be a $9.99 starting bid with a $14.99 BIN. A nice incentive would be to have a subtitle offering free shipping if the buyer takes the BIN.
Fixed price - this is a good move especially when adding the Best Offer feature. I've made many sales this way. What's nice now is you can set the floor on offers to the price you want and automatically accept an offer over a certain price. For instance, I have a Mickey Mantle 1952 reprint at $150 fixed price with Best Offer. I can set a minimum for me to consider the offer for $100 and automatically accept any offer over $125. This is a great way to sell higher priced cards as well as autographed cards. Only downside to this is not all bidders are experienced with this method of buying and may not want the commitment of waiting for the seller to decide whether to take up their offer.
Another great part to the Best Offer option is Counter Offering. If I'm not happy with the offer, I can submit a counter offer. And in return, the buyer can submit a counter offer to my counter offer. In addition to both parties reaching an agreement in this haggling/negotiating process, going through this process is fun. I've had buyers who have gone through several series of counter-offers email me afterwards thanking me for negotiating with them.
Another good thing about Best Offer is setting the price of a newly-available in-hand. Rather than starting the auction at .99, why not start from the top with best offer. Ask for (half of) the sky and see how many offers you get. You have 48 hours to consider an offer so you can weigh in on which is the best.
Store - if you don't have a store, the short and long of this is it's similar to fixed price except the listings are below the core (auction, fixed price) on a search results page but the listing fee is quite cheap - 3 cents if listed below $25.
Over the last few years, more and more in-hand sellers have opened ebay stores to sell their cards and compete with one another on price. Just do a search for Derek Jeter's 2006 card. The difference sometimes between listings can be as slim as a penny.
There are also low-ball store listings prices for cards that hove a penny or more above CT's 7 day average. I used to scoop these up to replenish my inventory and get a sense of my competition's shipping process.
What I have noticed with low-ball store listing offers are less conscientiousness from these sellers. They don't communicate with the buyer even when I as the buyer inquiring about when the card was shipped because they take their sweet time shipping the card.
Ebay buyers are finicky. These low-ball offerings work only to a certain extent if the rest of the buying experience is less than desired. Buyers will look at the feedback and see how much of this feedback is from repeat customers.
As for shipping, your choice determines how you'll do.
The facts:
- The lower your shipping cost the slimmer your margins (between gross and cost)
- The lower your shipping cost, the more attractive will be your listing compared to another with the exact same asking price and higher shipping.
- The higher your shipping cost, the higher your margins but the lower your sales based on another card at the same asking price.
- To add to this, the higher your shipping cost, the lower will be the shipping Detailed Seller Rating on ebay's feedback which will eventually prevent you from getting a 5% Final Value Fee discount from ebay.
For autographed in-hands with the COA, I would charge a little extra than a regular in-hand because the weight is a little more. One in-hand weighs a little less than 3 ounces while the auto in-hand w/ COA is more than 3 and will be charged as 4 ounces.
If I left out something with pricing, please feel free to add your insight in the comments section below.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Friday Marketwatch - April 4, Monthly Marketwatch: March
As of today, April 4 the following are stats covering the last 7 days on ebay for etopps in-hands:
The following are stats covering the month of March for etopps in-hand cards:
Quantity of etopps in-hands listings: 1,348
Sell-Through: 53.49%
Average starting price: $2.77
Average final price: $8.47
Highest Single Card Sale: 2007 Cameron Maybin, $24.99
Highest Mult-Card Sale: Mickey Mantle Collection, $300.00
Highest Graded Sale: 2001 Albert Pujols BGS 9, $115.00
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: Brett Favre 50,000 Yds Event, $250.00
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: 2001 LaDainian Tomlinson, BGS 9.5, $278.56
Other best sellers:
Allen & Ginter Presidents Set
Allen & Ginter John F. Kennedy
2001 Mark Brunell
2001 Brett Favre
1954 Mickey Mantle Reprint
In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: Allen & Ginter Presidents Set, 12 bids.
Quantity of etopps in-hands listings: 383
Sell-Through: 38.64%
Average starting price: $2.09
Average final price: $5.50
Highest Single Card Sale: 2006 Kobe Bryant, $26.00
Highest Mult-Card Sale: None
Highest Graded Sale: 2006 Brett Favre PSA 9, $12.00
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: 2001 LaDainian Tomlinson, $225.00
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: None
Other best sellers:
- Cal Ripken Classic Baseball Event
- Torrie Wilson Autograph
- 2006 Peyton Manning
- CTNW 1982 Wade Boggs
- Allen & Ginter Milestones & Moments Barry Bonds
In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: Torrie Wilson Autograph, 16 Bids
The following are stats covering the month of March for etopps in-hand cards:
Quantity of etopps in-hands listings: 1,348
Sell-Through: 53.49%
Average starting price: $2.77
Average final price: $8.47
Highest Single Card Sale: 2007 Cameron Maybin, $24.99
Highest Mult-Card Sale: Mickey Mantle Collection, $300.00
Highest Graded Sale: 2001 Albert Pujols BGS 9, $115.00
Highest Non-Graded Autograph Sale: Brett Favre 50,000 Yds Event, $250.00
Highest Graded Autograph Sale: 2001 LaDainian Tomlinson, BGS 9.5, $278.56
Other best sellers:
Allen & Ginter Presidents Set
Allen & Ginter John F. Kennedy
2001 Mark Brunell
2001 Brett Favre
1954 Mickey Mantle Reprint
In-hand listing (not including graded or autographed) that received most bids that sold well: Allen & Ginter Presidents Set, 12 bids.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Designing & Critiquing An Ebay Listing: Item Description
As important as having a picture in a listing, having a quality item description is key to selling these cards. Even if you do not sell often, it is important to develop a handy template so it won't feel like you're "re-inventing the wheel" each time you set up a listing
A good way to develop one is to do a little research. Look at ebay listings. See which ones are selling. Read over their descriptions. Those who sell more than a few etopps in-hands already have the same language in each in-hand listing.
A good rule of thumb is your template should cover about 80% of your description so you would only have to adjust the remaining 20% for each listing.
In the 80%, your listing can stand out with a template design from Auctiva. It would be wise to describe what makes etopps cards special, their quality, their availability as well as other basics like your shipping and return policy. My policy is simple: 100% satisfaction guaranteed.
You may consider having a template for different sports or years. If you sell 2005 cards, for example, a template would make sense for to describe the Certificate of Issuance that are included with each card or 2004 cards with their total print run stamped on the back.
In summary, the template should be versatile enough to apply to most of your in-hands to save you time but it should have some thought behind it so it doesn't appear that it was slapped together.
The downside to templates is you run the risk of overlooking a typo or mispelling and having to go back to every listing you used with that template to correct the mistake. (I've been there. It sucks.)
Just remember, how you write your template will reflect what kind of seller you are. Will you give off a professional impression? Will you seem clueless? Friendly? Boring or asleep at the wheel? I love finding the ones who are asleep, the ones who list their in-hand(s) at 3AM on a Friday night after coming home from partying. That's how I won a BGS 10 LeBron rookie card for $40.
I think the impression you want to give is you're selling something that you like and believe the buyer will like as well.
Some of the best descriptions I've read for etopps in-hands start with one word that can set this tone: Wow! And that's what we want buyers of etopps in-hands to feel when they open the package we sent them. It's the feeling customers get at the National when they put an in-hand card in their hand. It's that expression on an 8-year old boy's face at a card show when they discover your table of in-hands and yell for their parent to come over.
The other 20% is where you plug in the player's name, year of the card, and possibly the total print run or serialized number. It may be helpful to place this information in a different colored font or in bold for buyers who are going through a few of your listings, making it easier on their eyes rather than having to read through your template each time to get the info they want.
Let's take a look now at the Ken Griffey Jr. listing's item description:
This is a card from 2006 Etopps of Ken Griffey Jr.. The card is #13 in the set. This card is serialed #/999 with the majority of them being in online portfolios. The card is also uncirculated and comes in the factory case and a baggy that is sent with the card from Etopps to keep the case from scratching.
Three things caught my eye besides the mispelling of serialized:
It would probably take him 5-10 minutes to beef it up a little based on the suggestions I've made. If I was selling this card I would say that Ken Griffey Jr.'s 2006 card is his best etopps card because of the photo of him with his baseball cap turned around: while he's all grown up, he's still a kid at heart. Wouldn't this be something the buyer could relate to?
To conclude, selling in-hands on ebay is competitive and by expecting the picture to sell your card for you as good as this one is not enough.
Give the buyer reason to do business with you besides pricing which is what I will cover next.
A good way to develop one is to do a little research. Look at ebay listings. See which ones are selling. Read over their descriptions. Those who sell more than a few etopps in-hands already have the same language in each in-hand listing.
A good rule of thumb is your template should cover about 80% of your description so you would only have to adjust the remaining 20% for each listing.
In the 80%, your listing can stand out with a template design from Auctiva. It would be wise to describe what makes etopps cards special, their quality, their availability as well as other basics like your shipping and return policy. My policy is simple: 100% satisfaction guaranteed.
You may consider having a template for different sports or years. If you sell 2005 cards, for example, a template would make sense for to describe the Certificate of Issuance that are included with each card or 2004 cards with their total print run stamped on the back.
In summary, the template should be versatile enough to apply to most of your in-hands to save you time but it should have some thought behind it so it doesn't appear that it was slapped together.
The downside to templates is you run the risk of overlooking a typo or mispelling and having to go back to every listing you used with that template to correct the mistake. (I've been there. It sucks.)
Just remember, how you write your template will reflect what kind of seller you are. Will you give off a professional impression? Will you seem clueless? Friendly? Boring or asleep at the wheel? I love finding the ones who are asleep, the ones who list their in-hand(s) at 3AM on a Friday night after coming home from partying. That's how I won a BGS 10 LeBron rookie card for $40.
I think the impression you want to give is you're selling something that you like and believe the buyer will like as well.
Some of the best descriptions I've read for etopps in-hands start with one word that can set this tone: Wow! And that's what we want buyers of etopps in-hands to feel when they open the package we sent them. It's the feeling customers get at the National when they put an in-hand card in their hand. It's that expression on an 8-year old boy's face at a card show when they discover your table of in-hands and yell for their parent to come over.
The other 20% is where you plug in the player's name, year of the card, and possibly the total print run or serialized number. It may be helpful to place this information in a different colored font or in bold for buyers who are going through a few of your listings, making it easier on their eyes rather than having to read through your template each time to get the info they want.
Let's take a look now at the Ken Griffey Jr. listing's item description:
This is a card from 2006 Etopps of Ken Griffey Jr.. The card is #13 in the set. This card is serialed #/999 with the majority of them being in online portfolios. The card is also uncirculated and comes in the factory case and a baggy that is sent with the card from Etopps to keep the case from scratching.
Shipping
$2.25 for the first item and 50 cents each additional item.
Insurance
$50 coverage: $1.65
$100 coverage: $2.05
$150 coverage: $2.45
Insurance is optional on this item but I am not responsible for any uninsured packages.
Payments are to be received within 7 days of auctions closing. Failure to do so will result in negative feedback being given.
It covers most of the basic information you would cover in a template with the card information, shipping, insurance and payment policy spelled out pretty well in four sentences at the top. He shows he's going to ship this with its baggie and tells you why it will be included which is a nice touch.Three things caught my eye besides the mispelling of serialized:
- Writing what the number of the card is on the back doesn't really do much for the listing. I know this is standard for cardboard but not etopps listings. Anyone trying to collect the 2006 Baseball set will probably try to collect the online cards than the in-hands on ebay.
- The card does not come in a factory case. This implies the case can be opened but should not. The word "factory" in a hobby listing refers to being sealed by the manufacturer and usually implies a case of something like hobby/retail boxes of cards or a hobby/retail box rather than an acrylic casing.
- The seller gives a warning - payment in 7 days or negative feedback. As a buyer, I'm not keen on a seller that gives me ultimatums in their listings no matter how many times they've been burned in the past. Just mentioning negative feedback in a listing is threatening and pretty soon will be superfluous when ebay begins their no negative feedback to buyers policy in the near future.
It would probably take him 5-10 minutes to beef it up a little based on the suggestions I've made. If I was selling this card I would say that Ken Griffey Jr.'s 2006 card is his best etopps card because of the photo of him with his baseball cap turned around: while he's all grown up, he's still a kid at heart. Wouldn't this be something the buyer could relate to?
To conclude, selling in-hands on ebay is competitive and by expecting the picture to sell your card for you as good as this one is not enough.
Give the buyer reason to do business with you besides pricing which is what I will cover next.
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