Like I said, I can't answer for someone who has a vast warehouse of inventory and if they have so much they possibly can't get to it, I would also wonder why they wouldn't at least consider sending some out to a middleman to auction for them.
And I guess this is as good a time as any to get in a plug for someone to send posters/lobbies to me. My rate is still a mere 15% - just a fraction of what other big names charge and I end up with some pretty solid results. As for the question of whom did I buy from? Like I said there were a "lot" of dealers with old/stale/overpriced inventory (heck, people might think that about my display), but there were certainly some dealers who had reasonable prices or were willing and able to negotiate when purchasing multiple items, as well as collectors who brought items to the show to sell and had reasonable expectations. These people were able to lighten my wallet by well over five figures through the course of the weekend. Naturally there were also dealers whom, even if they had offered me a 50% discount, my purchase price would still have been higher than what I would feel comfortable putting on the poster for resale. I will also say that "enthusiastic pricing" or "trolling for suckers" as Bruce put it, isn't just limited to dealers. There was one collector who came into the show with some nice material he wished to sell and when I inquired how much he wanted for his North By Northwest one-sheet he told me $1200. That's so absurd I can't even make a counter-offer. Even if he discounted it 50% there is no money for me to make on the poster. So I thanked him for his time and told him that if he finds any buyers at his asking prices to please let me know and I would supply him with a lot of pieces he could sell for me and make a nice commission for himself. _____ From: Bruce Hershenson [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 3:12 PM To: Sean Linkenback Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] Attention dealers with large inventories: Why don't YOU consign to eMoviePoster.com? I agree that my commission rates are higher than if you auction the items yourself, but of course that discounts the time and labor involved in doing it yourself. I was not talking about someone like you with a fairly modest inventory (by number of items), but rather those with warehouses of items, who won't get to list all their own items themselves in several lifetimes. One question: if the other dealers had too-high prices, but YOU spent "lots of money at the show to replenish inventory", who did you buy from? Bruce On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Sean Linkenback <[email protected]> wrote: I am probably only half qualified to answer this, as I am a dealer who does not consign to Bruce, but I am not what you would call a dealer with a large inventory. Even still, I am going to go with the first option: Commission rate is too high. I remember awhile back, I ran some quick numbers stating that something like 50% of Bruce's auctions end for less than $40 an item, and maybe something like 30% ended at less than $10 (and Bruce then followed up with an MCW ad trumpeting those percentages and all the low prices his items got to prove there were a great many deals). This means that consignors are losing 40-60% of sales price on average. That's a pretty big chunk of money, especially as how you've bragged about all the eBay fees you are saving now, but you didn't lower your commission rates at all. The only other thing that comes to mind is that after seeing prices on a lot of dealers (stale) inventory at Cinevent, they are convinced that the prices you receive are much to low for them to consider selling something. They would rather not sell items at 2-3x your prices realized (even after having the items for years) then sell it and move some inventory. Maybe I was one of the few dealers who left that show happy, and if so I chalk it up to having a consistently fresh inventory with competitive prices so sales for me were quite brisk, and spending lots of money at the show to replenish inventory and have new things to offer clients. Sean _____ From: MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bruce Hershenson Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 9:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [MOPO] Attention dealers with large inventories: Why don't YOU consign to eMoviePoster.com? Most of the dealers on MoPo consign to eMoviePoster.com already, and this is NOT addressed to those dealers. I am talking to those few of you who have large inventories and are watching eBay circle the drain, but you have not yet consigned to us, and I am wondering why that is. Is it because you think our commission rates are too high, our selling prices are too low, you can't handle the no reserves, it takes us too long to auction your items, you want to consign where your items will be over-graded and mysterious maxed bids will be placed, or what? I was talking to one leading dealer and he said "It is really just a matter of pride" and another said "I just lack the inertia to get that first package off to you". I can't tell you how many dealers have started off with a single package to us (with a mixture of good, bad, and in-between items) and now they send us lots and lots of items regularly, and in return get monthly checks from us in the thousands of dollars (there are also a few dealers who sent us one package of really undesirable difficult to sell junk, and they have never consigned again). I am NOT pleading for consignments! We auction 2,000 items a week, and we take in over 2,000 items per week in new consignments (which is why we will shortly be adding Sunday afternoon auctions), but I just thought hearing the reasons for why those few of you who don't consign have never done so might help me improve any shortcomings in my operation. You can post on MoPo or you can reply to me privately. Thanks for any input. Bruce Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com <http://www.filmfan.com/> ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
