JR Missing from your analysis is that I sell *LOTS *more $1 to $14 posters than Rich ever has, and I do so three times a week!
About the only weeks I don't sell several times as many such posters as Rich is when I have a min-major auction. The $50 price that I wish I didn't have to "mess with" is purely a request on my part, not a demand. I *DO *receive thousands of $1 to $15 items every month. You are right that Rich has sold an infinite amount more $1 to $14 posters than Heritage has, because they *NEVER *auction a single item for less than $15. And I doubt Rich "made $1,160 that day" because that would mean he created the auctions, pulled, packed, shipped and invoiced the posters in the same day! Auctioning posters is not nearly as easy as it might seem. I bet Rich works all week to make that one day happen. But if he has zero overhead, the $1,160 in a week is not too shabby! Bruce On Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 3:25 PM, James Richard <[email protected]>wrote: > Rich (and Bruce), > > I think one of the important things that gets lost in a pure > I'm-running-a-business-here perspective is to be found in Rich's statistics: > > "January 27th, we sold 279 posters. Of those 165 posters sold at $15.00 and > less. 67 posters sold between $15.55 and $50.00. 31 posters sold between > $50.01 and $100 and 16 posters sold for $111.00 to $406.00." > > Now Bruce says on his site he really doesn't want to mess with posters that > go for less that $50. I understand that position, he has a large overhead to > meet each month with all his employees. But consider that on August 27, MPB > sold 232 movie posters to collectors (and possibly some dealers) for less > than $50 each. MPB enables people to buy posters at under $50, even under > $15, and not have to take their chances on Ebay and all the means these > days. That's a valuable community service. The consigners of those 232 > posters got to make more money than they would have trying to sell > themselves. Another valuable service to the community. And Rich, with his > much lower overhead, made some decent money as well. Even if all 232 "low > cost" posters were not Rich's stock, but all consignments, if the average > selling price per poster was $20 and Rich got a 25% commission, he made > $1,160 that day just on "low cost" posters. So even selling "low-cost" > posters can be a total win-win for everyone involved. > > And, to repeat, the buyers and sellers were able to do it in a far better > environment than the only other alternative for those "low cost" posters, > which is the mess we call Ebay. It's important to remember that "low cost > movie posters" is not a bad thing as far as the vast majority of buyers out > there are concerned. > > -- JR > > Richard Halegua Comic Art wrote: > > Bruce > > First let me thank you for your compliments on my being able to move > MoviePosterBid.com in the right direction since I took it over back in 2006. > It's been lots of hard work and it's gratifying that another dealer like > yourself, who is of course also a longtime friend, to recognize how > difficult it is with all the work involved. I of course could not do it > without the help of my secretary Anna who has become an invaluable asset to > me and helps me process the posters we sell from beginning to end. I hope I > can find someone else in 2010 who can help me as well as she does so we can > expand a little this year. > > (you might remember Bruce that back in 2004 you had this in one of your > weekly newsletters: "I first met little "Richie" Halegua sometime around > 1968 at one of the first July 4th Phil Seuling comic book conventions at the > Statler Hilton Hotel in New York City. I was around 15, and I believe he was > a year or two younger. Now we are both pushing 50, and I am wondering where > all the years went! Rich has stayed in comic books all these years, but in > addition has branched out into other collectible hobbies. Recently he popped > up as a movie poster seller on eBay, and since Rich only does things in a > big way, I would imagine he has big plans in mind!") > > Concerning your post, I'm really glad you asked these questions so I could > answer them. They are really good questions and every person who would > consider consigning their collections or extras or whatever to > MoviePosterBid is most certainly going to ask these very questions of me at > some point. So let me start from the beginning: > > *1) I don't see that you have ANY minimum value at all on consignments. > Can someone send you 500 one-sheets that all figure to auction for a few > dollars each, and you will only take 25%?* > > > While some people will wonder if this might be the case, I think that most > people will realize that is of course, not something that can be done. There > is no denying that you, Heritage and myself sell very many items of lower > price value and we all sell better quality items at the same time. It is a > balanced sale. So of course, my commission rate is based on getting a > balanced consignment from someone that includes posters that sell from 99 > cents to several hundred dollars so that the auction result on a weekly > basis achieves a certain value. Not surprisingly, your business model as > well as Heritage's are based on the same philosophy and if it wasn't, you > would certainly fail as a business as would anyone else. So a balanced > consignment is all that really works. For instance, in the auction ended > January 27th, we sold 279 posters. Of those 165 posters sold at $15.00 and > less. 67 posters sold between $15.55 and $50.00. 31 posters sold between > $50.01 and $100 and 16 posters sold for $111.00 to $406.00. > > Obviously there is a certain balance to that which 1) brings customers and > 2) helps the cheaper stuff sell for a little extra when a bidder wins > something nice and then buys a few other posters because it might not cost > anything extra to ship them together. I'm sure that any potential consignor > who read my initial post also looked at the results sheet and would get the > idea that a sale of just low value posters would not achieve the best > results, making it a waste of my time and theirs as well. Just as you, I'd > have to bundle up lots of 100 or more posters for bulk lots to make anything > like your question work. > > the best example is the current collection that I sold last week & am > selling this week, with very many hi quality examples and very much crapola. > Most of the crapola was sold last week. > > *2) I don't see any restriction on types or sizes of posters. Can someone > send you 50 beat-up low value 6-sheets (which are a nightmare to > photograph), hundreds of tightly rolled newer one-sheets that all figure to > auction for a few dollars each and you will only take 25%?* > > > I will sell posters of any size.. I don't care if they're 24 sheets, 6 > sheets, half sheets, lobby cards.. . But it's really the same answer to the > above question: A balanced consignment is necessary for either of us (the > consignor or myself) to be satisfied. If someone wants to send me a 6 sheet > for King Kong, a selection of better titles and 100 other 6 sheets that > stink, I'll be happy to sell them. > > Only a few collectors can afford to collect Universal Horror posters > (apparently even forged ones sell for alot of money, including one you > almost sold a couple months back until I questioned the piece) and while the > collectorate gets larger for items as they get to lower prices that are more > fitting for the large part of the population, there are people who also > collect lots of posters that sell for under $25. All of us who sell sell > alot of titles that are - for lack of a better word - shit! But that doesn't > make the people who buy them shitty customers does it?? We all know there > are collectors for everything and I'm not just happy to be able to help them > all find what they're looking for, I strive to make sure I don't lose sight > of the fact that there are collectors at every price level and none of them > should be left out of a sale if that can be helped. That's why you sell a > $406 poster at the same time you sell 99 cent posters. That way there is > something for everyone in your auctions. > > *3) I don't see any restriction on amounts of posters. It seems to take > all you can do to auction 200 or 300 items a week (I am amazed you are able > to do this, by the way). If you are sent many thousands of items, you are > promising to auction them within 60 days. How will you do that?* > > > yes we sell about 300 items a week and it is a Herculean task, but we did > it for 50 weeks last year.. Again, I couldn't do it without Anna who it took > some time to train the many tasks as she had never been involved with > posters or movies. But you did the same thing with Phil Wages who has become > your most valuable asset. neither you nor I could do what we do by > ourselves. > > Unfortunately one of the most time consuming tasks is sending out near > daily emails to newsgroups, make net posts and other promotion like ads and > flyers, I constantly wonder how you can do your weekly emails. You have more > text in your posts than an Alabama high school textbook has on Darwin's > theory of evolution. You must be having an employee doing all your important > work I guess. > > But to get to the heart of your question, like yourself, I can only sell so > many things. What I expect to be able to do is deal with a small number of > consignors each quarter who send me a certain amount of material and I would > auction them 2 or 3 weeks of each month. It isn't possible for me to sell > the 2000-3000 items each week you sell with your 25 employees (you have 10x > the people and sell 10x the material). > > However, it is possible for me to take consignments from people who want to > see their stuff sold in a short time period and make quick money, something > that I know from personal experience isn't always the case with you. I mean, > I sent you about 500 classic and by your own description "great stills" back > in April and so far you have auctioned something along the lines of 10% of > them. I do figure the time period might be shortened if I had sent you 1 > sheets, which is the poster size we both sell most often. Of course, the > reason for sending them to you was kind of to make more money that I could > in turn spend with you as we both know I bid on alot of your auctions just > as Phil Wages bids in mine. I was hoping to spend it with you in 2009 & > 2010, but at the current rate, I might still be getting a check from you in > 2015. But I'm certainly not trying to bash you. It's just the truth, which > for some reason I think makes my interest in taking consignments from people > we both know work in my favor just a little bit. > > Look. I'm not trying to knock off other dealers, or auctioneers. Especially > not my friends, and I have no illusions of becoming the person who has "sold > more movie posters than anyone in the world" mostly because I'm not > interested in having 25 employees and to do so would mean I'd have to work 3 > times as hard as I currently do and I'd have to send out a weekly > dissertation like you do, which is plainly impossible. But if I can get 5% > of the consignments you get and 2% of the consignments Heritage gets, > neither one of your businesses would even notice because I know that both of > you already get as much as you can handle anyway. This David couldn't > possibly hit Goliath hard enough for the rock to feel like more than a > bother. On top of that, both of you are likely to grow anyway on an > annualized basis. > > That said.. Any potential consignor who is thinking of sending something to > me, please email me and I'll call you. > If you would like to see your posters sell in time for the baseball season > to start so you can take off until the World Series in October, I think I'm > your best bet. I'm happy to take any balanced consignment (like the one that > I have listed the just past & current auction) work out a favorable sales > schedule, and like the current consignment I will advertise your merchandise > in Classic Images and Movie Collector's World as well as have full color > flyers sent out & given away by linenbackers and framers like Sue Heim. > > also please note. My email post was incomplete. On items over $500, I will > only take a 20% consignment fee and if you want to consign something of > extraordinary value, I can negotiate something more favorable. I will also > pay you 30 days after your consignment has been sold. Take note of the > results I'll post of the current auction and you'll see my results are > competitive. > > You want to sell posters!! If you think I can help.. Yes I can!! > > Rich > > > 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. > > 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. > > 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.
