Checkoutmycards.com

[IndySportsCards]

Originally Posted by wunderkindcards

I also forgot to mention how much time you are saving. It seems so many people forget about the time saved.

That's a HUGE motivating factor for me. To scan and list 200 cards would take me a while and knowing how lame ebay sales are right now, it's just not worth my time, I can make more money selling blood in less time that that takes.

If COMC want's to do it for 10 cents a card, I consider that a great deal and I've made out well with what I've sent in so far because before I sent it in, it was pretty much commons and #'d parallels sitting in a box that was bound to get lost or stepped on.

I love COMC! Awesome place.

[wunderkindcards]

Indy - How did you get your website to immediately direct people to your COMC site?

[harvey57]

Originally Posted by wunderkindcards

Alright, lets explain this better because both of your breakdowns are off a little.

Using EELindy's numbers...this is how it should be calculated:
When determining profit - you can only count costs for total SOLD items - not listed. The items not sold don't have a profitability yet to determine percentage.

So - EE sold a total of 4091 cards. 4091 x .20 listing fee = 818.20 listing cost. He sold 4091/7263= 56% of his cards at a total shipping of $200.00. $200*56%=$112.00 Shipping Cost. $818.20 + $112.00 = $930.20 to get those cards listed.

Those 4091 cards sold for $8508.50. Now EELindy before took out his costs before doing the 20% fee, but it doesn't work that way. When he cashes out he is cashing out the 8508.50 cause he already paid the listing fee's to get them listed. So $8508.50 - 20% = $6806.80 cashed out.

Now he goes back and subtracts his fees. $6806.80 - 930.20 = $5876.60 is realalized from the COMC sales. 5876.60/8508.50=31% paid out to COMC

So not 40% and in the thousands of dollars an extra 9% is a lot.

Also, what hasn't been said is the amount extra you are making on the cards then if they were listed on ebay. I have sold hundreds of jersey cards for over 3.00 that would have maybe sold for .99 on ebay. That's at least 2.00 profit per card.

So on jersey cards and inserts that are selling I would say you are receiving at least an 80% increase in sales dollars per card. That says alot compared to what you are losing in fees. I would take paying 31% of 8508.50 over 13 -18% of $4020.50. I will have netted at least a couple thousand more.

I don't exactly agree with this breakdown either. You can't just throw out unsold items as not counting into profit. They do count because that is unsold inventory you are carrying. If you calculated profits the way you just did Ford and GM would not lose money ever, because their unsold vehicles wouldn't count. Or it would be like taking all your listings on ebay and only calculating profit on the cards you sold without counting the fees you paid to list the unsold items. It just doesn't work that way.
I agree that it is better than ebay, but my comparison is with a site that does not take out any final value fees. My argument is, all else being equal, a site that doesn't charge all the fees as COMC does is far better for DIY sellers than COMC.

[eelindy]

If you like doing it yourself, then so be it..GO FOR IT!

Even if I have the time now since I am on retirement terminal leave and not going back to work (unless you count umpiring/referrring a job) I don't have the energy to scan, post, package and ship cards. Not to mention the clutter that doing all that takes up. And worse, cataloging them and if you get a sale, where is that card again? Try and find 7K cards in a matter of moments. I have sold 4,126 cards in 7 months. That is almost 600 a month and 20 a day without laying a finger on a card! I just see the email come in saying you have a sale! YIPEE!!!

I am glad to send them .20 to do all that for me. If I want my money, I will pay the 20% fees. If not, I can buy another card and have them ship it back to me, etc...

I just think time is worth more than fees. If you are motivated to just sell cards all day and that is your life, so be it. I like getting up in the morning and adjusting my prices and see them drop or sell and not have to worry about finding the book value, getting bubble mailers and sleeves, going to the post office, weighing them, etc..

It has been worth it to me..it might not be for you! Everyone is different!

The major factor for me is not necessarily getting lots of money, but getting rid of the boxes and boxes of cards that were sitting there! I am just recouping my money which helps the $10 green fees I pay at the base golf course!

Plus, like a sale yesterday....do you think a 1993 Trent Green Rookie Card would sell on Ebay for $2.00? How long would that take on Ebay? Checkout Ebay completed listings for that card, and you will see no bids for even .99 on even graded cards not to mention just a regular ungraded!

[IndySportsCards]

Originally Posted by wunderkindcards

Indy - How did you get your website to immediately direct people to your COMC site?

I put a redirect on my DNS. If you have a domain name, you can do it, or shoot me a PM and I can tell you how to do it. I think it's easier to give that out and have people actually remember it than indysportscards's Cards - CheckOutMyCards.com

[wunderkindcards]

Originally Posted by harvey57

I don't exactly agree with this breakdown either. You can't just throw out unsold items as not counting into profit. They do count because that is unsold inventory you are carrying. If you calculated profits the way you just did Ford and GM would not lose money ever, because their unsold vehicles wouldn't count. Or it would be like taking all your listings on ebay and only calculating profit on the cards you sold without counting the fees you paid to list the unsold items. It just doesn't work that way.
I agree that it is better than ebay, but my comparison is with a site that does not take out any final value fees. My argument is, all else being equal, a site that doesn't charge all the fees as COMC does is far better for DIY sellers than COMC.

I am not saying that those items you are carrying inventory don't count, I am saying you can't calculate them right now to find out the profitability from the sold ones. But if you want to then you have to count them as an asset along with the expense to lose them. So they cancel each other out. He spent .20 to list but also still has them available to him. They have a value. So you don't count those in this calculation. If and when he decides to "fire sale" and/or give to charity he can then change his profitability. If anything he could get all the cards back if he wanted.

Furthermore, the only way I see you find a site that charges less fees is to start your own. The downside to that is that you won't have nearly the same amount of traffic unless you are one of the top players in the market. Then you still might be hurting. If you find one of the startups that don't charge those fees two things will happen, you will receive less return per card and the site will eventually go out of business. If Ebay could stay in business by having lower fee's it would, I am sure they would like to make everyone happy if they could and stop hearing all the complaining. The issue is that as sites getter bigger the cost gets more, and we want to be on sites that are bigger so we can sell more at a higher price.

With that said, if you can find a site that has less fees, provides a higher rate of return, has same amount of buyers and sellers, and will stay in business then I will stand corrected and probably start advocating that one.

[IndySportsCards]

Originally Posted by eelindy

And worse, cataloging them and if you get a sale, where is that card again?

Aahahaha.. too true. I've had that happen where I've spend an hour looking for a dollar card! Only to give up and refund the guys money, and then find the card a day later in a place I put it so that I wouldn't forget where it was.

[hockeyjunkie99]

Originally Posted by IndySportsCards

Aahahaha.. too true. I've had that happen where I've spend an hour looking for a dollar card! Only to give up and refund the guys money, and then find the card a day later in a place I put it so that I wouldn't forget where it was.

LOL...I had to reject a reasonable offer on a card in my Ebay Store that I knew I had but I just didn't know where it was. I still don't know where it is. But it is somwhere.

[eelindy]

Originally Posted by harvey57

I think there is a new option out there for DIY sellers. checkoutmycards is a great option for sellers who don't want to bother with listing or shipping (20% final value fees when you cash out though). If a seller doesn't mind listing and shipping I think collectorrevolution.com may become the top sight. You pay listing fees, right now they are free. But, best of all, there are NO FINAL VALUE FEES. I don't think the site has enough traffic right now, but the only way to build it up is to talk about it.

What are the fees going to be after March 2009?

[eelindy]

Also, COMC ships WORLDWIDE for the same prices as the states! That is a big thing! Try doing that on Ebay! Plus they GUARANTEE cards, so you won't get screwed! When does that not happen on Ebay?

Also they have an agreement with Beckett: Beckett Media LP

So they update the Book Value of cards as they change. I have loved getting an update when either a card gains or loses value as I just update the price of the card! Saves me $5+ a month getting that on Beckett!