Jump to content
IGNORED

Selling a potentially very valuable item on ebay, good or bad idea?


Foxhack

Recommended Posts

TL;DR - I'm selling off my collection to fund a bunch of important life things, and one of my items is a rather... unusual prototype that I want to sell. I'm guessing the item might sell for at least one grand on eBay, but it could potentially go much higher than that.

I have never sold any item for more than uh, 500 bucks, so I'm wondering how safe it would be to sell an item that's so valuable on eBay. Or would it be a better idea to sell this privately?

(And before anyone asks, yes, the item has been dumped and preserved. It's not public, but I have the files.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Foxhack said:

And both of those cases assume that the item won't be lost in the mail.

No, you've got it backwards; both of those cases are for where you want to be if/when something does go wrong (like an item lost in the mail).  A trouble-free transaction would render your initial question rather moot...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Foxhack said:

TL;DR - I'm selling off my collection to fund a bunch of important life things, and one of my items is a rather... unusual prototype that I want to sell. I'm guessing the item might sell for at least one grand on eBay, but it could potentially go much higher than that.

I have never sold any item for more than uh, 500 bucks, so I'm wondering how safe it would be to sell an item that's so valuable on eBay. Or would it be a better idea to sell this privately?

(And before anyone asks, yes, the item has been dumped and preserved. It's not public, but I have the files.)

Buying and selling on eBay is actually exceptionally safe and my preferred method for anything under $10,000. If you take appropriate precautions (detailed pictures and description, shipping insurance, appropriate documentation, detailed messaging, secure payment types, etc), the chance of being victimized is incredibly low. I've bought and sold many gaming items in the low thousands range and have never had a problem. The few times I've had issues, I've never lost any money.

With any other type of marketplace or personal sale, you take on all the risk and expose yourself to all sorts of scams and exploits. 

  • Like 2
  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

Buying and selling on eBay is actually exceptionally safe and my preferred method for anything under $10,000. If you take appropriate precautions (detailed pictures and description, shipping insurance, appropriate documentation, detailed messaging, secure payment types, etc), the chance of being victimized is incredibly low. I've bought and sold many gaming items in the low thousands range and have never had a problem. The few times I've had issues, I've never lost any money.

With any other type of marketplace or personal sale, you take on all the risk and expose yourself to all sorts of scams and exploits. 

Same experience here. Bought & sold large items and never got scammed, but you have to make sure all the details are covered. I, however, wouldn't sell it on ebay since the bogus IRS bill was passed last year.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the idea of take it to an event.

 

I've got a third complete virtual boy I recently restored/repaired and upgraded with the ribbon solder fix.  I won't take that to the shop in town to be told some half baked lowball and online isn't an option outside of a direct paypal sale.  But there is a show in town next month in a couple weeks so that could be one to throw in the car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As long as I can insure via USPS or another carrier and they offer a signature service I’ll sell whatever within reason. If your buying something that’s north of $10,000 and I didn’t spend near that amount to offset capital gains taxes you best bet you are meeting up with me locally if that means I gotta meet up with you at the nearest airport 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Administrator · Posted

I just want to share, for anyone who might be interested, that @Foxhack is a reliable, trustworthy individual and I have collaborated with him in the past and we've done some trades.  So if there is a legitimate interest, I wanted to share this about him.  Good luck to ya Fox!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

Buying and selling on eBay is actually exceptionally safe and my preferred method for anything under $10,000. If you take appropriate precautions (detailed pictures and description, shipping insurance, appropriate documentation, detailed messaging, secure payment types, etc), the chance of being victimized is incredibly low. I've bought and sold many gaming items in the low thousands range and have never had a problem. The few times I've had issues, I've never lost any money.

With any other type of marketplace or personal sale, you take on all the risk and expose yourself to all sorts of scams and exploits. 

I agree. I feel like the majority of fraud on eBay happens in the lower range of like $50-200 because that’s the easiest and cheapest for scammers. Once you’re in the $1000+ range that’s a pretty big chunk of money for a scammer to risk that they might not be able to get away with.

As a seller if you take a lot of detailed pictures, describe the item and get the correct insurance coverage you should be safe.

Scammers exist everywhere though. Meeting someone in person can be just as risky or sometimes worse.

  • Agree 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately taking it to a local event is impossible. No one will pay even a single cent for it. If I get any offers, they'll be insultingly low. And the minute someone gets wind of the kind of item this is and its value, I will likely get mugged - or worse - just so they can take it. I know some local comic book collectors that had their private offices and homes ransacked.

(I actually tried to sell off my collection locally last year and every time I tried to say something, the local resellers were hinting that they would not pay anywhere near a fair price for it. For context, I was asking for around 40% of resale value. I hate it here.)

As for taxes... well, they suck. But if I have to pay them, so be it. The only way I could avoid them would be with an in person cash payment, and if I were paid with a check, I'd have to deposit it, and it'd have to be declared to the IRS or something. I'd be more angry about ebay taking a huge cut, instead of the taxes. Heh.

And regarding the item, I will say that it's a disc based console game, and a very early version of a released game. Not a popular property in gaming, but other media... perhaps.

Edited by Foxhack
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Foxhack said:

Unfortunately taking it to a local event is impossible. No one will pay even a single cent for it. If I get any offers, they'll be insultingly low. And the minute someone gets wind of the kind of item this is and its value, I will likely get mugged - or worse - just so they can take it. I know some local comic book collectors that had their private offices and homes ransacked.

(I actually tried to sell off my collection locally last year and every time I tried to say something, the local resellers were hinting that they would not pay anywhere near a fair price for it. For context, I was asking for around 40% of resale value. I hate it here.)

As for taxes... well, they suck. But if I have to pay them, so be it. The only way I could avoid them would be with an in person cash payment, and if I were paid with a check, I'd have to deposit it, and it'd have to be declared to the IRS or something. I'd be more angry about ebay taking a huge cut, instead of the taxes. Heh.

And regarding the item, I will say that it's a disc based console game, and a very early version of a released game. Not a popular property in gaming, but other media... perhaps.

I don't know of any disc based prototype that anyone would mug a person for. I've purchased some pretty valuable prototypes and people don't seem too interested in most of them.

I also sent you a message about purchasing this game and didn't get a response.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel like you're overthinking this lol
If it's niche but you think it's really valuable, then you are going to have to market it and ebay's the best place for getting people to view it.

You can always list it high and take offers and then work out some kind of local deal or take the buyer here or somewhere else to make the sale, but selling fees and shipping costs are deductible anyways if you do sell it on ebay or with paypal and have to pay taxes.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

I don't know of any disc based prototype that anyone would mug a person for. I've purchased some pretty valuable prototypes and people don't seem too interested in most of them.

I also sent you a message about purchasing this game and didn't get a response.

It'd be too difficult to explain, but this city has a very high break-in and home invasion problem. I've managed to avoid that because no one -knows- I have a gaming collection. I've kept to myself, never posted anything online, and so on.

And yes, I did see your message. And yes, I didn't reply to it.

8 hours ago, Nintendopower4ever said:

I feel like you're overthinking this lol
If it's niche but you think it's really valuable, then you are going to have to market it and ebay's the best place for getting people to view it.

You can always list it high and take offers and then work out some kind of local deal or take the buyer here or somewhere else to make the sale, but selling fees and shipping costs are deductible anyways if you do sell it on ebay or with paypal and have to pay taxes.

Eh, I probably am. Since selling this thing might be the only way I can raise enough money to move to another state... I'm a bit concerned. Sorry.

Edited by Foxhack
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Foxhack said:

It'd be too difficult to explain, but this city has a very high break-in and home invasion problem. I've managed to avoid that because no one -knows- I have a gaming collection. I've kept to myself, never posted anything online, and so on.

And yes, I did see your message. And yes, I didn't reply to it.

Eh, I probably am. Since selling this thing might be the only way I can raise enough money to move to another state... I'm a bit concerned. Sorry.

My city is a shithole too. I would probably never do a local deal either, but I've done multiple 5 figure ebay sales.

I'm just saying it might take longer than you think to work out a deal for a price you like and you need the most people you can get to see it to be able to buy it.

Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...