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> What are you looking for in an SR auction?, Yes, this is a loaded question
Wordman
post Oct 21 2009, 03:08 AM
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I need shelf space. I have an entire shelf of Shadowrun products, spanning all editions. Since I haven't looked at any of them since they were put there when I moved into my house six years ago, they've got to go. What I'm wondering is how to best split up the collection into multiple auctions (or even if I should). I don't particularly care about making money on this, so I'm not looking to micro manage it (the time equity to do so would be more than the collection would fetch, I'm pretty sure). The important thing is that everything must go. To do this, my start price will be insanely low (like $1 + shipping or something) and I won't use a reserve.

Assume for the moment that I have everything published for SR1, SR2 and SR3, including every issue of Shadowland and Ka*Ge, as this would not be far off the mark.

Option One

One big auction, one low price. Pros: Easy for me. A great deal for someone. Cons: Someone with, say, half of the books already probably won't bother bidding.

Option Two

By edition. That is, all the First Edition stuff in one auction, the Second Edition in another and so on. Pros: Might meet the needs of more buyers. Cons: More work for me, might get stuck with one or more editions.

Option Three

By "rarity". Figure out what people are really looking for to "complete their collection" or whatever, and offer those as some combination of auctions, with everything else as one bulk, cheap auction. As an example, I'd wager that the Shadowland and Ka*Ge might do OK if sold on their own. Maybe the Lone Star book. Universal Brotherhood. Harlequin. Dunno. Pros: Might give some buyers exactly what they want. Cons: I have to figure out what the "desired" crap is.

Option Four

By "type". That is, sourcebooks as one auction, adventures as another, rulebooks as another. Etc. Pros: Might meet the needs of more buyers. Cons: More work for me, might get stuck with one or more leftovers.

Option Five

Something else.


So, what would you do? Or, more importantly, what would you bid on under any of these schemes?
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pbangarth
post Oct 21 2009, 03:25 AM
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I would not bid on batches of things that have one or two things in them that I want, and the rest not. I would consider bidding on individual items. Older rules systems don't interest me, but background material ('fluff'?) from older editions does.
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MJBurrage
post Oct 21 2009, 03:48 AM
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A buyer would have to really really want one of the books to bid on a group of items, where they already have some of them.

I would go the rares aproach, list each book for a few dollars, 2–5 depending, with enough of a shipping charge to cover your trouble without also gouging. After they finish, sell whatever did not sell in one super-bargain package deal.

Is the collection just books and magazines, or do you also have SR related promo items (con-badges, dice, etc.)
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Ayeohx
post Oct 21 2009, 03:55 AM
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Wordman... name sounds familiar. Been playing for a while?

Anyhow, don't sell your books. After you start playing again you'll deeply regret it.

If ya gotta then sell them individually. Lots are fine if everything is of equal value but your SR books are not. Check Ebay and see what everyone else is doing. I bet some of those books are selling quite low; other decent. Then undercut those suckas!

Edit:

You don't happen to have the 1st edition cover poster from about 20 years back do you? Mine got a bit of water damage and I'm very sad. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) <---See.
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Wordman
post Oct 21 2009, 05:24 AM
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QUOTE (MJBurrage @ Oct 21 2009, 04:48 AM) *
A buyer would have to really really want one of the books to bid on a group of items, where they already have some of them.

Even if the entire collection were like $5?
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Cheshyr
post Oct 21 2009, 05:26 AM
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Are you really suggesting you'd sell $1k in books and materials for $5? Are you having a kid, and need a nursery? This sounds kinda drastic...
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Wordman
post Oct 21 2009, 05:29 AM
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QUOTE (Ayeohx @ Oct 21 2009, 04:55 AM) *
Wordman... name sounds familiar. Been playing for a while?

Sort of.

QUOTE (Ayeohx @ Oct 21 2009, 04:55 AM) *
You don't happen to have the 1st edition cover poster from about 20 years back do you?

No, sorry. No promo or con stuff either.

So far, the advice seems to be "sell them individually". I can guarantee that simply will not happen. I'd rather throw them in a river then set up, administer and ship 100 separate eBay auctions, and then re-run probably 75 of them because there was no sale.
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Ayeohx
post Oct 21 2009, 05:33 AM
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Wordman!!!!! I was wondering what happened to you! Really, what in the hell happened to you? And you selling your Shadowrun stuff seems like a terrible waste. What's up?
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Wordman
post Oct 21 2009, 05:34 AM
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QUOTE (Cheshyr @ Oct 21 2009, 06:26 AM) *
Are you really suggesting you'd sell $1k in books and materials for $5?

Not suggesting... flat out stating.

What I want to avoid, though, is selling to whole collection to someone that will just toss everything but one or two items. I'd rather give them away to a good home for nothing.
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Cheshyr
post Oct 21 2009, 05:36 AM
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Hell, I'd bid on it, just for the history. And batched is easier to bid on as well... count me in regardless of how you decide to do it.

The min/maxer in me thinks you'd get the best cash return by putting up the hardbacks individually, the rest categorized in some manner (revision, or whatever). Anything that didn't sell in the first round could be one last grab bag, like MJ suggested.
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Ayeohx
post Oct 21 2009, 05:36 AM
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I may help but first I gotta ask, why?
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Ayeohx
post Oct 21 2009, 05:42 AM
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Seriously, and if you're in Utah I'll drive to your house and pick the books up. But my question still stands.
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Wordman
post Oct 21 2009, 05:42 AM
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QUOTE (Ayeohx @ Oct 21 2009, 06:33 AM) *
Really, what in the hell happened to you?

I number of years ago, events conspired to illustrate how very little I was getting back from all the hours I'd poured into SR up to then, so I just stopped doing it. Time went on. Eventually I wound up making almost the exact same mistake with a totally different game, so must be some kind of personality flaw.

A lot of that intervening time is semi-documented:

What I think about
What I create
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BlueMax
post Oct 21 2009, 05:55 AM
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I buy only big batches. When I get to massive duplicates, I give them out to my players.
The more first and second edition material, the more I bid.

BlueMax
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Ayeohx
post Oct 21 2009, 05:55 AM
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QUOTE (Wordman @ Oct 20 2009, 11:42 PM) *
I number of years ago, events conspired to illustrate how very little I was getting back from all the hours I'd poured into SR up to then, so I just stopped doing it. Time went on. Eventually I wound up making almost the exact same mistake with a totally different game, so must be some kind of personality flaw.

A lot of that intervening time is semi-documented:

What I think about
What I create


Dude, I'm sorry to see you go. I think I understand. Especially if you mean that SR is a consuming full time job that takes over all aspects of your life. Or maybe you mean that you are expecting one thing out of your game and you have a group that doesn't view the game the same way. Maybe expected fulfillment that isn't realized?

I think, over the years of playing SR, all of those reasons have stopped me from playing, but I keep coming back. And currently I'm having fun. If I'd have sold my books during one of my "Screw this game!" moments I'd be very unhappy indeed. Hide your books for now man. I hate to confess, but these books of mine are like old friends. Seeing them, thumbing through them, sure, I remember the bad times, but I remember the good times, the stories, the friends, everything. I don't know Wordman, that's a bit of your soul there. But if you gotta give it away I guess I can understand. give it to a local friend perhaps?
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erik
post Oct 21 2009, 06:12 AM
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I've gotta say that selling it all in one big lot may be the easiest way to deal with it. Just catalog everything, note the condition, estimate the weight for shipping, note that you are not parting anything out, and you are good to go. I seriously think you would get much more than $5 for it all. I also think you are correct in assuming that in that most items are not gonna sell for some reason or another the first time around if you did individual auctions. The collectors will snap up the rare stuff (Universal Brotherhood, etc.) but the common items will stay on the shelf you are trying to clear out, and the hassle of relisting... yeesh.

One big lot, my friend.

As for someone throwing most of it away, just to keep a few items... well, can't really control what the buyer does, but I think many on this board wouldn't do that. I certainly wouldn't.
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erik
post Oct 21 2009, 06:20 AM
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... but i gotta agree with some points that Ayeohx brought up. My interest in Shadowrun has waxed and waned over the years... but i still come back to it every so often when something exciting happens with the product which gets my interest going again. In this case, Catalyst made the 20th Anniversary Edition came out and I became interested again, I hadn't played since the third edition was brand new. Anywho, I didn't get rid of my old books because I still liked to refer to them for the fluff factor, and to refresh my memory with all the "history" both of the brand and of my old games.
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ravensmuse
post Oct 21 2009, 01:03 PM
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A lot of the SR material on ebay is sold in big ol' lots. Pick out the individually pricey ones that will definitely sell (UB, Lone Star, Harlequin) and sell the rest in small lots.

You wouldn't have copies of the SOTA 63-64 books and be willing to sell those to a person directly, would you? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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Thanee
post Oct 21 2009, 01:11 PM
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Personally, I would likely bid on a big SR3 bunch, because I do not own most of the SR3 books (havn't been playing much during the time that came after FASA up to the time when SR4 started), and because that would be an opportunity to get them for a reasonably decent price.

Also, the Shadowland and Ka*Ge mags would be interesting (don't have any of those), so if I saw an auction with a big number of those, that might also get my attention.


Basically, the amount of money you will make is quite proportional to the amount of work you put in. Option Three will surely offer the best here, but is also by far the most demanding. I would probably use Option Two (as putting EVERYTHING in one lot is just too much of a package (also not easy to handle for shipping, so it's not really making things easier)), with some Option Three mixed in (pick out some gems you can easily identify and offer those individually) and maybe some Option Four (if the lot is very big still, it might make sense to subdivide a little). It's extremely unlikely, that any lot containing a good number (if not most) books for any edition of SR will be left unnoticed; individual books might, but lots will not, especially not lots that start at $1. You might not get a very high price, but obviously that is not the number one priority for you (besides, auctions starting at $1 are usually the ones that go higher than those that start out near the actual market value of the item; it's a bit of a gamble, of course).

Bye
Thanee
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deek
post Oct 21 2009, 01:17 PM
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If they are all priced to sell, I'd think you could put all the editions in a separate lot and go that route. For a big, cheap lot on eBay, I'd be interested in 1st and 2nd edition, just to have, but if there was a ton of 3rd edition, I'd pass because I'd do nothing with those.
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Tachi
post Oct 21 2009, 02:17 PM
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Dude... I'd totally bid. I need early edition fluff. One big lot is that way to go, and, I don't think anyone here would trash any of it.
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Thanee
post Oct 21 2009, 02:21 PM
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Trashing, surely not. More likely is reselling or giving away the stuff you do not need (most likely duplicates).

Bye
Thanee
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tisoz
post Oct 21 2009, 02:47 PM
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I buy in big lots. I give duplicates away as prizes. I would never trash a book, there is always some place to donate it.

When I was buying lots, I would try to get them for about $2 a book, maybe a bit more if there was something rare or that I did not have or wanted to upgrade to better condition.

I am interested in the sale. Keep us posted.
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Vertaxis
post Oct 21 2009, 04:18 PM
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Please make sure you announce the sales here when you're ready. There are plenty of people around here that would be interesting in buying some of the books you're parting with.
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Apathy
post Oct 21 2009, 05:52 PM
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I sold everything I had to a used bookstore a 10 years ago for like a dollar a piece, then found myself buying them back a few years ago. The only thing I still want are the old magazines and would gladly bid on them.
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