How to best sell off a large (rather exotic) collection?

Hello fellow sourcerers,

I'm turning to you all for advice. I'm trying to move my personal, rather huge collection of modern cards. And by huge I mean it's really huge for modern standards. Just about any tier1-x deck can be built. To top it off, I was really annoyed constantly changing cards betwen decks, so I just bought multiple sets (2-4 sets of khans fetchlands, ~2 sets of original ravnica duals, etc etc etc). And to really top it off, these all cards are in Russian (where editions permit it). I also took the effort and typed down all the cards: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mh...paz8pArQHqde8c

So with the collection this big I have no intention of selling the cards individually but would like to move it as a whole. I'm not really expecting a full return on the investment but I'm still looking to get most value out of my collection. The main question I now have is to whom to turn to sell this amount of cards and value, especially considering pretty much all cards are in russian. Do you know any stores, vendors or individuals that can and will give good offer for this type of collection. Seing how there is considerbale difference in the modern cards prices in the US comparing to EU (I'm from EU btw), would it be reasonable to aim for the US market? Is there any particular vendor there (or in EU) that deals with foreign cards?


Disclaimer: Hope this topic is not against forum rules. I'm not trying to sell cards here directly, nor will I sell single cards so don't bother pming me about that. It's just that moving such an "exotic" collection is something I never done before and would be really thankfull for any kind of advice the community might have.

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Originally Posted by Mr Miagi

So with the collection this big I have no intention of selling the cards individually but would like to move it as a whole. I'm not really expecting a full return on the investment but I'm still looking to get most value out of my collection.

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Just in general, these things don't go together. You're either selling as one massive lot at a significant discount or you're selling off chunks for a greater return. If you're dealing with a vendor, you'll be following the vendor's buy prices. If you're selling to an individual, there will be more wiggle room on the price. There are private individuals with lots of money -- some of whom even really like Russian cards -- but I don't know anyone who would want to buy ALL of those Russian cards rather than just a handful for their decks.

I think you would do much better breaking up the collection into chunks. If you aren't willing to do that, you probably should contact vendors at the next GP near where you are located. Do it in advance and let them view your spreadsheet. They will let you know whether they are interested. Star City Games deals in foreign cards and has a large bankroll, but the buy prices are likely going to be below what you are hoping for. Many players have enthusiasm for Russian cards but can't afford a large lot of them.

As @ESG said, moving the whole collection in one go, will be nigh impossible, if you want at least some amount of your investment back.

It will be far easier to sell them, if you split them up into "smaller" packages (like Fetchlands, Shocks, remaining lands pile and so on) which has also the benefit, that you will get more money out of them.

Greetings,
Kathal

Another way could be selling complete decks. If you start taking out the good stuff you will be stuck with the less valuable cards forever.

I too sold off my collection a while ago, tried to figure out how to get the most out of it with the least time spent. Here's how I did it:
1) pick a friend, whom you trust and who is into mtg, knows the market and has some time on his hands
2) make a margin deal with him and have him sell single cards via your magiccardmarket account
3) agree on what pricing strategy to use (eg. don't list as cheapest, but among the first quarter off cheapest offers)
4) he will spend plenty of time at the post office, but it'll be worth it - for both of you
5) make meetings to discuss the sales - magiccardmarket stores the sales history
6) all in all it'll take 2-3 months to sell most of your stuff
7) you can sell off the remainder as bulk anytime
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With this strategy your profits will be much higher than any other way, barring selling singles yourself. Plus you'll make your friend happy.

Gesendet von meinem GT-I9505 mit Tapatalk

If youve already typeded a list you can just lust it on ebay. If you are worried about getting too little list it with a reserve. Ebay takes a % and so does paypal but its less than 15% total and you are selling to thw world. much safer than mcm. Worst case you insure you collection when sending it and u get the insurance money.

Dear apple @mcm the buyer takes the risk of
lost mail so it's ultra save as a seller.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EviL668-2

Dear apple @mcm the buyer takes the risk of
lost mail so it's ultra save as a seller.

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The tradeoff there is that there are going to be fewer people willing to take the risk associated with being an mcm buyer. So it follows that the pool of people buying on ebay as opposed to mcm is going to be greater. This larger pool of people is more likely to increase competition for the product (increase the sale price). Ebay protects both the buyer and seller equally. As a public company (traded on the us stock market) ebay is heavily regulated and has a certain standard to live up to.

I've only turned to tertiary markets like mcm if what i wanted was just not available on ebay. Although I'm not representative of all magic players or likely even a fraction, I would imagine that a good majority turn to ebay first.

As a second option you can sell on tcgplayer but I think their cut is larger than ebay.

Maybe this is a dumb question but did you largely buy this collection in one place? Might be the right place top go sell it. Otherwise i think klaus had go advice

Thank you all for your advice, I think my reply to this thread is due. Let me give some insight to why I would like to move the collection as a whole at once rather than sell it individually or via a friend and give him some percentage. Basically I would like to have (need) the money in short time period (aka few months). Selling collection of that size and even more so of this nature (all cards are in Russian) takes more time. Selling Russian cards can net you some good margins if you have the patience and find the right buyer. Although there are some people interested in Russian cards it is true that moving thee cards is a slow process. Let me give you a practical example. I used to own all these cards: http://imgur.com/a/AoqTJ#0. Those were in great majority staple foils for legacy, modern, cube/highlander. Even though those foils are generally sought after in these formats it took me more than 2,5 years to liquidate majority of these cards. Now I'm left with cca 2,5k€ of foils that are not so easy to move or I need to update prices on MCM. I'm not really sure if anybody from you tried moving such quantity of cards via MCM, but let me tell you that took a lot of time and effort.
Having this past experience, I know I can move my Russian collection via MCM, but that would take a whole lot of effort and time. And to be honest I would rather give ~37-40% discount to somebody than to go through this ordeal again. Also as mentioned time is a constriction.

That's why I hoped I'd get some recommendation for particular individuals or stores that can make somehow reasonable offers for Russian cards.
And for the record, I made most of my purchases directly through players in Russia or via MCM. Contacting back some of the "big players" would be interesting though. At least to see what will they offer if the buyer/seller roles are switched :wink:

If you have any good idead do let me know. It would be also interesting to hear feedback from some Russian players, I know there are some on this forum. :smile:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr Miagi

Thank you all for your advice, I think my reply to this thread is due. Let me give some insight to why I would like to move the collection as a whole at once rather than sell it individually or via a friend and give him some percentage. Basically I would like to have (need) the money in short time period (aka few months). Selling collection of that size and even more so of this nature (all cards are in Russian) takes more time. Selling Russian cards can net you some good margins if you have the patience and find the right buyer. Although there are some people interested in Russian cards it is true that moving thee cards is a slow process. Let me give you a practical example. I used to own all these cards: http://imgur.com/a/AoqTJ#0. Those were in great majority staple foils for legacy, modern, cube/highlander. Even though those foils are generally sought after in these formats it took me more than 2,5 years to liquidate majority of these cards. Now I'm left with cca 2,5k€ of foils that are not so easy to move or I need to update prices on MCM. I'm not really sure if anybody from you tried moving such quantity of cards via MCM, but let me tell you that took a lot of time and effort.
Having this past experience, I know I can move my Russian collection via MCM, but that would take a whole lot of effort and time. And to be honest I would rather give ~37-40% discount to somebody than to go through this ordeal again. Also as mentioned time is a constriction.

That's why I hoped I'd get some recommendation for particular individuals or stores that can make somehow reasonable offers for Russian cards.
And for the record, I made most of my purchases directly through players in Russia or via MCM. Contacting back some of the "big players" would be interesting though. At least to see what will they offer if the buyer/seller roles are switched :wink:

If you have any good idead do let me know. It would be also interesting to hear feedback from some Russian players, I know there are some on this forum. :smile:

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I understand the situation you're in. I was in a similar situation with a large amount of foil+signed staples, and after ~9 months I've sold most of them. Those are expensive cards that only a few of all magic players are interested in, and it's hard to find buyers. I went to a gp and most of the shops don't want signed cards, not even if valued as non-signed. For this reason it's taking me that much time, because I've to sell them individually or in playsets through mkm, facebook groups and friends.
It takes patience, but there are people interested in those cards, it's only that they are hard to find :wink:

If you need to dump them quick wouldn't the best way be through arranging a meet with dealers that will be at a nearby upcoming gp? It will likely be a the discount you described but I cant really think of any other kind of buyer that would be willing to pick up such a large collection all at once, and a gp would offer you the opportunity to meet several.

Problem is dealers dont do 35-40%, they buy at 50%.. :mad:

Have you tried High-End/Foreign groups on Facebook? Might be worth it to post in a few and see if anything bites.