Selling Collections and Lots on eBay will not bring you the top dollar from your items.

Collecting things has been my passion for decades. I collect LP records, concerts and documentaries on laserdisc, Japanese anime on VHS, laserdisc, and DVD, and anime action figures and dolls. I also pick up old movie projectors and reel-to-reel tape decks. ":o)

My collections are more valuable to ME than they will be to someone else. THAT is the key point that I wish to discuss ... Your collection will be more valuable to you than it will be to a potential buyer. I have assembled my collections piece by piece ... one special item at a time. The flavors of my video collection, my figure collection, and my LP collection reflect MY particular loves and interests.

I have just over 2000 LPs in my record collection. I keep them in alphabetical order in a custom made shelf unit in my guest bedroom ... along with a beautiful Phase Linear 8000-II turntable and a Technics receiver that is radio-connected to my livingroom's stereo set. After describing my collection to an appraiser ... sight unseen by him ... he recommended that I insure my collection at about $18,000 to $25,000! He is taking into account the collector's value of the LP records as well as the replacement costs to duplicate my collection in the event of its loss.

$25,000 for my LPs! That's $12.50 each, on average! As a replacement value, that seems about right. Imagine the search time, the price of the actual LP and the shipping/travel time ... $12.50 each.

In actuality, many of my LP records are worth only fifty cents each, if that! ... but others are very rare ... and some individual titles could demand a $60 price.

I could not ask $25,000 for my LP collection on eBay. I could not expect to get, even, a dollar each: $2000!

Look at Lot auctions on eBay. They generally sell for pennies on the dollar compared to the sum of the values of the individual items.

Please click the box at the end of this article, below, to indicate Helpful or Not Helpful ... Thank you!

As a Buyer ... when I look at a listing on eBay that is described as a Lot or a Collection, I look at the individual items in detail to see if the offered items duplicate or harmonize with my own collection. To purchase the entire lot, I will be willing to pay only for those items that I can add to my collection ... and for those that I think I can resell on eBay to get my money back on them. If the Asking Price for the Lot is higher than the value of the particular items of interest within that lot, I will not make a bid. So ... a "Collection of 100 LP records" may be up for auction with a starting price of only $24.95 ... less than twenty-five cents per album, a real steal! ... but if I see only a single $12 item that APPEALS TO ME in that collection, I will not place a $25 bid. (By the way ... if a Lot listing does not give a detailed list of the individual items in the lot ... it will sell for practically nothing, if it attracts any bids, at all.)

No ... a Lot or Collection listing will not sell for the value that you feel in your heart. It will be brutally marked-down to reflect the actual market value as determined by the Buyers on eBay.

To get your money out of your collection, you must sell each item individually. This means that you must do your research and take the time needed to prepare an appealing eBay auction listing, with photo, for each item in your collection. You might consider lumping your inexpensive, common items into lots that will sell for practically nothing ... and then listing each of your more valuable items individually. Again ... talk about "brutal!" ... to sell my 2000 LP's on eBay would require an immense amount of effort! But that would be the only way to sell my collection for something near its real value.

Please see my Guide regarding my experience with an eBay Store for some valuable info regarding selling Lots and Collections.

Click the box, below, to indicate Helpful or Not Helpful ... Thank you!