Selling Rare Stuff

Taramoor

I'm not going to go into the precise details of what I found, because that would be tacky and probably against the rules, and I don't want to try and sell it to you guys, but I found some old memorobilia from the 70s while cleaning out a storage unit. I spotted them and my Dad basically said "take 'em, sell 'em, burn 'em, whatever".

A little research reveals that for one of these items, only 250 were ever made and for collectors they're in high demand, and for the other only about 50 were made and they're also in high demand, and these are in perfect condition without even any sun damage which is kind of awesome.

However, looking around eBay and some of the auction websites I can't find anyone who's actually sold one so I can't manage to price them out. Instead I see a lot of internet comments about how "I'd kill for one of those" or "If you have any leads, please let me know as I really want to obtain one". I'm not sure how much I should sell them for or even if I should. It's not like Antiques Roadshow deals with old computer crap.

So, H&A, where do you go to find prices for things that just aren't covered by eBay. I only have one of each of these things so I can't just put one up and see how it pans out. Are there other sites out there dedicated to old computer collectibles? Where does one go to find pricing or selling options for the rare and the weird?

Do I just straight up contact one of these guys and say, "How much would you pay for one?" Or maybe contact all of them at once with a link to an eBay auction? Are there local places (local to Seattle anyway) that evaluate weird and random stuff?

NightDragon

You might try contacting some auction houses and asking them if they'd be interested in auctioning it, or at least asking them if they could appraise it for you.

Fizban140

Just don't pawn it, I say this as someone who has seen six episodes of Pawn Stars.

Dunadan019

1) knowing what it is would help the H/A crowd price it out for you.

2) if its worth more than a couple hundred bucks contact an Auction House, for 10K+ a prime Auction House like sothebys.

3) be prepared to only get a fraction of what anyone will pay for it unless you want to privately sell it.

4) don't list on ebay without pricing it IMO.

mrt144

I just want to know what it is now!

Robman

Get it professionally appraised. Get on a few of those forums you mention and ask for someone who can appraise the goods. Get a couple of appraisals from different people. If you feel at all skeezed out, walk from any deals - it's not unheard of for people on a forum to conspire to get a rare item for far less then it's worth.

Don't just toss it on ebay, given the rarity of the item it's likely it will get missed.

Taramoor

Good advice all around I guess.

It's just weird to find something that you think might be valuable. Even if it's not worth more than ten bucks it will be interesting to find out.

Items, for the curious:

Stylized Zork I poster and map by David Ardito

Apparently about 250 were made and distributed to a bunch of geeks back in the day, including my Dad.

Stylized Zork II poster and map by Pier Giovanni Binotti

[

Apparently about 50 of these were made and sent out before the Zork Users Group shut down and from the threads I can find on the subject nobody has one anymore. Infocom didn't want to produce them and made their own art instead.

I'm probably deluding myself that they're valuable at all, but I like the idea and I'm going to pursue it anyway.

Dunadan019

Robman wrote: »

Get it professionally appraised. Get on a few of those forums you mention and ask for someone who can appraise the goods. Get a couple of appraisals from different people. If you feel at all skeezed out, walk from any deals - it's not unheard of for people on a forum to conspire to get a rare item for far less then it's worth.

Don't just toss it on ebay, given the rarity of the item it's likely it will get missed.

get it appraised **for free**

don't pay anyone to tell you how much its worth.

DekuStick

I've had success contacting people who mentioned they would love what I have and said I tracked one down and wanted it but didn't know what it was worth and wanted a fair deal. This got me an appraisal and a buyer.

Esh

You should PM me. I would love to take those off your hands for a very decent price.

Chases Street Demons

Those look great - a real find.

Stupid Mr Whoopsie Name

Yeah, keep in mind that for any collectible, it's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. The key is finding that someone who places a lot of value on the item.

Improvolone

Stupid Mister Whoopsie Name wrote: »

Yeah, keep in mind that for any collectible, it's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. The key is finding that someone who places a lot of value on the item.

Yea, since there isn't a lot of history for the sale of this type of thing, your best bet is to just take a lot of offers.

Taramoor

Stupid Mister Whoopsie Name wrote: »

Yeah, keep in mind that for any collectible, it's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. The key is finding that someone who places a lot of value on the item.

That's the main issue I face now. This huge collection of random and pretty much worthless posters has accumulated over the years and I think I've found six or seven that would be worth not just tossing in the recycling bin. I mean, is anyone actually going to buy a poster of Jim Zorn, or Marlon Brando, or W.C. Fields? Is a "Warcraft Adventures" promotional poster going to inspire people? The game never even came out.

I'm looking at Poster-specific auction house but most of them seem to deal with vintage ads from the 40s and earlier.

Stupid Mr Whoopsie Name

I guarantee somebody would be interested in that Warcraft Adventures poster just by the sheer fact the game never came out. That collector is out there, but it'll probably take some effort to find him.

I have no doubt you'll find the right niches and sell these posters for a decent amount, but it's a process that takes time.

EggyToast

eBay is actually pretty decent for things that have never really sold before. What you do is you think what an amazingly good price would be for an item -- say, one poster going for $500. I imagine that would make you pretty happy. It might also be very unrealistic, which brings you back to your dilemma.

So you put it up on eBay for your "this would be awesome" price as a Buy It Now for 30 days. The listing fees set you back 50¢, which is not bad for a month of bites. And when you list it, you check the "accept offers" box, which lets people send you what *they* think is a fair price.

If you get a few bites but none more than, say, $50, then you know that it's probably only worth about 50 bucks -- and when the person buys it, they are likely to simply put it up on their wall or store it in their closet and not resell it for a massive profit.

So that's what I would do -- take some nice pictures, write up a good description (and figure out how to ship them safely), and then post them up on eBay as a Fixed Price listing (aka Buy It Now) that accepts offers.

This is how I sold a moderately-sized record collection of semi-rare electronic records I had accumulated back at the turn of the millennium. A fair number had sold on eBay before but the ones that hadn't I simply put up for what seemed like a good price and waited to see what people offered. In many cases I was pleasantly surprised, and even when I had overestimated what they were worth I still ended up making money on the things.

50 cents each for a quick way to access international buyers and get a good gauge for prices for a full month is a pretty good deal.

Or sell them to Esh.

Esh

EggyToast wrote: »

Or sell them to Esh.

/this

Zork was a seminal part of my youth in the 80s. I'd love to own the second one. Frame it up nice, put it on the wall...

Taramoor

Okay, thought I'd give everybody an update on the process.

Speaking with auction houses proved not very useful, as these aren't the kind of items they typically traffic in, but for a small fee they'd be willing to do some research.

Going to a local mom-n-pop comic shop proved a little more helpful, as he directed me to a local "Zork Historian". It feels weird even typing that.

Last time the Zork I poster went up on eBay it went for $340, and the last time the Zork II poster went up on eBay it went for $895.

So... yeah. There's that.

Some of the other posters came up with prices through research as well.
Elric & Moonglum - $100

Probably only worth about half that in this condition though. This is such a bizarre collection of these things.

Improvolone

See if the collector is willing to buy them. They won't give you what its worth, because they'll probably want to sell it for profit like most people, but they'll know who to sell it to.

Jimmy King

Man, those are awesome. Best of luck to you selling them. If I were in a position to do so, I'd take them off of your hands in a heartbeat. Like Esh, I played a good bit of Zork when I was younger. I've still got all of the games in one form or another (some in Infocom collections) around the house.

Someone should do a re-release of these but make them glow in the dark.

Esh

Taramoor wrote: »

Okay, thought I'd give everybody an update on the process.

Speaking with auction houses proved not very useful, as these aren't the kind of items they typically traffic in, but for a small fee they'd be willing to do some research.

Going to a local mom-n-pop comic shop proved a little more helpful, as he directed me to a local "Zork Historian". It feels weird even typing that.

Last time the Zork I poster went up on eBay it went for $340, and the last time the Zork II poster went up on eBay it went for $895.

So... yeah. There's that.

Some of the other posters came up with prices through research as well.
Elric & Moonglum - $100

Probably only worth about half that in this condition though. This is such a bizarre collection of these things.

$895 is a little rich for my blood. I was willing to go up to $250. If you decide to auction them, let me know and I'll try at least.

Locust76

I know what Zork is. That's the extent of my knowledge on the subject, yet even I saw those two posters going for crazy prices.

I think if you put yourself to it, I think you could easily get $1,000+ for the pair of them. eBay might not actually be a bad place to start, since they're items for nerds. Maybe you can also scout out the game shops. Not Gamestop or some shit: Real game shops where a bunch of 30+ year old nerds sit around all day playing D&D. Those places tend to have lots of rare game collectibles selling for insane prices. There will be a Comic Book Guy in there who will be able to give you an appraisal of the Nerd Worth (Nerd.. Net... get it?) of the posters.

They are very valuable pieces of paper. You just gotta find the right buyer.

Just be on the lookout for this guy:

Bartholamue

While I have no advice to give, if you were to sell these on ebay, let http://www.gamesniped.com/ know. You might get a better price than you expect.

starmanbrand

http://gameswag.com/ might try this community? Sprung out of the Earthbound community as a DB for rare EB swag, but now has all types of items.

Rethius

If you're going the eBay route, Terapeak can be a lifesaver. https://www.terapeak.com/

It's subscription based, but I think they have a trial or something. Basically, you can search items and see how successfully they've sold on the site/how much they sold for the last few months. Might be worth checking out to see a reasonable starting price and save yourself some hassle.