We use a simple 3 price structure for a typical box or boxes type deal.
25-35-50%
After making as good an estimate as possible on the value of the contents,
25% Cash (May Not always be an option for large collections at all times)
35% Store Credit (Great if you were planning to spend it here anyway)
50% Consignment OFF the gross sale price.
The thinking behind the 25% is generally maybe about 25% is going to sell in a reasonable amount of time getting our cost back.
Maybe another 25% sells over the next 5 years making the profit.
The other 50% may never sell or is duplication of items already here and generally unneeded.
Store Credit options are almost always on the table and our preference since it obviously doesn’t tie up money in the short term.
Consignment is a traditional method used all over the country from many retail sources.
Depending on the price of the item sold we may have 15 to 25% of the selling price going out in fee’s, packing materials, new boards and bags, etc…
That generally nets about a 25% margin. The seller gets 50% which is about 25% less than they would have cleared themselves selling it direct.
That has a number of perks to it for both sides.
No cash up front for the store so there’s less stress and rush to get them up fast to get the money back.
Seller saves all the work and risk of storage, space freed up, no having to heat, cool pay insurance etc…
Store gets inventory that may not be in stock available to sell. Sometimes having that one book leads to a sale of a number of others picked up at the same time because it was here.
Items that are missed in the original valuation get the price adjusted so no one gets shorted on something that was valuable and missed due to oversight or unfamiliarity.
Prices go up all the time when things get HOT suddenly so hiopefully we can identify most of those in time to adjust accordingly.
Customer typically comes back repeatedly to pick up consignment $$$ and that frequently leads to additional store purchases while they’re here.
If either party is inexperienced/unfamiliar with the items then no one gets shafted, buyer or seller. It’s a great way to handle things you aren’t an expert on.
I was also taught early on that we’re supposed to stick it to the seller as much as possible hoping to have them agree. The offer 5 cent on the dollar thing because anything more doesn’t leave enough meat on the bone idea. Several of the big players I started with would then throw them up at say 50 cent on the dollar so the items would sell rapidly getting the cash put out back. That and variations like that are how I acquired 300,000 or so back issues from them in a few years time. They’re trying to get that trigger pulled at say $25 a long box and then they’d pull the keys and higher dollar boxes selling the cheaper stuff to me for say $25 to $35.
I always encourage you to go ahead and sell the stuff yourself directly and I also encourage you not to sit and wait on too much also so you have time to get them out over time at higher rates and especially when items jump. One of my biggest consignments went something like someone died. Brother got his hands on the collection and ran hundreds of thousands of dollars in comics out rapidly thru E-bay and auction houses before the sisters lawyers got his hands off what should have been hers. I made a simple deal and put everything $2 or more in value on consignment and the cheap stuff that was leftover afterwards as I had time to sort/grade and price I bought outright at $50 a box. I got a good deal. A nice 70-80 year old lady got a good return on what was left of her inheritance.
Now the question is, I know there are there are a variety of setups and arrangements out there. What are the one’s you use most often if you’re looking for moving some bulk? I’ve heard higher and lower % on all three types of deals, especially the cash ones and I fudge the % around sometimes for higher end items I’m sure are going to be easy sells. I like having all 3 on the table and I have customers who like to turn back stock, duplication and spec buys that didn’t pan out fast enough into new comics regularly. You don’t have to have cash to shop if you have anything with a cover. Car broke down and can’t afford to pick up your Pull list and save your subscriptions? Dig out the duplicates and anything you didn’t love. Old becomes new. 
