Advice for selling pins

[LisaZoe]

First I want to say I'll be VERY careful in this post because I don't want to come across as trying to SPAM here. I'll keep my questions general in hopes that I can get help as well as to help others with the same questions. Also, I did try doing a search for past posts on the topic but didn't see anything that related to my questions.

Anyway, I bought around 75 pins about 3 years ago before our first WDW trip. I thought my DD and I might have fun trading and collecting. Well, I realized it just wasn't a "fit" for us so the pins have been in a drawer since our return. Most are still on the original cards and bagged. When I was buying/bidding I kept track of Pinpic numbers, general names, etc. so I have a good list to use as a starting point (I wanted to be sure I got tradeable pins and avoided bootlegs). I got a variety of pins thinking many would be just for trading as we built our collections and a few I bought to start the collections, including some Disney Auctions LE pins. Here are my questions:

1) Should I sell in lots? If so what's a good size for a lot? If I do lots, I think I'd group by type, i.e. CM, LE, etc. but would it be better to do a mix? Should I sell DA LE pins individually?

2) While I'm obviously not a pin collector, I do want to provide enough information to buyers to show I have some understanding of that hobby (or obsession ). Should I include the Pinpics' numbers in my description? What other information would you suggest is important to include for serious pin buyers?

3) I sell on eBay as a business but I'd start a second ID to use for listing the pins and any other misc. stuff that isn't directly related to my business. Would it make sense to mention my other ID with 180+ feedback?

4) Although I'd like to get back what I paid for these, I don't count on that happening. What is a good starting point for pricing? For the CM pins I was thinking about $1 per pin to start but just not sure with the LE and other pins. Any general tips would be appreciated. I realize it's hard to be too specific about pricing since it would depend a lot on the pins and their desirability.

Thanks! I hope this post was general enough.

 

[EpcotMatt2]

A good way to start is to check Ebay's completed auctions for the pins you have. Then you'll get an idea as to how much a certain pin has been going for. That way you'll be able to maximize your profits on the higher-demand pins. If a specific pin hasn't really been commanding at least $5, I'd put that into the "lot" pile. From my experience, whether a "lot" consists of 5 pins or 20 pins, it seems that the final selling price breaks down to approx $3/pin if the pins have average interest. Good luck!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Since it is a small quantity, and from your description mostly LE and CM pins, including some DA pins, I would suggest that you liike into sellig them individually. Since you have the PinPics numbers, you might check each one on PinPics and look at the wanting to willing to trade ration; this will, in addiiton to looking at completed auctions, give you a pretty good idea of the value.

Again, including the PinPics number (or even a link to the item) would be a good idea; the more information in an auction the better the chance of a good sale.

I would not try to set up a separate ID. Personally if I saw someone with an auction with very low feedback and they said something to the effect of "I'm really another ID but only using this to sell these items" I would not believe it and igore the auction.

And again, I would suggest when you look at completed auction do a quick glance at the bidding history to get an idea for a starting point. I would definitely suggest that you do at least enough to cover all fees (including PayPal) and still make at least some profit.

 

[LisaZoe]

Thanks, I'll go ahead and give it a shot including all information I have. I'm mostly listing in lots that "make sense". The Disney Auctions LE will get listed individually, I think.