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Advice for Selling art online?

Bigman38

Bigman38

Well-Known Member
Jul 27, 2010
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Council Bluffs, IA
Anyone else have some experience with this, or more expensive items in general?

I was recently tasked with selling some somewhat expensive art that was inherited by a family member. My only qualification is selling random junk on Ebay, everything else related to this is well outside my knowledge base.

Is there somewhere other than Ebay I should consider?

Should I auction it or just put it up as a flat price?

UPS gave me a rough estimate of $200 shipping, is it acceptable to price this out after it's bought? I don't want to foot the bill for shipping to the middle of nowhere but I don't want to overcharge either.

If it was me I'd just throw it out there and see what happens, but since I'm doing this as a favor for someone else I'm trying not to do anything stupid.


Also advice on how I convince people that just because I work in IT doesn't mean I'm an expert on everything that happens on the internet...
 
Post a couple pics of the items here and it'll help give you some guidance.
 
TXCyclones said:
Post a couple pics of the items here and it'll help give you some guidance.
Click to expand...

I'm at work now but they are just framed drawings of horses, a little larger than a normal sheet of paper. I forget the author off hand but from the websites I've searched the set is listed from 3500 - 5000.
 
Are we talking $3000 expensive or $25,000 expensive? If closer to $300 AND it has mass appeal I'd go ebay. If it is very high end OR has limited appeal (i.e. abstract ) you may want to consider professional assistance.
 
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Bigman38 said:
I'm at work now but they are just framed drawings of horses, a little larger than a normal sheet of paper. I forget the author off hand but from the websites I've searched the set is listed from 3500 - 5000.
Click to expand...

Probably not an ebay sale if you're looking to maximize the amount you want. Sotheby's does a lot of online stuff in that range that might be helpful.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions.html
 
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If you're shipping multiple framed works at 11.5 x 8 then 200 $ is pretty good. Without a third party insurance, FedEx and UPS will only cover up to a low maximum value regardless of what $ you declare.
To reduce shipping cost, you could easily unframe the works (assuming they were framed professionally) and ship them rolled in a tube. Realistically, framing is entirely a personal preference and doesn't add much (if any) value on the secondary market.
I'd start out trying them on eBay and see what you can get from there. If it's a niche market artist, there may be some other sites that I'd recommend but you'd have to let us know who it is first.
 
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I can't tell you anything about art per se. But get it appraised! Maybe by a couple pros. You don't want to sell something for $5k and find out it was actually worth $20k down the road.

There's a reason the "we buy gold" shops are all over the place - they offer 10-20 cents on the dollar. You wouldn't sell your car without going to Kelly Blue Book to get an idea. Same thing here.
 
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How much would CW in his birthday suit portrait sell for? Color, not black and white.
 
CascadeClone said:
I can't tell you anything about art per se. But get it appraised! Maybe by a couple pros. You don't want to sell something for $5k and find out it was actually worth $20k down the road.

There's a reason the "we buy gold" shops are all over the place - they offer 10-20 cents on the dollar. You wouldn't sell your car without going to Kelly Blue Book to get an idea. Same thing here.
Click to expand...

Nothing is worth anything per the buyers of estate stuff. Friend was helping her ex sell some family jewelry recently and fortunately a high end luxury center jeweler was hosting a two day buy session here at the store. Was a lot less sketchy than the ripoff places or the ads you see that are in some hotel lobby. She ended up with a lot more cash American for the stuff than I thought she would get. The ripoff places would probably have been offing 1/4 of what she got.
 
I would say tinder if he’s hot, or maybe a personals on craig’s list.

Does Art know you are selling him?
 
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