posted on July 9, 2001 09:50:59 AM new
Hello. I am having a discussion with my accountant on a subject that I need some advice on. We sell many different items. I have numerous Playboy back issues. We had a good steady base selling them on EBay and on my storefront. However, the prices have been dropping big time. Now I have approx $1.50 into a magazine. Used to get anywhere from $2.50 to $10 or higher depending who was in the issue or people also collect them for ads etc. But now the market is like around $0.50 to $1.00 per issue. Now my question is what would you do? Sell them for the $0.50 or $1.00 range (minus fees) or continue to hold onto them. Accountant says to sell even below cost for cash flow. I tend to agree. But we have a real big inventory on them dating back to the 1970's. Should I just let them go cheap or use them on my storefront and see if any takers are there. Appreciate any advice. Thank you
posted on July 9, 2001 10:12:27 AM new
When you say Storefront, are you talking about an eBay Storefront? If so, your prices and sell-through might improve as soon as eBay starts driving traffic to user Storefronts. They haven't even begun yet. If you haven't you may want to set up an eBay Storefront, and try to drive traffic to your Store items in the interim from your auction pages --- tell em something about the large selection you have in your Storefront as an enticement, or maybe have a series of images of mags at the bottom of your auction listings for items users can find in your Storefront. Pictures sell! You can advertise your eBay Storefront as much as you want from your auction pages, with as many links and images as you have time to provide.
It'd be nice if eBay offered a traditional Storefront layout where you could have say 9 thumbnails of magazine covers on each Store page and users could click thru and make purchases. Everyone likes choices and the more choices on a single page the better.
There is an easy solution to your problem! Instead of selling your magazines intact.... use a razor-blade and straight-edge to cut out the advertisements in them! There are all sorts of customers willing to pay high prices for vintage magazine ads. The Playboy magazines are likely to have some popular advertisements such as cigarette ads, liquor ads (such as Absolute Vodka ads which brings in BIG $$$), luxury car ads, etc... I can assure you that this is indeed a profitable endeavor on your part. I recently had a lot of 50 Marlboro Cowboy Cigarette ads from the 70's-80's sell for $67.00 (similiar lots of mine have always broken $50.00). At those prices... you really only need two or three good magazine ads to recoup your investment. In reality... each magazine probably has 10-15 sellable ads. Just do a search on some of your advertisements in the collectible:advertising section of eBay. I'm sure you'll be surprised and pleased at the results! Hope this helps you put a new perspective on your inventory!
posted on July 9, 2001 12:47:06 PM new
Have you tried Playboy.com? They have an auction site. I've listed Playboys that didn't sell on Ebay on their site and got decent prices for them.
You can advertise your eBay Storefront as much as you want from your auction pages, with as many links and images as you have time to provide.