How many people would be in the market for a fully powered, foiled Vintage deck?

[Revvik]

This is not an offer to sell, or an attempt at finding specific offers.  If / when I do decide to sell, it will be through eBay or any person who contacts me through some other means - not theManaDrain, and not in any way affiliated with theManaDrain.  I come here for advice, not to pitch a sale.

That said, here was my original plan:

Ok, I figure there are two options.

One, I can sell the whole thing as is. This gets me all the money at once, and has the potential to fetch the most money due to ease of purchase - someone can buy a fully-powered, competely foiled deck all in one click.

Two, I can sell off the playsets. A playset of foil, REAL Brainstorms, a playset of foil Deltas, etc etc. All the money won't come in at once this way, and I'm exposing myself to more bidders, which means a greater chance of deadbeats. Also, I'd be in direct competition with other people. Someone looking for Underground Seas only can just go to someone cheaper. Also, I'd be spending a lot on listing fees.

If I do decide to sell the deck as-is, here are the conditions I would sell it under:

Opening Bid: $.99
Reserve Price: $3000
Buy-it-Now: $4000

I flat-out DO NOT want to sell this for less than three grand.

For reference, here's what the auction would involve:

4 Force of Will (gem mint)
4 Mana Drain (English, three signed, two altered)
2 Duress (Arena foil)

4 Brainstorm (Mercadian foil)
4 Accumulated Knowledge (Nemesis foil)
2 Intuition (DCI foil)
2 Cunning Wish (foil)
4 Merchant Scroll (8th foil)
Fact or Fiction (Invasion signed foil)
Gush (Japanese foil)
Mystical Tutor (Mirage Japanese or Chinese)
Demonic Tutor (Beta)
Echoing Truth (foil)

Ancestral Recall (signed / altered, HP)
Time Walk (SP)

Yawgmoth's Will (signed / altered)

3 Psychatog (Odyssey foil signed)

4 Polluted Delta (foil)
4 Underground Sea (NM/M)
3 Tropical Island (NM/M)
Library of Alexandria (signed by Richard Garfield)
X Island (Alpha, good picture)

Mox Pearl (NM)
Mox Emerald (NM)
Mox Ruby (NM / signed)
Mox Jet (SP)
Mox Sapphire (HP)
Black Lotus (HP)
Mana Crypt (Spanish/Portugese BB)

Sideboard:
2 Pernicioud Deed (foil)
Snuff Out (foil)
Skeletal Scrying (foil)
Duress (Arena foil)
Hurkyl's Recall (Antiquities)
2 Energy Flux (Antiquities)
2 Ground Seal (foil / signed)
2 Naturalize (foil)
Berserk (Alpha / NM)
Blue Elemental Blast (Alpha / NM)
Stifle (foil)

Yeah, yeah, I don't remember how many Islands.  Unlimited Power, Revised dual lands, but the rest is nice.

I'm looking for advice on the fastest, most profitable way to get rid of all this, and I know damn well local stores can't do a thing for me (Holt has two, both of them completely unable to help).  The quoted text above has how I think I could auction this on eBay, and I'm looking for input there as well.

Also, can I realistically achieve the goal of $3,000?

[Tha Gunslinga]

It's gonna go well under what it's worth if you put it on Ebay as a whole, trust me.

[Machinus]

I'm pretty sure many dealers would buy that straight away.

[Dozer]

It's gonna go well under what it's worth if you put it on Ebay as a whole, trust me.

Agreed. It will be less hassle, but it will fetch a lower total price. Playsets, especially Foil ones, go very well, but I think that pairs might be the most profitable way to sell. That way, you avoid the heavy price differences that come from offering four of the same card as four single auctions, and you get more money than for playsets.

Also, the number of people having the money to buy that sort of thing is lower than those looking for Foil playsets or individual pieces of Power. Although with the conditions you name (reserve set at 3000), it is almost risk-free to offer the whole thing. Just make sure to advertise the auction properly and use the highlighting tools eBay provides for you. I haven't seen an auction like that before, but haven't been looking to closely. It might shoot off like a mars vessel! But playsets or pairs are less likely to fail. (Unless you hit an over-supply pocket, which will never happen with the whole deck...)

Dozer

[Machinus]

If / when I do decide to sell, it will be through eBay or any person who contacts me through some other means - not theManaDrain, and not in any way affiliated with theManaDrain. 

That has to be the lamest thing I've ever heard.  $3000 is $3000, it doesn't matter who it's from.  If anything, you should be looking to keep the cards in the TMD.  I have no idea why on earth you'd be looking to purposely prevent a fellow TMDer from getting their hands on cards they are looking for.  What is that.  If you have that kind of attitude, why should anyone care to help you? 

TMD explicitly forbids trading and selling through the forums. It's a liability.

[Revvik]

If / when I do decide to sell, it will be through eBay or any person who contacts me through some other means - not theManaDrain, and not in any way affiliated with theManaDrain. 

That has to be the lamest thing I've ever heard.  $3000 is $3000, it doesn't matter who it's from.  If anything, you should be looking to keep the cards in the TMD.  I have no idea why on earth you'd be looking to purposely prevent a fellow TMDer from getting their hands on cards they are looking for.  What is that.  If you have that kind of attitude, why should anyone care to help you? 

Wow, I'm surprised it was received that way, but it wasn't even close to what I intended.  I did not want to sell this deck through this forum, since that's basically against the rules of the forum.  In better words, the sale of the actual deck will have nothing to do with the forum theManaDrain itself.

My preference would BE to sell it to a native of these boards, someone who I can be assured isn't going to prevent the cards from seeing play (Granted, I think the power set is more of a "player's set" than it is a "collector's set."), and if I could start a thread saying "any takers," I would.  Instead, I'm looking for advice on how to maximize my investment.

I'm pretty sure many dealers would buy that straight away.

In a heartbeat.  But what I'm really concerned about is getting the most money I can for it, since this is my baby - it's taken time and effort to assemble this set of cards, and I want the payoff to reflect that.

I haven't seen an auction like that before, but haven't been looking to closely.

That would be one of the appealing aspects of listing the deck as a whole - it isn't done very often at all.  I did happen to see a Trinistax deck get listed on eBay some time ago, more than a year.  Four shops, fully powered, some foils.  Don't remember the results, though.

[ELD]

I see.  the part where you said "and not in any way affiliated with theManaDrain" confused me.  Clearly I thought you were against selling to a member of TMD all together. 

[PacmanXSA]

Revvy, if you're going to sell it as a whole, you're better off approaching dealers personally instead of listing it on ebay.  To do this, go to an event like GenCon; I'm sure you'll have many takers there.

With that said, there's no guarantee that you will get the price tag you're looking for.  When you're dealing with foils and the big T1 cards, the best thing to do, IMO, is to split em up.  Why?  Because this way you appeal to more people, and are a lot less likely to get low balled.  Look at past transactions on foils like fetches, etc.  The only ones that are low are from people with low feedback.  If you don't have high feedback, get to know someone who does.  This way, you can better gauge the dollar value you're going to get.  Sure, you have to deal with more people, but the appeal of selling an entire pimped out deck in one shot is not likely to get you your moneys worth. 

So, with a combination of high feedback, followed by the time and effort involved in setting up numerous auctions and shipping stuff out, you're more likely to get top dollar because there aren't many of the same cards avaiable and the people out there looking for these cards are more likely to be willing to throw 20-50 dollars rather than 3k in one shot.  Foils and P9 aren't exactly for the common M:tG player, so you're targeting a niche market in which buyers are more likely to spend more (ie for pimped out cards)

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Pac 

[Guardian]

At this price, I assume the P9 to be UNL and the Duals to be Revised.
I might know someone interested.

I realise you're just trying to help, but please keep stuff like this to PM.  - Bram

[Tha Gunslinga]

My suggestion would be to split it up and piece it out at tournaments, to players.  Ebay means fees, and a dealer means you get less money.

[Lunar]

I agree...ive asked numerous places/people about buying large lots of nice cards, and the prices are almost staggeringly lower than what the pieced out price would be (like $4500 down to $3000 or even slightly less)

Taking the time to get a good price on it wont take TOO much longer really (if you can get to a big event it will take hardly any time at all) and the rewards will be much higher (plus avoiding rippers online and fees and that garbage is a nice bonus as well)

[jcb193]

I can't imagine any scenario where you would make more money by selling it as one piece.  Unless you find some rich person, who wants exactly the same deck as you, same pimpage, and will pay a major premium for convenience.

Break them into sets of 2, sell off the power, and make yourself some more money.

JB

[vartemis]

I was talking with a couple of dealer friends of mine, and we all came to the consensus of what most are saying here.  You will likely get more for it, and will increase your chances of selling it if you break it up.  Typically, full decks that sell on ebay are usually decent decks, but are not pimped out such as yours.  I have seen a full food chain goblins, and a full masknaught deck online.  People are in the process of attempting to pimp their own decks, so they would be able to pick pieces up from you much easier.  If someone wants to play vintage tog, they likely own regular versions of alot of the staples.  I can't think of many players that would be a able to drop $3000 on a single deck, all at once.  If they have that kind of money sitting around, odds are they own the majority of vintage staples that are in your deck.

Ideally, your prime target is a wealthy, lazy, impatient player.  They will want the deck right away and dont want to take the time to trade and assemble it.

I do wish you the best of luck in finding a buyer, whatever way you decide to go.

j

[Mykeatog]

If you are going to sell it on ebay use these rules...

1. Sell it card by card, you just get more that way.
2. Sell it in the next two weeks - every dealer in the world knows this is Christmas posting season.

I do this 40 hours a week + sometimes 48 hours a weekend.

[Revvik]

Well, in talking with some friends of mine, one in particular would not let me sell it until he had inspected it, after which he offered me the modest sum of $3,500 for the whole thing.  So, it's sold.

I do appreciate everyone's advice here.  Now it is gone, and I have to find myself a new deck 

P.S.: Yes, I know how stupid that sounds, selling my deck and saying something like that.  My deck was sold as a necessity to pay back some people and get a new car.  Old, '95 fire-scorched Escorts are suck.  Emphasis on the fire-scorched.