Expert: Marvinator - 11/23/2004

Question
HOW DO I FIND VALUES OF COLLECTOR PLATES I HAVE???

Answer
Although this is not an Ebay question, I'd like to answer your question and give a bit of information about how you can use Ebay to find this information.

Most collectors know their collection.  Many belong to collecting clubs and there are many publications which can give you the known value of any given collectible.  If the plate is part of a known collection, try looking for the website of the company.  You can also contact many appraisers for this information, although they can be a bit pricey. Most bookstores carry collection appraising books which can also give you valuable information about factory production and dates.  In addition, the library can be a good source of finding these titles without going out and buying them until you are ready.

Ebay itself can be used to find the value of an item but this ability carries with it a bit of caution.  If you are not careful, you can end up selling your collectible for less than it may be worth or less than it is worth to you.

This is the first rule of Ebay and something which many people don't understand about Ebay.  Ebay is a buyer's market.   The Buyer sets the price.  Look at it from this angle, also.  YOU may believe you have a collectible worth $100, but unless you can actually get someone to PAY $100 for that collectible, it's not worth $100.  Any given item on Ebay is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Knowing this can also give the frugal collector a  way to get a 'market value' or 'Ebay Value' of any given collectible and pay very little money.  Here's how:

Let's use that above example of a collectible which we think is worth $100.  We want to find out exactly what the 'Ebay market value' is on this item.   What you do in this instance is to set up an auctin for $.01, yes, one cent.  At the same time, we also put a reserve on this item for $100.  Remember, your reserve MUST be a price at which you are READY TO SELL!  If the item bids reach your reserve, you are obligated to sell the item at the high bid.  If you are not ready to sell, set the reserve even higher!  Now, the problem with a high reserve is that you will not know if the bidding is high enough until the bidding gets to that point.

It works like this.  Your reserve is $100 and your opening bid $.01.  Bidder A bids $50.00.  The high bid now shows $.01.  You will  not know how high Bidder A bids until Bidder B comes along and bids.  If Bidder B bids $10.00, then the high bid now is at $10.25 and the winner is shown to be Bidder A (using the automatic Proxy system).  You know Bidder B bid $10, but you still do not know what Bidder A's high bid is except that it is not at or above $100.  Bidder C comes along and bids, and now the high bid showing is $50.25 with Bidder C as the high bidder.  Do we know what Bidder C has bid?  No, but we again know that he has not bid at or over $100.  

If the auction were to end here, there is no winner and the best you can hope for as an 'Ebay Value' is somewhere between $50 and $99.  YOU may think it's worth $100, but it's really only worth (ON EBAY) what someone is ready to pay for the item.  

I hope this helps.