Whether you’re an avid collector in search of profitable flips, or you’re a collector motivated by the love of the chase, there are certain questions you should be asking prospective sellers to properly vet them and the overall buying opportunity.
By asking these questions early on in the buying process for any collectible, you can protect yourself from overpaying and from wasting your time. This will help you get closer to your goals, whatever they may be.
Here are the four questions you should ask before buying any collectible, brought to you by the collectibles experts at Neatstuff Collectibles:
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How Long Have You Owned It?
There are numerous benefits of asking how long a prospective seller has owned a particular collectible. The main benefit of asking an innocent question such as this is that it almost immediately allows the seller to lower their guard and start a genuine conversation, where you can more easily attain additional information as needed. Additionally, it does provide some good initial context of their ownership that may open up additional questions. If they didn’t own it for long, was it always intended to be a flip? If they have owned it a long time, does it hold additional sentimental value? All of this information can help you secure the collectible at the end of the conversation, should you decide you still want it.
Where Did You Purchase It From? What Do You Know About The Previous Owner?
Knowing where the seller purchased the collectible from can also provide some peace-of-mind that it’s genuine, but could also raise red flags that you may need to look further into as well. It’s always best if there’s a papertrail as well that the seller could provide as proof. If this is a high-valued and graded item, it’s worth calling and verifying the accuracy of the data as well.
How Was It Stored While You Owned It?
We all know by now that the value of a collectible is hard to pinpoint exactly, but one of the main variables that determines a collectibles value is it’s condition. All collectibles are in a natural state of declining condition, and it’s up to the current owner to store it properly to retain it’s condition and therefore its value as best as possible. In an ideal world, all the previous owners stored the collectible properly, since deterioration happens over time. If an item wasn’t stored properly, it’s possible it looks and feels fine now but the damage has already been done.
How Did You Come To Your Asking Price?
Trying to get the answers to the previous questions will better arm you for discussions and negotiations around price. But when you are ready to discuss price, asking an open-ended question to have the seller justify their selling price is usually a good way to start. If they have thought this out well, it will be very apparent. If they have not, that will also be apparent. Either way, at this point you should be armed with enough information to position yourself well to close the deal!
Check Out The Collectibles Currently For Sale By Neatstuff Collectibles!
We always have some great stuff up for sale on our auctions page, so be sure to check it out whenever you’re in the market for some new collectibles! And as always, please think of us first when you’re looking to sell as well – we pride ourselves on all-cash, top-dollar offers.
