by WaltG123 » Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:57 am
I'm not going to tell you how to do your jobs, but if you want to help your charity by selling to collectors, you're going about it the wrong way.
You're selling autographs that anyone can get for the cost of postage & a picture.
It doesn't matter where the money goes--if I want a Carol Burnett or a Bob Crippen of "likely" (though not guaranteed) authenticity, I'll write them myself and save at least half from what you're trying to get.
If you want to make money on standard TTM 'graphs, advertise them to people who have no idea what "TTM" is.
If you want to sell to collectors, either:
1) lower your prices on those that sign TTM to make the pricepoint more attractive than the TTM alternative.
2) get pieces that the average TTM collector cannot. Find people who charge and get them to sign for free or get people to sign authentically who never do.
Otherwise, you're just wasting your time & resources and might as well just be hitting people up for donations, as you don't have much, if anything, that can't be found cheaper elsewhere. This means that your only potential "buyers" from this pool are actually donors who'll likely give you the same amount either way, rather than a collector who's actually looking to buy what you're selling.
The, as I call it, "PBS Model" (we're not selling these totebags for an obscene amount, we're giving them away with large donations) works for some organizations, but I don't think you're one of them.
But, again, it's your endeavor. You can chase it as you like.
I'm not going to tell you how to do your jobs, but if you want to help your charity by selling to collectors, you're going about it the wrong way.
You're selling autographs that anyone can get for the cost of postage & a picture.
It doesn't matter where the money goes--if I want a Carol Burnett or a Bob Crippen of "likely" (though not guaranteed) authenticity, I'll write them myself and save at least half from what you're trying to get.
If you want to make money on standard TTM 'graphs, advertise them to people who have no idea what "TTM" is.
If you want to sell to collectors, either:
1) lower your prices on those that sign TTM to make the pricepoint more attractive than the TTM alternative.
2) get pieces that the average TTM collector cannot. Find people who charge and get them to sign for free or get people to sign authentically who never do.
Otherwise, you're just wasting your time & resources and might as well just be hitting people up for donations, as you don't have much, if anything, that can't be found cheaper elsewhere. This means that your only potential "buyers" from this pool are actually donors who'll likely give you the same amount either way, rather than a collector who's actually looking to buy what you're selling.
The, as I call it, "PBS Model" (we're not selling these totebags for an obscene amount, we're giving them away with large donations) works for some organizations, but I don't think you're one of them.
But, again, it's your endeavor. You can chase it as you like.