Does anyone have an emergency plan for someone else to liquidate your collection?

hive17 · Mar 18, 2014

Quick back-story: my buddy is in Idaho and almost got killed by a car (he's perfectly fine, it was a miss). He's away from home, and we were just talking on the phone about it. He was talking about how his wife and exwife wouldn't handle his affairs very well (they would both just fall apart).

Why am I talking about this? He prospects LEGO sets and pieces the way we prospect cards. I made the joke "and who would you want to sell off all your LEGOs?" He has hundreds of dollars tied up at any moment.

That got me thinking: what if I died or was put in a coma and my family needed money. I don't say this to brag, but I have probably 10-20K in my Yount collection and other stuff. That's money that my family would need if I was out of the picture.

Does anyone else have a plan for a knowledgable person to properly and fairly liquidate your collection if you couldn't?

Also, if you do: is it the same guy who will wipe out your browser history and **** stash?

mchenrycards · Mar 18, 2014

I have thought about this so much now that I have hit the age of 50. My kids dont want this stuff and my wife wouldnt have a clue so I started last year selling off nearly everything I have except for a few sets I enjoy working on. I have so much that it will take a few more years to liquidate but I guess I would rather do it now and know I am getting a decent dollar for it then to have to saddle my wife with this burden and not have a clue what to do. And you know what...I havnt missed a thing that I have sold......yet!

AmishDave · Mar 18, 2014

My brother would get my collection if my wife didn't wanna deal with it. He knows enough about cards and eBay to piece it out correctly.

D-Lite · Mar 18, 2014

I've actually thought about this too, just in passing. I don't know anyone on here personally so it's not really an easy thing dump on anyone, though maybe I'd trust Andrew (AIC) to at least be a point of contact for advice to the family. I think best case may be to have a list of how to handle the stuff and whom to contact, such as maybe a well-known consignment seller on eBay (probstein123? pwcc?) for the bulk of it. Same goes for my sizable niche video game collection (TurboGrafx, PC Engine, Neo Geo) that has some serious pieces that would get top dollar on the internet if it was known I was selling.

So yeah, I think I will get around to making that list of what to do with what at some point. Some of this may be complicated by the living trust we set up a year ago, but I don't know.

Also, it would not be the same as the guy clearing my browser cache. I want to use that service they had on the Man Show years back handle it.

gracecollector · Mar 18, 2014

I've thought about making adress-size stickers for the back of my high-end card's toploaders that would contain the card name/set/number, an approximate value, and a "don't sell for less than" amount - in case something happens to me and my wife would have to sell my collection. She has no idea how to identify my cards, or their value.

jcmint · Mar 18, 2014

Just need a trustworthy guy who has been around for a long time and has a great rep. Thats what I would be looking for

CatdaddysCards · Mar 18, 2014

I have two buddies, both also board members here, who have agreed to auction off my stuff in the event I become dead.

BunchOBull · Mar 18, 2014

It's not a bad idea to find a collecting friend with different, non-conflicting, interests to be a contact point for your family.

cgilmo · Mar 18, 2014

My wife has instructions to turn over my collection and this forum over to [MENTION=1848]masonphillip[/MENTION] if I die. This is also in my will.

Hawk8 · Mar 18, 2014

Wow, this is something I have never thought about before. What would happen to my Andre Dawson collection if say I got hit and killed while riding my motorcycle. Thanks for bringing this up, really gives me something to think about, I need a plan.

mrmopar · Mar 18, 2014

Valid question, but consider this. if the collection is significant enough, then your family or friends should already have a clue on how to deal with it (as with any valuable assets). If they aren't prepared, then maybe the collection isn't worth the hassle. My wife jokes that she'll dump it if I die, although she knows there is value within it. I counter with "you'll be throwing away good money" if you do. I'd be dead, so what do I care if she squanders it. I have a decent life insurance policy, so to expect my wife or family to dissect my collection to maximize profitability is probably a ridiculous thought. I will probably try to part it out at some point, otherwise if i were to die unexpectedly, then it's a question mark. I'll probably need to advise her to contact my one collector buddy for advise, should she need to do so.

rsmath · Mar 19, 2014

my plan was telling dad to list it on ebay. Don't waste time with the lone local card shop because he'll either be not interested in most of it or he'll super lowball his offer and you should be able to get more from it on ebay than the local card shop dealer.

If collectors weren't scattered all over the darn country, it would sound like a great business opportunity for someone to take a collection, sell it for the highest possible price, and give the deceased's relatives 60-70% of the proceeds after listing/shipping/seller fees.

Liberate Baltimore · Mar 19, 2014

In the auction house business we handle situations like this frequently. Unfortunately, most family's have no idea what to do with it and we walk them through the process. These collections have realized anywhere from a thousand bucks to nearly a million. We had one woman who paid for the honeymoon of her new marriage with the proceeds from her dead husband's collection who died just a couple of months earlier. I keep my personal collection VERY small intentionally. I've seen too many headaches come from collections and untimely deaths.

Pine Tar · Mar 19, 2014

CatdaddysCards said:
I have two buddies, both also board members here, who have agreed to auction off my stuff in the event I become dead.

So which one gets to auction? and which one gets the wife?

mrdallas · Mar 19, 2014

Liberate Baltimore said:
We had one woman who paid for the honeymoon of her new marriage with the proceeds from her dead husband's collection who died just a couple of months earlier.

Interesting.. Sounds a little suspicious to me. Not that it is a laughing matter, but sounds like this Woman had already been playing in another sand box and had a plan.... Bet her deceased husband is rolling in his grave. I know I would. I told my wife to at least give me a year t

ASTROBURN · Mar 19, 2014

I dont have anything formal written up, but i would probably leave my collection with Predatorkj. My wife wouldnt know what to do with it, she doesnt know how to use ebay. And Its not like my collection is worth much compared to other collections out there. I figure why not leave it with someone who would get the most use out of it.

heres another question - what happens to all your ebay listings if you die? For example, i have 8 items i am selling with bids. If something were to happen to me before they end, what happens?

Juan Gris · Mar 19, 2014

My Dunn collection is focused enough that I should be able to fit it in the coffin.

rsmath · Mar 19, 2014

ASTROBURN said:
heres another question - what happens to all your ebay listings if you die? For example, i have 8 items i am selling with bids. If something were to happen to me before they end, what happens?

Buyers will file item-not-received issues and get their money back and neg your feedback. But why do you care when you're dead?

ChasHawk · Mar 19, 2014

Hawk8 said:
Wow, this is something I have never thought about before. What would happen to my Andre Dawson collection if say I got hit and killed while riding my motorcycle. Thanks for bringing this up, really gives me something to think about, I need a plan.

hive17 · Mar 19, 2014

It does seem like a missing opportunity for one of the big on-line seller (Burbank, Dave and Adam, etc.). Seems like it would be easy enough to simply put the service out there, tell the customers that you'll take a flat 10%, and just have an address to mail the stuff to.

You'd want a contract in place, so your wife isn't just sending a "gift" somewhere, but it seems easy enough. Giving to consigner a back-end percentage encourages them to maximize the sales and not just "buy a collection" from someone.

I still don't have an answer myself. [MENTION=1720]cgilmo[/MENTION] , maybe this is something FCB could incorporate?

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