How To Get Collectibles For Free

It isn't rocket science.  I think we all know that you'll get a better price for your collectibles if you sell them individually.  If your collectibles consist of five rare coins, three rare pieces of currency and a couple of rare comicbooks, do you think you'd get more money for them if you sold them as a group?  Of course not.  Because the comicbook collector who may want one of your comics would be forced to buy coins and currency.  She might not know anything about them, right?  And if she didn't, she'd bid on them conservatively...that's just human nature.

OK, what about 3 dissimilar revolvers from the 1800's?  The guy who really knows his Colt Revolvers may not have much knowledge on the value of an off-brand, so he'll bid conservatively.  Perhaps he'd bid against another fellow who doesn't have the money for the off-brand revolvers so he doesn't place a large bid, even though he could have paid top dollar for that off-brand.

See the point?  Selling items in individual lots is almost always bad for the seller.  The only time it is good for the seller is if the items are very similar and cheap so that the savings in shipping costs can outweigh the seller's disgust of having to buy items they don't want.

But this article is about getting stuff for free!

We've established that selling things in a lot, group, or collection is generally bad, right?  But let us remember, what is bad for the seller is probably good for the buyer!

As a buyer, we should be looking for lots.

I bought a lot of two coins and two Hawaii Emergency $5 notes.  I sold just one of the $5 notes for almost as much I paid for the entire lot.  I haven't gotten around to selling the coins yet, but they should easily sell for more that I have left in the lot.  So I get to keep the best $5 note for free.

I recently bought a large group of Mexican Currency from a dealer friend.  I got a pretty good price.  Good enough to place some of the items up for sale to get my money back, and I will get to keep a few pieces for myself.

As I write this, I'm waiting on an auction lot I won to arrive by mail. It's also foreign currency.  When I get it, I can sell off a couple of the pieces from that lot and have the rest free and clear.

See?  Free stuff.  It can be labor intensive, but if cash is tight you can "earn" free stuff by playing the middle man and selling the lot/collection as it should have been sold....individually.