Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Request information on insect specimen traders or offer reports about your transactions from your personal experience. Only registered users can view this information.
Post Reply
Chuck
Premium Member - 2024
Premium Member - 2024
Reactions:
Posts: 886
Joined: Mon May 23, 2022 2:30 pm
Solomon Islands

Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by Chuck »

Hi guys,

Have any of our forum members used IN Marketplace to sell excess inventory?

I see there are sellers, and I'm sure there are buyers. What I'm interested in is opinion from those I know.

I need drawer space, in fact I have to reduce drawer count, so it's time to buckle down and get rid of the remaining commercial stuff.

Thanks.
User avatar
wollastoni
Site Admin
Site Admin
Reactions:
Posts: 442
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:51 am
Location: France
France

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by wollastoni »

I do.
You can easily sell rarities.
For common stuff, eBay is more efficient, the InsectNet marketplace is visited by serious collectors mainly.
There are now 1,149 registered members on the InsectNet marketplace. Some sellers sell for more than 2,000$ per month there.

https://marketplace.insectnet.com/

A good way to promote new sellers' listing is to post a post in the InsectNet Classifieds once your marketplace account have enough items to be interesting for buyers (at least 50).

Then to be succesful, it is classic ecommerce rules : good pictures, good description, good seller ratings, efficient online promotion, large offer (buyers like to order many specimens to spare on shipping costs), rare specimens...
Chuck
Premium Member - 2024
Premium Member - 2024
Reactions:
Posts: 886
Joined: Mon May 23, 2022 2:30 pm
Solomon Islands

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by Chuck »

Thanks.

Seems like our regular members here don't sell much, if at all.

I'm exploring best options to dispose of my remaining commercial material. "Rare" is subjective, is Psalidognathus friendi rare? I suppose Argema mimosae is not?

I just can't stand Ebay buyers, some are crooks and others crybabies. Maybe best to unload wholesale to one of the retailers, and suffer the lost recovery of expenses.
User avatar
wollastoni
Site Admin
Site Admin
Reactions:
Posts: 442
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2022 9:51 am
Location: France
France

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by wollastoni »

P. friendi is not so rare on the market, but you can easily sell them on Insectnet if the price is fair and the form nice.
Argema mimosae should be easier to sell on eBay indeed.

Personnaly, I sell rare specimens one by one. For the rest, I "wholesell" them to friends or insect sellers.
User avatar
alandmor
Premium Member - 2024
Premium Member - 2024
Reactions:
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue May 24, 2022 4:38 pm
United States of America

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by alandmor »

Chuck wrote: Thu Apr 13, 2023 12:45 pm Thanks.

Seems like our regular members here don't sell much, if at all.

I'm exploring best options to dispose of my remaining commercial material. "Rare" is subjective, is Psalidognathus friendi rare? I suppose Argema mimosae is not?

I just can't stand Ebay buyers, some are crooks and others crybabies. Maybe best to unload wholesale to one of the retailers, and suffer the lost recovery of expenses.
I assume your commercial material is all leps. Any beetles by any chance? I'm interested in Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae worldwide.
Chuck
Premium Member - 2024
Premium Member - 2024
Reactions:
Posts: 886
Joined: Mon May 23, 2022 2:30 pm
Solomon Islands

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by Chuck »

alandmor wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 4:05 pm
I assume your commercial material is all leps. Any beetles by any chance? I'm interested in Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae worldwide.
I have Cetoniinae: Goliaths (for educational displays), and African things such as Chelorrhina, which I picked up when my buddy was an importer and the new sp and forms started coming into USA circa 2001 and were outrageously expensive; now I think they're generally available. Aside from that, various thumbnail sized specimens from all over. Problem is they're all pinned, and most are sorted by region, not all Cetoniinae together.

My smaller Cerambyciidae are going bye-bye today, off to a new home in Pittsburgh. Since many are from remote areas, this should keep somebody busy.
User avatar
kevinkk
Premium Member - 2024
Premium Member - 2024
Reactions:
Posts: 313
Joined: Mon May 23, 2022 5:06 pm
Location: Oregon
United States of America

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by kevinkk »

I actually have Psalidognathus in my saved Ebay searches, it's not rare, there are just about a zillion forms with varying prices. What I see commonly is
overpricing, it's only worth what someone will pay. Maybe they aren't overpriced, but there can be a lot of the same bug out there at the same time.
Lep dead stock mystifies me sometimes, if I can buy Argema mimosa cocoons for 10 bucks apiece, why am I paying 40 bucks or more for a dead one?
Same with mittrei .
Chuck
Premium Member - 2024
Premium Member - 2024
Reactions:
Posts: 886
Joined: Mon May 23, 2022 2:30 pm
Solomon Islands

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by Chuck »

kevinkk wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 5:41 pm I actually have Psalidognathus in my saved Ebay searches, it's not rare, there are just about a zillion forms with varying prices. What I see commonly is
overpricing, it's only worth what someone will pay. Maybe they aren't overpriced, but there can be a lot of the same bug out there at the same time.
Lep dead stock mystifies me sometimes, if I can buy Argema mimosa cocoons for 10 bucks apiece, why am I paying 40 bucks or more for a dead one?
Same with mittrei .
I think what you'll find, and this goes for any collectible, is that after a couple decades you'll be missing some piece, but know it comes up and don't mind waiting for a steal while the new guys pay top retail. Live auctions tend to bring the highest prices from big money spenders who like to talk about winning at auction.

As well, there's supply and demand. Old guys don't mind making 10x on something they bought decades ago, but the same people complain when what was rare is now worth 10% of what they paid. Hey, I'm guilty of that!

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get rid of stuff: soften and re-package for lower shipping cost and security, or riker mounts? Ebay (yuk), InsectNet, Etsy, or other? (Etsy had a problem with that recent bank collapse, apparently their operating money disappeared.) The Pomona and LA insect shows were a great way to dispose of surplus, but that's a five day commitment plus lodging and expensive airfare- not like the old day.

One thing I have discovered is that institutions, or rather the people that run them, have specialties and that is well reflected in their interest in donated material. One curator is ho-hum (take it, sure, thanks) and another is very excited. And this isn't just one person, different institutions, for whatever reason, have become specialized. Some of the reference collections, I've discovered, aren't as impressive as they are made out to be, some are barely used.

Most have tens or hundreds of thousands of papered specimens for 50 years or more, with no manpower to process them- It would be interesting to cut a deal with one / them to set some number of specimens in trade for some specimens- plus that's the only way some of this material- which undoubtedly includes new taxa, would ever see the light of science.
biscuit153
Premium Member - 2024
Premium Member - 2024
Reactions:
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue May 24, 2022 3:40 am
United States of America

Re: Have any forum members used Marketplace to sell?

Post by biscuit153 »

You might consider reaching out to Royce Cumming at Bioquip Bugs. He is great to work with in my experience. I know that he has been purchasing old collections recently to help get his business going.
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in