Hi, I want to try selling cards on Ebay, just as a hobby for now (something to do in summer). I know it wouldnt be very lucrative (at all)...or maybe it could be - who knows. But I am not really doing it to make money (I also dont want to lose hundreds of dollars either though..)
I have read a few posts about starting to sell cards online - but most of them are getting pretty old, and I would just like some current advice.
I guess my biggest question is how should I start??
I figure if I bought a couple boxes of zenikar, I could hopefully make most of my money back, and buy a couple more boxes - Just to get a ground for my store (I am at like 40 Feedback on ebay right now). Do you suggest I buy any other boxes instead? Or not buy boxes at all....?
zenikar has lots of decent uncommons, decent rares (snap lands), and a few good mythics....
This is compared to RoE, which has lots of super expensive mythics, decent rares, and nothing else really worth much...
Or should I just go for current, MBS, and pray for a tez or 2?
Or maybe just scratch T2 stuff, and buy some cheaper morningtide/lorwyn boxes and sell those cards...
Also, do you have any opinion on whether or not to sell to europe? I notice most sellers say they wont ship to spain/italy. I am from Canada if this makes any difference.
Thanks! and any other advice would be greatly appreciated
Paul
A friend of mine makes some money from buying old collections of magic cards, sorting through them, and making a profit. You need to really know your stuff to do this though. He also finds good deals on ebay to turn around and also speculates on which cards will go up in the next year or whatever.
I think buying boxes to take apart and sell is usually a losing proposition because being a small distributor selling in bulk isn't very feasible which means you will be left with all the commons and uncommons. But if you just want to do it for fun, you probably could manage to only lose $20 or $30 dollars on each box, which I guess isn't terrible?
A friend of mine makes some money from buying old collections of magic cards, sorting through them, and making a profit. You need to really know your stuff to do this though. He also finds good deals on ebay to turn around and also speculates on which cards will go up in the next year or whatever.
I think buying boxes to take apart and sell is usually a losing proposition because being a small distributor selling in bulk isn't very feasible which means you will be left with all the commons and uncommons. But if you just want to do it for fun, you probably could manage to only lose $20 or $30 dollars on each box, which I guess isn't terrible?
Hmm, I never thought about buying old collections...I will look into that.
I wouldn't mind if I lost only 20$ on each box at the beginning, to get my feedback up - but once it got high enough, I would want to start profiting lol. But for the summer - this may be a good option (i mean, whats 20$ if you have fun doing it :P)
Ebay = Feebay. It's only going to get worse come April when they are going to charge Final Value fee's on shipping as well as the sale price.
Not to mention less free listings. I've done pretty decent selling low value stuff with 100 free 99cent auctions per month.
That's a good way to get your feedback up btw.
If you're in Canada I'm going to guess busting boxes is not going to be that hot for you, and your shipping rates might not be the cheepest. You're going to have to figure that out. Keep in mind that you are going to want tracking on anything you can't afford to loose/replace. Otherwise you'll just get burried in bad ratings and end up with crappy search results et.
It's likely time to get the heck off of there and start selling cards here and on MOTL or something like that.
I am REALLY surprised that someone somewhere hasn't developed an auction app for phones/fb that charges less fees. They could work with Square or somebody like that to do the payments (cheeper than paypal btw).
There are a couple of MTG only sites that do auction style stuff, but their fees are just as bad (15%).
I remember when the fees crossed 5.25% and we thought hell had frozen over. Now without a discount the baseline is 9% (plus paypal of course).
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Now Ebay is pretty well going to offer free listing, however not really since they are going to screw you on final value fee even more with shipping getting factored in. It's already a double hit with Ebay turning around and hitting you again with a Paypal fee.
Buying boxes and selling the singles is an expensive way to build up rating on ebay. Better way to build ratings is to sell cheap in demand commons/uncommons such as lightning bolt, preordain, duress. To ensure that they sell, I always start my auction at $.01 and never charge shipping.
The best way to make money is by speculating on cards but you have to be patient because alot of these cards that you speculated on might take a long time before they reach their peak value. For example when ROE first came out I bought a bunch of Inquisitions and I'm just startind to sell them now.
Always assume that you're spending about 20% of the final value in total fees. Often, I find that I can get more money from my cards through buylists (usually card kingdom). I get to off a bunch of cards at once, don't have to worry about eBay/paypal shananigans, and am very happy that I rarely have to deal with eBay.
Always assume that you're spending about 20% of the final value in total fees. Often, I find that I can get more money from my cards through buylists (usually card kingdom). I get to off a bunch of cards at once, don't have to worry about eBay/paypal shananigans, and am very happy that I rarely have to deal with eBay.
You mean like forums where people say what they need? or do you usually list what you have?
Thanks for the info so far everyone, very helpful in my decision making
I wrote an article not to long ago about realizing profit and what to buy/sell on ebay. The article was called, "What Matter's the Most" and it was published on Channelfireball (In case my link below is in violation of the MS rules and I have to remove it)
Regardless, selling on ebay is fine, if you have the profit margin. Cracking boxes is almost always bad as each pack is effectively worth 2.00 - 3.00 each and 90% of the cards do not even come close to adding up to that.
One way to make money like this would be to do preorders or build sets at the beginning of a set release. Any older product will most likely never be as profitable. Also, buying Zendikar right now is expensive and definitely not worth cracking packs for profit.
It should be noted that lorwyn/morningtide and many of the older boxes are not cheaper anymore. Lorwyn boxes go for $180+ these days, and Morningtide is around $110-$115 or so looking at ebay. You can still get zendikar boxes for around $90 online. Overall looking at average box value your best bets are going to be eithor beseiged or zendikar given the cost of boxes online and what the average box values come out to.
If you have the money, pick a set and buy 2 cases of it, open everything up and put playsets together of anything worth at least $1 each or $4 as a playset, take the rest if you want and split up the true bulk from the .50 rares $2/playset and then list the playsets of rares/mythics of the $1/$4set+ or .50/$2set+ as individual listings for each, and then list the rest as a bulk rare listing at around .15 or so per rare. Then take the uncommons and commons and put together playsets of those and however many you are able to put together playsets for the commons/uncommons list those, and then youll just end up with the remainder of the commons that you will inevitably have left over, as well as likely a few extra of some rares/mythics/uncommons beyond the playsets you are putting together for each. That will give you the greatest chance to get as much of your money back as possible, but as some have mentioned, you should assume that ebay/paypal fees will eat about 20% of your sales amount. So just keep that in mind. If you can get eithor zendikar or beseiged for $90 or less per box you would likely on average only end up losing about $10/box after all fees and everything given the math I have done in the market street area for the average box values for the currently standard sets.
Another thing you can look into, is redeeming sets off of magic online. This by far can be the most efficient way to go if you are looking at doing something like this and are willing to get an account up and running on mtgo and go looking for sellers who are selling complete sets for a reasonable price that you can redeem. Scars for example is cheap as anything on there right now vs its actual total set value. You can just redeem 4 sets or 8 sets or however many at a time, and put up the aformentioned playsets and such on ebay and just keep doing that, and you might even come out ahead!
buying old lots is pretty tricky. you have to be very careful and selective. it doesn't help that people list repacks and stuff to make the search process impossibly tedious
Don't bother with boxes. You lose value on most if not all booster boxes. I'd work on selling singles first by buying collections cheap from people quitting or finding their old shoebox in the closet. If you're good at spotting the right collections you'll almost always profit off it, but you need to know card values pretty well.
I'm starting on my venture after selling my other TCG collections, then buying collections low and selling everything. Down to the bulk you can make profit, but the time spent makes it more an extra spending cash or way to expand your collection business when you are done after the summer. You'll have to reach vendor/card shop levels to be able to make enough money otherwise.
If you build enough capital, you can buy a case or box each release to open and resell and do preorders as well to make your money back.
The cracking open boxes part is most likely a net loser unless you have a physical presence. As a computer scientist, there are other ways to apply your skills
The cracking open boxes part is most likely a net loser unless you have a physical presence. As a computer scientist, there are other ways to apply your skills
lol, true point haha, but this would just be for fun! I mean, I could make myself a website for people to buy off of, then I dont have to put up with ebay's bs...but yeah, no one would buy from that
I just got into the game last summer, so I don't really know old card values, so it looks like it is a probably guarenteed loss for me, but we will see what happens
lol, true point haha, but this would just be for fun! I mean, I could make myself a website for people to buy off of, then I dont have to put up with ebay's bs...but yeah, no one would buy from that
I just got into the game last summer, so I don't really know old card values, so it looks like it is a probably guarenteed loss for me, but we will see what happens
Thanks for everything guys!
If you're priced competitively and reliable with shipping you can get people to an online store front. Advertise and get on the TCG player listings (not sure about the details on that) and either code your own store, or use one of the many out there. Not too complicated, but i'm assuming ebay might be easier unless you have a large stock and selection or the money to aquire a large amount of cards (8x or more copies of all standard rares/mythics for example)
@OP: In your response/question to "the Chandrian"s post I noticed you were shaky on what a "buylist" was. These internet mtg stores (channelfireball, starcitygames, trollandtoad, etc) publish on their sites a list of cards they are looking to obtain and the price they are willing to buy them at. -> buylist. These buylists are often very competitive with what you might get on ebay after fees and the headaches of shipping. Plus you get to send a bunch of cards all at once to one place. People seem to like it.
I must say, as someone who has done a lot of ebay selling over the last decade (FB: 780), it takes a while to get your process streamlined. There are a lot of bumps in the road and missteps along the way. Ebay's fee structure is becoming less and less enticing. Until a year ago or so, you could sell higher value items and have lower marginal fees after the first 100 bucks of value. Those days are gone. I now figure that ebay and paypal are going to take a flat 16% (more on payments involving currency conversions. another reason to be less internationally minded.) Ebay Advice: Always send with tracking, just pass the cost on to the customer. International selling can be lucrative but also a huge pain in the tukus sometimes. As you build up feedback though, you will start to have some nicer ending prices on your items. Also, ebay is a nice outlet to realize the profits of your trading.
The best way to make money that works for me is to become known in your area as "the guy that will buy cards quick". I am straightforward with people and tell them I am selling on ebay and I need a profit margin on top of the fees. I give 65% of what things seem to be selling for on ebay, which leaves me with 20% profit after fees. After you gain that reputation as a buyer, you will start getting people that want to sell you their collections because they are getting out of magic or whatever. This is where people are happy to get 50% of total value, cash on the spot. In person collections are infrequent but big, big moneymakers. Most people haven't gone through every card and determined the exact value of everything, so you can have some big savings. Save up so that you are ready to hand over $4K for the right collection. (I have not seen the collections that come up on Ebay as having great potential for highly profitable turnaround.)
Sidenote: Ebay has announced that within the next year or so they will be reporting to the IRS all sellers who sell over (i think) 10 grand in the year. Factor this in to your thinking. If you do Ebay regularly, this can apply to you.
A lot of the posters on this thread had fantastic advice and thoughts. I certainly learned a few things. Thanks everybody!
tom
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-Thanks to Sharuumatoid
@DJRome: I heard this info from the owner of my LGS (he's happy that internet competitors will have some of the same taxes he pays!). In doing a google search on "ebay IRS reporting" the first few results reiterate this info (though some reports state that the threshold is $20K in sales. some article links below you can paste into your browser.
I'm a proud member of the Online Campaign for Real English. If you believe in capital letters, correct spelling, and good sentence structure, then copy this into your signature.
-Thanks to Sharuumatoid
do you have a link to the eBay announcement? I am interested in reading the details
i also agree fully that collections on eBay rarely are of any value to pick up
Best collections on craigslist. I even bought a box of bulk on craigslist and tripled my money once. The guy even told me after the fact he sold all the rares and that was left over (also given there was a lot of tempest, probably any wastelands as he was a player and knew its value, this was when it was still $20)...the thing was misleading too. Turned out to be 3000-3500 cards advertised as "probably 5000"
You know though, spending $20 and getting:
8 Exhume
12 Priest of Titania
12 Brainstorm
8 Daze
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mother of Runes
4 Koren Counterspells
4 Japanese Dark Rits
and so on is still a great bargain. I flipped most of it in trades for full retail and went to town.
If you don't live in a heavy MTG area (my area for example is competitive as there's a half dozen dealers and just as many people who are looking for bargains in the area so it's slim pickings, missed 2 Jaces for $80 by mere minutes) then you can probably make a killing at it, but otherwise worth watching and putting money into if you do it right. Lots of hidden gems on there.
I agree Ebay though is pretty bad. You'll go through 10 pages of craftily worded lots. You also get the scams with low quality webcam pics and guys who "don't know anything" yet happen to be a power seller and sold magic singles in the past 90 days.
Best collections on craigslist. I even bought a box of bulk on craigslist and tripled my money once. The guy even told me after the fact he sold all the rares and that was left over (also given there was a lot of tempest, probably any wastelands as he was a player and knew its value, this was when it was still $20)...the thing was misleading too. Turned out to be 3000-3500 cards advertised as "probably 5000"
You know though, spending $20 and getting:
8 Exhume
12 Priest of Titania
12 Brainstorm
8 Daze
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mother of Runes
4 Koren Counterspells
4 Japanese Dark Rits
and so on is still a great bargain. I flipped most of it in trades for full retail and went to town.
If you don't live in a heavy MTG area (my area for example is competitive as there's a half dozen dealers and just as many people who are looking for bargains in the area so it's slim pickings, missed 2 Jaces for $80 by mere minutes) then you can probably make a killing at it, but otherwise worth watching and putting money into if you do it right. Lots of hidden gems on there.
I agree Ebay though is pretty bad. You'll go through 10 pages of craftily worded lots. You also get the scams with low quality webcam pics and guys who "don't know anything" yet happen to be a power seller and sold magic singles in the past 90 days.
Part of the reason that unless I know exactly whats in the collection Ill basically value anything not listed in some way as $0. If they say 1,000 rares (but dont list what they are) then Ill figure they are all bulk and value accordingly. Anything that doesnt even say anything more than 1,000 misc magic cards or something gets skipped completely :p. What I like is finding a collection on there where they list enough cards of value plus mention the general rarity breakdown of the rest to where I feel comfortable enough bidding on it, and then get to dig through the everything else to see if there are any hidden gems when I get them. I actually have fun with those (I always used to love grab bags back in my old collecting days) (non-ebay... welll at least non-ebay in the last 10 years) :p. Personally have never used craigslist though, I guess Im just too used to ebay so I tend to ignore the rest (especially since I buy and sell in a shop now so there is often little point to even bothering with ebay collections when the collections tend to come to me now.)
There are certainly deals to be had though, and the occasional gamble on a random collection can be fun as well (as long as it isnt too expensive). Just have to be careful not to get taken in by the shady ones.
You can still get some decent lots on Craigslist if you're willing to sift through the junk, but I wouldn't count on a "money making" lot from an ebay seller. I've bought bulk lots before that I knew were bulk and flipped a couple rares out of there (like Scapeshift when it popped :)) but I was mostly trying to get more stock not hope to get an undervalued collection.
I sold off my WWK chaff that way 112 WWK Rares, but I had a list, so you knew what you were getting. I think I got 20c each for them which was pretty decent.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
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I have read a few posts about starting to sell cards online - but most of them are getting pretty old, and I would just like some current advice.
I guess my biggest question is how should I start??
I figure if I bought a couple boxes of zenikar, I could hopefully make most of my money back, and buy a couple more boxes - Just to get a ground for my store (I am at like 40 Feedback on ebay right now). Do you suggest I buy any other boxes instead? Or not buy boxes at all....?
zenikar has lots of decent uncommons, decent rares (snap lands), and a few good mythics....
This is compared to RoE, which has lots of super expensive mythics, decent rares, and nothing else really worth much...
Or should I just go for current, MBS, and pray for a tez or 2?
Or maybe just scratch T2 stuff, and buy some cheaper morningtide/lorwyn boxes and sell those cards...
Also, do you have any opinion on whether or not to sell to europe? I notice most sellers say they wont ship to spain/italy. I am from Canada if this makes any difference.
Thanks! and any other advice would be greatly appreciated
Paul
I think buying boxes to take apart and sell is usually a losing proposition because being a small distributor selling in bulk isn't very feasible which means you will be left with all the commons and uncommons. But if you just want to do it for fun, you probably could manage to only lose $20 or $30 dollars on each box, which I guess isn't terrible?
L2 Judge
Hmm, I never thought about buying old collections...I will look into that.
I wouldn't mind if I lost only 20$ on each box at the beginning, to get my feedback up - but once it got high enough, I would want to start profiting lol. But for the summer - this may be a good option (i mean, whats 20$ if you have fun doing it :P)
This is also true. My friend has a lot of issues with fees on ebay.
L2 Judge
Not to mention less free listings. I've done pretty decent selling low value stuff with 100 free 99cent auctions per month.
That's a good way to get your feedback up btw.
If you're in Canada I'm going to guess busting boxes is not going to be that hot for you, and your shipping rates might not be the cheepest. You're going to have to figure that out. Keep in mind that you are going to want tracking on anything you can't afford to loose/replace. Otherwise you'll just get burried in bad ratings and end up with crappy search results et.
It's likely time to get the heck off of there and start selling cards here and on MOTL or something like that.
I am REALLY surprised that someone somewhere hasn't developed an auction app for phones/fb that charges less fees. They could work with Square or somebody like that to do the payments (cheeper than paypal btw).
There are a couple of MTG only sites that do auction style stuff, but their fees are just as bad (15%).
I remember when the fees crossed 5.25% and we thought hell had frozen over. Now without a discount the baseline is 9% (plus paypal of course).
Hm, you think I could actually make money selling cards here/on motl by opening boxes?
Well, as a computer scientist, I may have to look into creating such an app
The best way to make money is by speculating on cards but you have to be patient because alot of these cards that you speculated on might take a long time before they reach their peak value. For example when ROE first came out I bought a bunch of Inquisitions and I'm just startind to sell them now.
[GTC] Gatecrash Patch for MWS (249/249)
You mean like forums where people say what they need? or do you usually list what you have?
Thanks for the info so far everyone, very helpful in my decision making
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/trade-routes-what-matters-the-most/
Regardless, selling on ebay is fine, if you have the profit margin. Cracking boxes is almost always bad as each pack is effectively worth 2.00 - 3.00 each and 90% of the cards do not even come close to adding up to that.
One way to make money like this would be to do preorders or build sets at the beginning of a set release. Any older product will most likely never be as profitable. Also, buying Zendikar right now is expensive and definitely not worth cracking packs for profit.
If you have the money, pick a set and buy 2 cases of it, open everything up and put playsets together of anything worth at least $1 each or $4 as a playset, take the rest if you want and split up the true bulk from the .50 rares $2/playset and then list the playsets of rares/mythics of the $1/$4set+ or .50/$2set+ as individual listings for each, and then list the rest as a bulk rare listing at around .15 or so per rare. Then take the uncommons and commons and put together playsets of those and however many you are able to put together playsets for the commons/uncommons list those, and then youll just end up with the remainder of the commons that you will inevitably have left over, as well as likely a few extra of some rares/mythics/uncommons beyond the playsets you are putting together for each. That will give you the greatest chance to get as much of your money back as possible, but as some have mentioned, you should assume that ebay/paypal fees will eat about 20% of your sales amount. So just keep that in mind. If you can get eithor zendikar or beseiged for $90 or less per box you would likely on average only end up losing about $10/box after all fees and everything given the math I have done in the market street area for the average box values for the currently standard sets.
Another thing you can look into, is redeeming sets off of magic online. This by far can be the most efficient way to go if you are looking at doing something like this and are willing to get an account up and running on mtgo and go looking for sellers who are selling complete sets for a reasonable price that you can redeem. Scars for example is cheap as anything on there right now vs its actual total set value. You can just redeem 4 sets or 8 sets or however many at a time, and put up the aformentioned playsets and such on ebay and just keep doing that, and you might even come out ahead!
Just a suggestion though.
I collect Knowledge Pools!
I'm starting on my venture after selling my other TCG collections, then buying collections low and selling everything. Down to the bulk you can make profit, but the time spent makes it more an extra spending cash or way to expand your collection business when you are done after the summer. You'll have to reach vendor/card shop levels to be able to make enough money otherwise.
If you build enough capital, you can buy a case or box each release to open and resell and do preorders as well to make your money back.
lol, true point haha, but this would just be for fun! I mean, I could make myself a website for people to buy off of, then I dont have to put up with ebay's bs...but yeah, no one would buy from that
I just got into the game last summer, so I don't really know old card values, so it looks like it is a probably guarenteed loss for me, but we will see what happens
Thanks for everything guys!
If you're priced competitively and reliable with shipping you can get people to an online store front. Advertise and get on the TCG player listings (not sure about the details on that) and either code your own store, or use one of the many out there. Not too complicated, but i'm assuming ebay might be easier unless you have a large stock and selection or the money to aquire a large amount of cards (8x or more copies of all standard rares/mythics for example)
I must say, as someone who has done a lot of ebay selling over the last decade (FB: 780), it takes a while to get your process streamlined. There are a lot of bumps in the road and missteps along the way. Ebay's fee structure is becoming less and less enticing. Until a year ago or so, you could sell higher value items and have lower marginal fees after the first 100 bucks of value. Those days are gone. I now figure that ebay and paypal are going to take a flat 16% (more on payments involving currency conversions. another reason to be less internationally minded.) Ebay Advice: Always send with tracking, just pass the cost on to the customer. International selling can be lucrative but also a huge pain in the tukus sometimes. As you build up feedback though, you will start to have some nicer ending prices on your items. Also, ebay is a nice outlet to realize the profits of your trading.
The best way to make money that works for me is to become known in your area as "the guy that will buy cards quick". I am straightforward with people and tell them I am selling on ebay and I need a profit margin on top of the fees. I give 65% of what things seem to be selling for on ebay, which leaves me with 20% profit after fees. After you gain that reputation as a buyer, you will start getting people that want to sell you their collections because they are getting out of magic or whatever. This is where people are happy to get 50% of total value, cash on the spot. In person collections are infrequent but big, big moneymakers. Most people haven't gone through every card and determined the exact value of everything, so you can have some big savings. Save up so that you are ready to hand over $4K for the right collection. (I have not seen the collections that come up on Ebay as having great potential for highly profitable turnaround.)
Sidenote: Ebay has announced that within the next year or so they will be reporting to the IRS all sellers who sell over (i think) 10 grand in the year. Factor this in to your thinking. If you do Ebay regularly, this can apply to you.
A lot of the posters on this thread had fantastic advice and thoughts. I certainly learned a few things. Thanks everybody!
tom
-Thanks to Sharuumatoid
i also agree fully that collections on eBay rarely are of any value to pick up
I collect Knowledge Pools!
Forbes article
www.forbes.com/2009/03/17/irs-ebay-audits-personal-finance-taxes-internet-sellers.html
Ebay group discussion
groups.ebay.com/.../Discussion-Topics/Paypalirs-Reporting-Requirements/1501138954
another seemingly reputable site
internetbiztaxtips.com/2008/07/paypal-and-ebay-must-report-transactions-to-the-irs
-Thanks to Sharuumatoid
Best collections on craigslist. I even bought a box of bulk on craigslist and tripled my money once. The guy even told me after the fact he sold all the rares and that was left over (also given there was a lot of tempest, probably any wastelands as he was a player and knew its value, this was when it was still $20)...the thing was misleading too. Turned out to be 3000-3500 cards advertised as "probably 5000"
You know though, spending $20 and getting:
8 Exhume
12 Priest of Titania
12 Brainstorm
8 Daze
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mother of Runes
4 Koren Counterspells
4 Japanese Dark Rits
and so on is still a great bargain. I flipped most of it in trades for full retail and went to town.
If you don't live in a heavy MTG area (my area for example is competitive as there's a half dozen dealers and just as many people who are looking for bargains in the area so it's slim pickings, missed 2 Jaces for $80 by mere minutes) then you can probably make a killing at it, but otherwise worth watching and putting money into if you do it right. Lots of hidden gems on there.
I agree Ebay though is pretty bad. You'll go through 10 pages of craftily worded lots. You also get the scams with low quality webcam pics and guys who "don't know anything" yet happen to be a power seller and sold magic singles in the past 90 days.
Part of the reason that unless I know exactly whats in the collection Ill basically value anything not listed in some way as $0. If they say 1,000 rares (but dont list what they are) then Ill figure they are all bulk and value accordingly. Anything that doesnt even say anything more than 1,000 misc magic cards or something gets skipped completely :p. What I like is finding a collection on there where they list enough cards of value plus mention the general rarity breakdown of the rest to where I feel comfortable enough bidding on it, and then get to dig through the everything else to see if there are any hidden gems when I get them. I actually have fun with those (I always used to love grab bags back in my old collecting days) (non-ebay... welll at least non-ebay in the last 10 years) :p. Personally have never used craigslist though, I guess Im just too used to ebay so I tend to ignore the rest (especially since I buy and sell in a shop now so there is often little point to even bothering with ebay collections when the collections tend to come to me now.)
There are certainly deals to be had though, and the occasional gamble on a random collection can be fun as well (as long as it isnt too expensive). Just have to be careful not to get taken in by the shady ones.
I sold off my WWK chaff that way 112 WWK Rares, but I had a list, so you knew what you were getting. I think I got 20c each for them which was pretty decent.