How do you get started once you decide to list your items with us? First off, feel free to ask any questions related to the process. I'll be happy to answer them all. Once you are ready to proceed, you will find a copy of our contract on this link.

The Consignment Contract Form

Print out a copy, sign it on the line at the bottom where it says "Consignor". Enter the desired number of months the contract will run. Minimum time is three (3) months. It will automatically renew unless you tell us to terminate it. Fill in the date you have signed it and mail it back to us along with the Consignment Inventory Form.

NOTE: Please include both your email address and your phone number on the contract sheet. We promise the only reason your phone number will ever be used will be in the event of a sale of a consignment item or a question regarding an actual or pending sale of your consignment item if we cannot make contact with you by email. It is very common for people to change email addresses and if the address we have for you is invalid, we will not be able to contact you regarding a sale.

Mail the forms to us. The address is:
Dan W. Dooley
2225 Cottonwood Lane
Bedford, Texas 76021

Along with the signed contract, return the filled out inventory sheet. That sheet lists the individual items, written descriptions and desired selling prices. If you need to print more copies of the inventory sheet because you have more items to list than will fit on one sheet, that is fine. Use as many as you need.

In addition to the paperwork, we will need photos of the items you wish to sell. Those can be in any of the common digital formats. Please do not send photos in propriatory formats such as is common with photo processing services. We can not work with those. The common forms to use would be JPG, TIF, BMP, or GIF. The preferable format is JPG as the picture file sizes are smaller and thus easier to send by email attachment. If you do not have digital photos, you may send actual printed photos. We will scan those and return the originals to you.

NOTE: If you send printed photos, please realize that it's going to take more time to get your pictures and listings on line. I can only scan things when I am in my office, and as I travel frequently, they will have to wait until I return home and can get to them. Scanning and preparing scanned photos for listings is a time consuming process.

Also, please try to send the best quality of prints you can get. Scanning images does introduce (though it is only a little) some degredation in image quality. The better the original print, the better will be the final image we can place on our site. A poorly focused picture can not be made into a sharp, clear one. A poor quality picture is not going to make your item look appealing to potential buyers. If you use a typical point and shoot film camera, chances are your pictures of fixed items shot indoors with flash are going to be marginal.

We need good descriptions. The more you can tell us about your collectibles or other items, the better we will be able to represent them to potential buyers. Remember, buyers can not see and touch the actual items as they could at a brick and mortar store so we must rely on photos and words to describe them. The better the description, the more info the buyer will have and the more comfortable he or she will be with a purchasing decision. We need to know if the item is new, mint, like new, worn, in good condition, fair condition, never removed from the box, or whatever. Are all of the original accessories present? Is there any damage or wear? Is the environment smoke free or not? If the item is not well known, dimension are important. A photo can tell part of the story but not all of it. If applicable, does the item have hang tags, Certificate of Authenticity, other paperwork, etc.? Is the item a limited or signed edition?

Once we have all of the needed information, I will build the ad pages to list on our Web site. Depending on the number of items and other factors, this process may take a week or two. We will get the page or pages listed as soon as possible. As soon as the pages are finished and published to the site, we'll let you know so you can see them. If you see any corrections needed, let us know.

The actual sale process: When a visitor decides to purchase one or more of your collectibles or other items, the actual sale process occurs on the Web site. Payment is made directly to Dooley's Treasure Chest. We then collect our commission from the price paid and then forward the remainder to you. We also forward directly to you the shipping fee collected. We keep nothing from that. We will also forward to you the shipping address of the buyer. We will trust that you will ship to the buyer the item sold and do so in a prompt and professional manner. We trust that you will pack the item or items safely and that all items associated with the item such as hang tags, Certificates of Authenticity, etc., will be included.

Just a few notes of explanation. If I don't cover all of your questions, I'll be happy to do so.

On the commission. The percentage charged is per item and applies to the sell price only. Generally, we set a fixed amount for shipping charges. That is charged to the buyer above and beyond the selling price. That amount collected for shipping is sent to the seller in its entirety along with the balance of the selling price after the commission is subtracted. The general shipping charge has been $15.00 for dolls for example. Other collectible items or items which may weigh less or weigh more will command different shipping fees. Those are set individually. We have generally found that shipping via USPS is less expensive than UPS and if shipped Parcel Post, delivery time to the buyer is typically 3 to 5 days.

On the length of the contract period. That is set at 3 months as an initial starting point. The seller is free to extend that if desired. In the case of the typical consignment where the seller has one of a particular item, once that item is sold, there is no further need for the contract to remain in effect and is canceled. If the seller has multiple items for sale, they may not all sell during that listing period. The seller may elect to extend the contract out for any length of time or indefinitely until all of the items are sold or until the seller chooses to remove the items, thus canceling the contract.

We set the time simply as a means of having the contract in effect. It gives us time benchmarks, so to speak. At the end of the set period (generally 3 months) the seller can elect to continue the agreement, or not. A simple emailed request stating the desired action is all that is requested.

The seller retains the full right to cancel the contract at any time for any reason. Upon the notice of suspension of the agreement by the seller, we will pull the ad pages from the Web site. Certainly any sales transactions currently in process will be continued to their conclusion, including all applicable payments and shipment of sold items.

Dooley's Treasure Chest for our part will only wish to cancel a contract under conditions of bad faith actions on the part of the seller. Such conditions as misrepresentation of the items, or failure to ship the items sold to the buyers in a satisfactory and timely manner would be examples.

Communication is important. We must be able to reach you in the event of a sale. If you change email addresses, please let us know. You may also want to list a phone number with us. That will only be used in the event that we need to get ahold of you related to your consignment. If we inform you that a sale has been made, please respond as promptly as possible. Remember, the buyer will be anxiously awaiting the receipt of their purchase. If you have sold or otherwise disposed of the item, or you wish to remove it from the listing, please let us know. We'd hate to disappoint a buyer who has paid for an item only to find it no longer available. Also if a prospective buyer has a question we may need to pass that question on to you. Please respond as promptly as possible. We have been forced to drop a few clients due to chromic lack of response to communications.

A note on the Inventory sheet. The columns listed as Desired Price and Minimum Price are more are used to help us arrive at reasonable listing prices. You may have a very good idea of the value of your items on the current market, or you may not. Still, there will be a value you consider as your minimum acceptable. We will follow your wishes as to pricing. Bear in mind that regardless of value or customary pricing, the final decision on what will be paid depends on the willingness of buyers. It's a delicate balancing act sometimes. To get what we want or need for an item and yet set pricing in the range buyers are willing to pay. So, we list two columns. One for the desired price and one for the minimum acceptable. Ideally, the desired price will be the one listed and the one the particular item sells for. That's what we shoot for. By stating a minimum price, we also have something to set a range within should the "desired" price not produce any sales action. Should we find that pricing on the market has changed so that the listed price is too high, we can work within the range set by the desired price and the minimum. Never would we want to drop below the minimum however. Regardless, the final say as to what the items will be priced for is the decision of the seller. We will list the item(s) as long as the seller desires or until sold.

Concerning product information. The more we can present to potential buyers, the more likely a buyer will feel comfortable making the purchase. Good photos go a long way to telling the story. Also it's important to have good written descriptions. This would include statements on the condition of the items, the availability of original boxes, paperwork to include COE (Certificate of Authenticity), hang tags, etc. as well as whether the item has been displayed, kept in the box or even if it has been enjoyed (played with). Also important to many buyers is whether or not the environment the item has been kept in is smoke free or not. The more you can tell us, the more descriptive will be the ad. If photos of the actual items are not available, we will post what we have in the way of stock (factory) photos if those are available. If photos are available, any size or format is fine, either digital (they can be sent to us via email) or printed. For printed ones, we will scan them here and return the originals to the seller if desired.

Sorry, due to our cost of processing credit card fees and the low return, we can not accept for listing any items which can not be expected to sell for at least $25.00 each.