How Raremarq Works

Raremarq focuses on 3 key points:

1. Curated audience of comic artists and comic art collectors: We believe a better marketplace needs to exist for comic art collectors so we built it. Your art will not be fighting for attention with cute animal pictures, cooking videos, or thirst traps.
2. Low seller fees and no buyer premiums: Our seller fees range from 2.5 to 6%, which means more money goes back into the pockets of artists and sellers. And unlike other platforms, we do not charge a buyer premium. In fact, if a buyer uses a direct US bank deposit, they can pay $0 in processing fees. If a buyer chooses another form of payment it averages between 3 and5% depending on if they use a Credit Card or PayPal.
3. Buy and sell securely with Escrow: When a buyer purchases a piece, their funds are placed into Escrow, and we hold those funds until the buyer and seller complete the deal. This protects both parties and reduces the stress of buying a large piece of comic art online.

If you're on desktop, click on the Sign Up button at the top right corner of the navigation bar. On mobile, visit https://www.raremarq.com and click "Claim Your Username". You'll be prompted to enter your email address, create a username, and set a password. Once you fill that out, you're all set!

With "Buy Now", sellers set a fixed price for their piece. Buyers can then add the piece to their cart, checkout, and purchase the piece similar to buying on a website like Amazon.

With "Make Me an Offer", sellers have flexibility to receive offers from potential buyers. Sellers can set a minimum offer, and buyers can submit their offers. Then, sellers can choose who to sell to and for what price. If a piece has both a "Buy Now" and "Make Me an Offer" option set, then the "Buy Now" price will be the maximum offer amount someone can make. If a seller rejects an offer, buyers can continue to submit offers at a higher amount, or purchase immediately for the “Buy Now” price

We support multiple payment methods, including credit/debit cards, US bank deposit, Klarna, Affirm, PayPal, and Pay with Crypto. For sellers, payouts are processed through PayPal or a US bank deposit via Stripe Connect.

Shill bidding is when someone bids on an auction to artificially increase its price. This is prohibited on Raremarq, and we implement the following to prevent shill bidding:

1. Verified payment method and shipping address: With these two requirements, bidders must be verified with a real address and form of payment in order to bid on Raremarq bad actors are at work, we will freeze all impacted accounts.

If you think another member is shill bidding, please reach out to us at [email protected].

Yes! International users can still buy on Raremarq. Be sure to check the shipping prices when purchasing or bidding on an auction as international shipping is usually more. Also depending on the country, local taxes may be charged after purchase.

After creating an account, we make it easy to list a piece as "Buy Now" and/or "Make Me an Offer". On Desktop, there is a button on the top right that says "Add New", and on Mobile, there is a "+" icon in the middle of the bottom navigation bar. Clicking either of those buttons will open a tray with links to list pieces as "Buy Now" or "Make Me an Offer". Only verified and approved accounts will have access to create an auction.

With "Buy Now", sellers set a fixed price for the piece, and a buyer can add the piece to their cart, checkout, and purchase the piece. With "Make Me an Offer", sellers have the flexibility to receive offers from potential buyers. Sellers can also set a minimum offer if they'd like.. Once offers are received sellers can choose who to sell to and for which price.

If a piece has both a "Buy Now" and "Make Me an Offer" option set, then the "Buy Now" price will be the maximum offer amount someone can make.

At this time, only artists with published works at major publishers are approved for auctions. We hope to expand to support more artist types in the future! To apply for verification to list auctions, fill out our form.

We support multiple payment methods, including credit/debit cards, US bank deposit, Klarna, Affirm, PayPal, and Pay with Crypto. For sellers, payouts are processed through PayPal or a US bank deposit via Stripe Connect.

Yes! Sellers on Raremarq can sell to buyers all over the world. Be sure to check the shipping options when setting up your listing as we have options to charge different amounts for US shipping and international shipping.

All bidders must be signed up for a Raremarq account.

If the auction uses Raremarq's Escrow service, then registered users will also need a valid shipping address and default payment method (Credit Card or PayPal) on file in order to bid. This requirement helps protect buyers and sellers from bad actors.

Regular bids on a Raremarq auction are submitted by sliding the bid slider. This will submit a bid at the bid amount on the slider. You must slide the bid fully to submit your bid. If your bid is placed near the auctions end, we will add 30 seconds to the auction end time to give other bidders a chance to bid and prevent auction sniping. All bids are binding and a buyer will pay the bid amount they make, or their account will be at risk of being frozen.

By entering a max bid, Raremarq will automatically place bids for you up to that amount against other bidders using our suggested bid amount until you win the auction or another bidder bids higher than your max bid.

On the rare occasion someone else bids exactly the same amount as your max bid, the other bidder will be notified that they've bid the exact same as someone else's max bid and that they will need to bid again.

You do not have to be present to win an auction with a max bid you placed in advance, but we do recommend watching just in case someone tries to beat your max bid as the auction is nearing the end. You can set up notifications for bids on pieces.

Once set, you cannot remove your max bid, but you can increase your max bid at any time. Bids placed automatically with max bids are binding.

When an auction jumps up with back-to-back bids that are many hundreds or thousands of dollars even though it started at a very low price, this is related to two or more buyers entering competing max bids.

For example, when an artist lists an auction at $400 and Buyer A sets a max bid of $1,250 the first regular bid entered is $400. If Buyer B then swipes to bid, B bids $405 but then Buyer A instantly bids $410. But, if Buyer B then sets a max bid of $1000, that bid is lower than Buyer A's max bid so the system immediately makes a regular bid of $1,000 for Buyer B and the Buyer A’s max bid takes hold and enters a new regular bid of $1,010.

For a highly desirable auction this system can result in big jumps fast because of a lot of max bids are entered.

Unique bidder numbers are assigned to each registered user per auction. This protects the privacy of our buyers, but sellers are able to see the usernames associated with each bidder number.

Once you win an auction, we expect you to pay the seller promptly. You can visit the Order page for your auction and complete payment. If you do not add your funds to Escrow within 24 hours, we will charge the default payment method on file.

We will notify the seller once funds are secured in Escrow. They will then ship your order and add the shipping tracking number to the order detail page. This allows everyone to follow along, and once the order is delivered, you will have up to 24 hours to report any issues. If you confirm all is well or we do not hear from you after the 24 hour grace period, we will release the funds from Escrow to the seller.

Once an auction you list has a winning bidder and the auction ends, the buyer will complete payment on their order page. If they do not manually fill out the payment within 24 hours, we will charge their default payment method on file.

We will then notify you, the seller, once funds are secured in Escrow. You can then ship confidently knowing the funds are secured. Please make sure to add the shipping tracking number to the order detail page to maintain transparency.

Once the order is delivered, the winner will have up to 24 hours to report any issues. If the winner confirms all is well or we do not hear from them after the 24 hour grace period, we will release the funds from Escrow to the seller.

You can then visit the Seller Dashboard to request a payout to your preferred method.

Once you win an auction, we expect you to pay the seller promptly. For auctions that do not use Escrow, the winner and seller will receive each other's contact information, and the two parties can figure out how to handle payment and fulfillment. If there are any issues, please reach out to us at [email protected]. However Raremarq cannot guarantee orders made without our Escrow service, so please do your due diligence before shipping or paying.

For auctions that do not use Escrow, the winner and seller will receive each other's contact information, and they can figure out how to handle payment and fulfillment. If there are any issues, please reach out to us at [email protected]. However Raremarq cannot guarantee orders made without our Escrow service, so please do your due diligence before shipping or paying.

Once you purchase your piece, your payment method will be charged. Then, we will notify the seller once funds are secured in Escrow. They will then ship your order and add the shipping tracking number to the order detail page. This allows everyone to follow along, and once the order is delivered, you will have up to 24 hours to report an issue. If you confirm all is well or we do not hear from you after the 24 hour grace period, we will release the funds from Escrow to the seller.

Once a buyer pays for your piece, we will charge their payment method and secure their funds in Escrow. Then, we will notify the seller once funds are in Escrow. Then, the seller can ship their order knowing funds are safe. Please add the shipping tracking number to the order detail page when you have it. This allows everyone to follow along, and once the order is delivered, the buyer will have up to 24 hours to report an issue. If they confirm all is well or we do not hear from them after the 24 hour grace period, we will release the funds from Escrow to the seller.

Raremarq empowers sellers to choose the visibility of their finished auctions. Sellers can choose to keep their auction listings public and searchable to the community or hide them from our search engine. But, if an auction is hidden and someone has the original link, then they may still be able to find the auction. If the auction is deleted, then no one will be able to find that auction.

Raremarq empowers sellers to choose the visibility of their sold pieces. Sellers can choose to keep their listings public and searchable to the community or hide them from our search engine. If a piece is hidden, then it can only be accessed by the seller or a Raremarq admin. If a piece is deleted, then no one will be able to find that piece again.

After your order has been delivered, the buyer has up to 24 hours to report an issue. If we do not hear from the buyer or the 24-hour grace period expires, you'll receive a deposit of your escrow funds minus our fee in your Raremarq balance. You can then request a payout at any time by visiting the Payouts section of the Seller Dashboard. Raremarq offers three ways to be paid out: PayPal, a bank deposit with Stripe, or Wise.

PayPal is the fastest way to receive your money but has the highest amount of fees. 0.25 USD PayPal fee for domestic payouts. International PayPal payouts fee is 2% of total transaction amount but not to exceed 20 USD. You may incur additional PayPal fees for Goods & Services, international transfers, and other fees when you request a payout..

If you want the least amount of fees, bank deposit with Stripe is the best option. However, Stripe deposits can take up to 7 business days.

If there is an issue with an order and the buyer and seller cannot come to a mutually agreeable outcome, Raremarq will step in to resolve the matter. Raremarq will provide and pay for return shipping so the buyer can send the item back to the seller. Once the seller receives the returned item in the same condition it was shipped (aside from the reported issue), the buyer will receive a full refund. This ensures both parties can close the transaction fairly.