Best way to sell large inventory?

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K

krn001

Member
Acquired a decent sized lot of HO engines, rolling stock, packaged parts ie: hand rails & more. This is about 30% of all items.
I don't think I can change the posting so I did post in the For Sale section & will minimize this post.

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You will get the most if you sell them individually, but that will also be the most work and will probably take the longest to liquidate the inventory. If you want to sell everything quickly there are dealers that will pay you a fraction of the value for the entire lot.

I would you take a complete inventory and list them on the For Sale/Wanted to Buy forum.

I wish you well.
 
eBay is honestly the best way to sell them as far as maximizing your money, but I would do it in individual pieces rather than lots even though that entails some extra work and time. eBay does take 10%, but it's also the biggest crowd of people looking at your stuff and you'll normally get a good price even through auctions if you list the items properly. eBay is also an excellent place to do research on what the items are worth if you'd like to list the items for a fixed "buy it now" price there instead of taking chances on the auctions. Different people prefer different sales methods, though, and especially if you're not familiar with the nuances of different models it may be better to stick with auctions.

For some of the more popular or hard-to-find items, you can also probably get some of that sold in the For Sale forum as Louis said. Then take whatever doesn't easily sell here and go ahead and hit eBay.
 


Mike is absolutely correct about eBay having the largest market for your items, but I would still list them all on the For Sale/Wanted to Buy forum because the forum charges no fees. If you have them listed in more then one place you can always pull the item from eBay or just wait for your auction to end. As long as you are upfront with your buyers on here they will understand. If it were me I would take checks from the buyers on here, but always wait for the check to clear before shipping the item. That way you will pay no fees. If you take PayPal for payment the fee will be 3%.

Not that I have a lot of eBay selling experience, but most items have to be relisted because they usually don't sell on the first try. My experience has been it is free to relist with eBay. Also eBay charges a fee on shipping too, but that is offset by eBay providing a discount for you with shippers if you purchase your shipping through them. Then you have the 3% PayPal fee on the total to collect the money for you as well. Form my eBay sales (all 13 of them) it has cost me a little over 13% in total fees.

Another thing about eBay, I have found that free shipping really does help to sell items. In your case you may be better off to charge shipping and offer combined shipping for people that buy more then one thing. If you do that it will really help if you set and publish your combined shipping rates in advance. I know as a buyer I have been tempted into buying more thing from a seller if I know the combined shipping before I buy.

One last thing! eBay has many special offers for sellers and if you are patient you can list both as an auction and buy it now for free by waiting for the frequent special offers. I only paid a fee for listing once. The special offers have always been extended when I relist as well.

That is it, that is all I can tell you about selling on eBay.
 
I agree with the others. I guess the big question is how big a hurry are you to sell. And do you know a fixed price you want or if you want the market to drive the price... For fixed price things there is a for sale section of this forum and things like the HO Garage Sale. If you think you can get more on the open market then there is eBay or one of the train specific "auction" sites.
 
You could take them to your local hobby shop. The good model railroad stores will offer you something for them. Although it may not be the goldmine you may be looking for.
 
Last year at the local, annual, model railroad show, there was a family selling off the large collection of a, sadly, deceased family member. If you know of any shows coming up in your area, might be worth looking into how much a table would be.
 
If I had all that I would do it like this.

First if there were a major train show near by that would be my first choice.
Second The FOR SALE section of this forum. After about 30 days on the forum, anything left goes on EBay

The Train Show you have a dedicated mass of consumers that are there looking to buy.
The Forum will give you a large audience looking and thinking about buying.
EBay gives you literally the largest audience of all.
Yes EBay takes a cut and PayPal takes a cut. You almost HAVE to take PayPal to sell on EBay as that's the way most people want to pay.
I make it up on the shipping charges. If it costs me $5.00 to ship something I'll usually charge $7.00 to ship it.

Free shipping IS good for sales, but as long as you keep the shipping charges LOW, it will still sell.
I've been buying and selling on there ever since they started.
Two things are a RED flag for me on EBay.
NO PayPal - I won't even considering buying from anybody that won't take PayPal. Too easy to pay for something that turns out to be junk when you get it. What are you going to do to get your money back?
Excessive shipping - If I'm buying a small item that will fit in a $13.00 USPS flat rate box and the guy wants to charge $35.00 shipping.. NO
 
one thing about Selling on the Forum, you could just put a few things up each day, no hurry or need to do it all at once.

Now if you just wanted to get rid of all that real quick, I'm Shure every one here on the forum would be willing to take some off your hands...Christmas IS coming..
 
I've sold a lot of items on this forum. Great people, great audience, knowledgable, and fair. I like that there are zero fees. Plus we get to see all the goodies you have first. :)

Next I would go the yahoo groups route. Again no fees, but you do have to join the groups and some of the moderators are, shall we say, particular in their rules...Some legwork involved here, but again max $ by selling individually or in small lots and no fees.

Next I would go the local hobby shop consignment/train show method. You will not get max value as the store is trying to make $ and the train show will charge you for a table and most are looking for bargain basement prices at train shows.

Lastly I would go to eBay. Plan 20% of sale price to cover fees. Big, focused audience, but man I hate fees.

Brad
 


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