Large collection of OO gauge

[Yellow belly]

Hi all, I have been collecting OO gauge rolling stock for years ready to build a layout one day. I have realised it’s never going to happen. I have about 2000 items mostly mint boxed that I am going to sell.

 

point is, I really cannot face the thought of listing the items on eBay and having to deal with all the problems from eBay idiots.
 

any good ideas on how to sell this lot?

 

its mostly era 4,5.

 

Hornby, Bachmann, mainline, replica, Ian Kirk, park side, the usual suspects.

 

i am gutted to be giving up on my dream of doing it but the reality has dawned.

 

i am In south Lincolnshire Near Norfolk.

Edited August 30, 2020 by Yellow belly
Predictive text.

[Metr0Land]

If you want to sell to a single buyer then you are probably looking at the need to use someone like Rails of Sheffield*, or Hattons*, or one of the auction houses that do model railway collections.

 

 

*Other buyers available, eg look in railway mags.

[Yellow belly]

I had contemplated that but I realise I will only get a percentage of what it’s worth. I’m in no hurry and don’t need the money as such. I am a regular ebayer if other things and the idiots do my head in. The thought of selling 2 thousand items fills me full of dread.

[spamcan61]

Become a Gold member on here and sell them off gradually ?

[Dungrange]

1 minute ago, Yellow belly said:

I had contemplated that but I realise I will only get a percentage of what it’s worth. I’m in no hurry and don’t need the money as such. I am a regular ebayer if other things and the idiots do my head in. The thought of selling 2 thousand items fills me full of dread.

 

Obviously you get less money if you want to sell as one lot, as whoever you sell to needs to make a profit from the time they spend dealing with the idiots that 'do your head in' when they sell the stock on.

 

There is therefore a simple choice between whether you are looking for a hassle free sale (accepting that you won't get as much money) or you take on all the hassles of selling 2000 items individually, but you probably make more money.  The difference in the financial return on these two options is the payment for the hassle.

 

You could always try selling some of the items by e-bay and then when you get fed up, pass the rest to a retailer to sell as second hand.

 

 

[Clearwater]

You might want to replicate what this guy has done and set up your own “shop.”  I think he’s doing it for someone else but the principle strikes me as the same as taking a stall at a swap meet or show but in the virtual world.  Prob some set up costs but you can then set your prices for what you think stuff is worth. 

 

http://www.wmcollectables.co.uk/index.php

[Barry O]

I have sold off about 100 items on behalf of a deceased ER  for his widow. Taken about 3 months and has realised a bit more than it was bought for, nearly all was RTR and some of it quite exotic. ex Southern stuff takes a while but most other regions goes well.

 

I have also sold surplus items from a large EM layout. over 200 items but it taken 3 years as more stock was added. 

 

I have used an Excel spreadsheet as a "catalogue". I know what was sole, when and how long it took to sell them. Yes it takes a while but you can get at least the original outlay back - some stuff goes for more , others go for less. You can put batches of stuff on fairly easily.. the photography of items takes the time..

 

 

Baz

 

[Theakerr]

You could potentially reduce the total sales volume by putting applicable items as packs, say 4 vans, 4 wagons.  By offering a small discount you might even move things faster. 

[Barry O]

11 minutes ago, Theakerr said:

You could potentially reduce the total sales volume by putting applicable items as packs, say 4 vans, 4 wagons.  By offering a small discount you might even move things faster. 

doesn't always work that way unfortunately. I am trying to maximise the sales for a widow.. you try to get the best for her..

 

Baz

 

 

[APOLLO]

11 hours ago, Clearwater said:

You might want to replicate what this guy has done and set up your own “shop.”  I think he’s doing it for someone else but the principle strikes me as the same as taking a stall at a swap meet or show but in the virtual world.  Prob some set up costs but you can then set your prices for what you think stuff is worth. 

 

http://www.wmcollectables.co.uk/index.php

 

Beware the tax man (VAT).

 

Brit15

[Theakerr]

On 30/08/2020 at 15:32, Barry O said:

doesn't always work that way unfortunately. I am trying to maximise the sales for a widow.. you try to get the best for her..

 

Baz

 

 

I am not trying to be sarcastic but sometimes I work on the basis that 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing.  I also have been getting rid of stuff for an estate and still have stuff that hasn't moved so i know what you are talking about.  The times and the people they are a changin. 

[Barry O]

Luckily most of the stuff was easy to sell off.. at good priced (some for more than the original outlay). The bits that have taken longest to go are brand new BR (ex SR) coaches.. obviously there are not as many Southern Region modelers as the manufacturers think there are!

 

Baz

[andyman7]

22 hours ago, APOLLO said:

 

Beware the tax man (VAT).

 

Brit15

If the OP is selling his own items bought for his personal use then he is a private seller and there is no tax liability of any kind. - the rules are quite clear and he should have no concerns. 

[APOLLO]

30 minutes ago, andyman7 said:

If the OP is selling his own items bought for his personal use then he is a private seller and there is no tax liability of any kind. - the rules are quite clear and he should have no concerns. 

 

That is correct, but I have read of tax investigations on such persons selling lots of items on ebay. Seems the Inland revenue trawl ebay looking for such. I don't know how a private seller can avoid this - pre inform the IR ?.

 

Brit15

[andyman7]

It is of course possible that any transactions can be investigated but the fact remains that there is no liability. No need to pre-inform HMRC, just truthfully advise them of the situation if they make enquiries. The more annoying thing is if ebay decide to treat an account as a business account (which they tend to do if it's used for a high volume of selling and no buying). This in itself does not change the situation with HMRC but the seller has to abide by ebay business seller rules such as accepting returns and providing address details in the listing.

[hayfield]

On 30/08/2020 at 09:22, Yellow belly said:

Hi all, I have been collecting OO gauge rolling stock for years ready to build a layout one day. I have realised it’s never going to happen. I have about 2000 items mostly mint boxed that I am going to sell.

 

point is, I really cannot face the thought of listing the items on eBay and having to deal with all the problems from eBay idiots.
 

any good ideas on how to sell this lot?

 

its mostly era 4,5.

 

Hornby, Bachmann, mainline, replica, Ian Kirk, park side, the usual suspects.

 

i am gutted to be giving up on my dream of doing it but the reality has dawned.

 

i am In south Lincolnshire Near Norfolk.

 

On 31/08/2020 at 20:44, Theakerr said:

I am not trying to be sarcastic but sometimes I work on the basis that 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing.  I also have been getting rid of stuff for an estate and still have stuff that hasn't moved so i know what you are talking about.  The times and the people they are a changin. 

 

The simple fact is that if you wish to do better than what a retailer/trader would offer, or the net returns from a traditional auction will provide, then you will have to invest time and efforts

 

There are things you can do to make things easier and the vast majority of buyers are just fine

 

If you sell two items a week then there is little effort, after a Year you have disposed of 100 items, more if as suggested sell items like wagons in lots of 4 etc

 

The time investment is in making your first template, then just save it and by reusing it all you have to do is to change a few details and photos. Also by using sell similar reduces the time you spend listing 

 

Listing then packing up a couple of items a week takes little time and can be quite rewarding

 

On the basis of items not selling, just ask yourself why? Normally because its too expensive, make a job lot up and let the market decide what its worth

 

Now id all of this sounds too much, just get a trader to give you a quote

[rob D2]

Send me a list ?

ebay is painful at times - especially with the rip off fees from them and PayPal, but I’d put say 10 items on a week.

 

Retailers will offer you about 1/3 the value , if you are desperate and in a hurry , that might be an option 

[Graham108]

On 31/08/2020 at 20:48, andyman7 said:

If the OP is selling his own items bought for his personal use then he is a private seller and there is no tax liability of any kind. - the rules are quite clear and he should have no concerns. 

Surely if he makes a LOT of profit, then Capital Gains Tax could come into play - can't remember what the threshold is.

[andyman7]

49 minutes ago, bartram108 said:

Surely if he makes a LOT of profit, then Capital Gains Tax could come into play - can't remember what the threshold is.

No, because model railways items are not classified for CGT purposes - model railways are consumables, they are not assets. If you think about it 'profit' is impossible to gauge for consumer goods, because there is no index of value for the year of purchase. You don't keep receipts for decades for your everyday spending (nor does the law require it).

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, rob D2 said:

Send me a list ?

ebay is painful at times - especially with the rip off fees from them and PayPal, but I’d put say 10 items on a week.

 

Retailers will offer you about 1/3 the value , if you are desperate and in a hurry , that might be an option 

 

 

I would be interested to know what the rip off fees eBay are charging, over the last 3 months my total eBay fees have been less than 6%, hardly rip off 

 

With a traditional auction charging both buyer and seller more than 20% commission each and usually only obtaining wholesale prices, do the math's

 

The OP stated he wanted a better deal than a dealer offers

 

I have sold 10 items in a week, but to obtain maximum premium, weekend ending I have found is best, packing and sending 10 items in one go is hard work, again is not what the OP wants

[andyman7]

I completely agree - fees of under 10% all in for selling goods are a long way from a 'rip-off'. 

[Nearholmer]

2 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Retailers will offer you about 1/3 the value

Hmmm ....... somewhere around 50% of what they can sell for is more like it. That cuts the final sale 50% buy-in, 20% VAT, and 30% divided between business running costs and profits.

 

Re-sellers with no/few overheads, typically no shop and no staff other than themselves, will sometimes give more than 50%, and places with high overheads, shop, staff etc. a bit less than 50%.
 

If you are being offered 33% of what they can sell for, I suggest you try elsewhere.

 

My experience of eBay is that all the buyers and sellers are people, so about 95% of them are within some sort of range of “normality”, while about 5% are as strange/mad as a bucket of badgers, and that the lower the price an item sells for the more likely it is that one of the mad people has secured it, and will create so many trivial difficulties that you end up wishing you’d dug a hole and buried the item instead of trying to sell it.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Nearholmer

[rob D2]

Rip off fees - don’t PayPal take a %of your postal charges as well ? Or similar ? I’ve noticed some large retail outlets selling stuff for more on eBay than their own website presumably to outsource the eBay fees to the buyer.

 

In terms of selling a collection , I stand by 1/3 - I was getting offered £33 for a £100 loco - of yes , I hear you cry, that’s because they will sell it at £80 - er,not this lot. Their second hand prices are pretty much the same as new, can you guess ?

[Nearholmer]

As I said: go somewhere else.

[rob D2]

Similar quotes from most large retailers.

second hand price , minus their profit make it a waste of time in my experience