Our local museum in Eastern Montana received a very large HO collection from a long time resident that recently passed away and willed his collection to the museum. The museum board has opted to keep those locomotives and rolling stock that reflect the railroads that traveled through the area. However, they would like to sell the remaining collection of engines and cars that are either in a kit form or are not necessarily related to this part of the country.
I was asked to assist in their endeavor account of being somewhat of a resident railroader and could use some guidence from the Model Railroader world. Money from the sale would go towards enhancing the display area used to showcase a lot of the cars and locomotives that this person once owned.
There are engines from the following manufacturers: Broadway Limited Paragon Series; Genesis from Athearn; Kato; Model Power; and Atlas. There is rolling stock from Bowser; Walthers Gold and Platinum Line; Accurail; and Athearn.
What advice would you offer regarding selling these items or maybe there’s not a very big market for used HO trains and the museum may have to consider donating the balance of the collection that they don’t want to retain. It also appears that a lot of this equipment never found its way out of the boxes nor were they ever opearted on a layout.
Thanks in advance for your assistance with this inquiry. I look forward to any and all suggestions.
The brands you quoted are some of the best, and assuming the items are in good shape (and hopefully you have the boxes), they should sell nicely. In my experience, Ebay is the way to go. I’ve sold (and bought) a lot of model railroading stuff on there and have had great success. Like your museum, model railroaders tend to like certain eras and/or railroads, so I would list the locomotives separately, and perhaps list two or three similar cars together in single auctions. I would go with the auction format, no reserve, and start out at the minimum you would accept for them.
Unless you have an auction house that works with railroad material or other club that holds railroad auctions in your area, you will have to look at online sales. Ebay reaches the biggest audience, by far. Even with the many headaches that come with it’s use, Ebay is where I would list your items.
A friend of mine had the task of looking after an estate of a Model Railroader. The thought of listing each item on Ebay just was overwhelming. I suggested he sell the MRR things in lots. This reduced the number of listings considerably and it actually went very well.
If there is a local model railroad club, ask them if they would like to sell the equipment at a swap meet/train show for you. They would probably be willing to split the money with you for thier efforts, and may even wind up buying some or all of it. At least that way the club members would have knowledge of what to price the equipment at.
Yeah, if a really large collection that makes the effort considerably easier. But selling in lots typically won’t bring top dollar. For that, single item sales are what works best on Ebay, as people are bidding on exactly what they want.
The exception would be lots of the same car, such as a unit coal train, etc, where the lot may be more attractive because of its nature.
But Ebay is the best way to get maximum value. There are folks who buy estates, etc who advertise in MR, but a check with them will likely suggest that, while easy, they won’t generate as much as Ebay will.
Apart from Ebay the only other thought that comes to mind is if there is an NMRA Division in Montana or nearby that has swap meets and/or auctions. That might also be worth exploring once Ebay has picked over the cream of the collection.
And before you put stuff up, browse Ebay for things like the items you have to sell to get a realistic idea of what to expect. Don’t look for one item; look for ten of the same items. Don’t let the museum people get an inflated idea of how much they’re likely to get.
Generally a retailer who buys and sells used equipment will offer you no more than 1/3 of what he expects to sell it for. That gives you 1/3 of the resale price, him 1/3, and 1/3 to cover his overhead. That’s why so many have suggested ebay as the way to get maximum dollars for what you have to sell. The down side is it might take you longer to sell it all that way and you might end up with items nobody wants. That’s why I like the suggestion to sell it in lots.
One thing to consider if you should decide to go the eBay route is: do you have a person(s) who is willing to commit the time to handling all the various tasks related to selling multiple items on eBay? Things like inventorying, photographing, posting the listings, packaging and shipping, and maintaining the accounting all take time. For example, shipping isn’t something that can be done once or twice a month if you want satified customers. You will also need some space to organize the items so that each item can be found easily when it is sold. Of course, you don’t have to list everything all at once, but if you have got 300 items and you only list them 10 at a time you will be at it for a while.
I’m not trying to negate eBay. Just go in with your eyes open.[2c]
Also, consider contacting the local Model Railroad clubs to see if someone with experience would be able to help you assess the value of each item, and to help you identify the real gems as it were.
You can do lots on Ebay too. Sometimes just one item in the pile will bring in some big bucks. If you list at a low starting price, you tend to get better prices with less work. I listed a lot of stuff two years ago with a starting price of 99cents, very few items went for a low price and some went for really high prices that more than made up for the few that went for bargins. The X-mas season is the time that will get you the biggest bang for the buck and starts as early as late Sept.