Now that I am concentrating on the New Haven Railroad, I have a lot of PRR and Reading engines I want to liquidate. They are early brass imports fully painted, some super detailed, and lettered. Included are 2 P5a and 2 P5b, O1c, MU cars and more. I also have a Reading T1 unpainted, MU cars and a complete Crusader. MOst of these were probably NJ Custom Brass.
I am looking for advice as to whether the best price could be obtained at auction (e-bay) or by placing them on consignment with one of the shops specializing in brass. The shop has the advantage of first hand inspection, whereas the photos on e-bay don’t really do good work justice.
You are going to reach the widest possible audience via eBay. Absolutely no contest. Take some good pics, give a good, accurate description, list a reasonable minimum bid, and see where it goes. Do not offer to ship overseas and watch out for crazy/wierd questions/deals from Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.
If you have time, can work with a major reseller like Caboose hobbies or Mitchells, you can avoid all the hassles of ebay.They often have a list of ready buyers for certain items. That way you can work with an established price, and don’t have the worry of zany bidders on ebay. You may get a higher price on an item on ebay but it is not guaranteed and you may sell for less than you wanted to.
I think Caboose is too far west to attract PRR and Reading buyers in any quantity. I used to buy from a conigner/dealer in New Jersey who had a great stock of brass on consignment but I don’t rember the name.
Well consignment shops take what percentage of the sale? 25%? 35%? 50%? This could all be yours (less eBay & PayPal fees, which do add up).
Take lots of photos, or have some done for you. Show the models with their original boxes if you have them. Get a free account on Photobucket and host all of the auction photos there, it doesn’t cost anything.
First check out ongoing and completed items on eBay to see if there are similar models, to see what they have sold for. You have millions of potential customers on eBay rather than a few dozen or more that a shop might attract.
I sold several brass locos on eBay with zero problems, and we are talking well over $1,000 for a few of them. I am quite happy. One guy actually bought some things I hadn’t listed yet after he bought one engine and we got to talking, so no fees of any kind.
why not keep some of the locos and things for yourself? The NH and PRR did cross paths in a few places, and i think the NH even bought trackage rights on the PRR for some of its runs.
I mean, if you took the time to paint and (super) detail the locos, there has to be some attachment to them…
I knew I could count on you guys for some great advice. I didn’t realize the consigners took that big a bite. That rules them out. As far as using them on the New Haven, the only one that did was the GG1 after the PC fiasco and I am modeling 1937 to 1957. I had originally planned a PRR and NH layout with the Reading alongside the PRR but I am only working in a 24 x 44 foot building built for the purpose. It will feature the entire New Haven Union Station trackage and about 160 feet of Shore Ine and 180 feet of 4 track electrified lines west to New York. I am planning to liquidate the PRR, and Reading rosters along with a Riverossi Big Boy and Cab Forward to obtain the money to flesh out the NH roster so that I can operate prototypical consists and motive power confihurations.
As someone who recently switched scales and sold all of his HO collection of rolling stock, sturctures, track switches, and etc, ebay is a good way to do it, but a couple of warnings. List a set number of days for payment recieved and stick to it. In my experience 30% will pay immediately, another 30% within 1-3 days, another 30% within 5-7 days and the last 10% will take as long as they can, 10 days is a reasonable limit. Looking back one thing I would do differently is that I would make shipping insurance mandatory on anything that could remotely be damaged. If you offer a refund for returned merchandise, watch out for those who will want a partial refund and keep the item. I had a couple try this(whether it was buyers remorse or what I don’t know) and when I told them I did not partially refund to send the item back and that I would refund them in full, they decided that everything was ok. If you believe in your product, as soon as people pay leave feedback for them. As both a buyer and a seller one of my biggest pet peives is sellers who wait for me to pay, recieve the item and then leave feedback, before they do. Seems to me they aren’t very confident of their product. The only exception to that would be if you have had trouble with someone paying and had to repeatedly communicate to them deadlines, they may be angry enough to zap you even though your product is fine. Also respond to questions as quickly as possible, nothing frustrates buyers more than waiting days for a seller to answer a question. If you decide not to ship outside the US, you will still get people emailing you to ask if you will ship to where ever, I replied to the first dozen or so and then ignored them. It was stated clearly on my auctions that I sold only in the US. Be careful that you charge enough for shipping, but don’t go crazy on charges. Ebay offers a shipping calculator and it is a good thing to use. Depending on the zone you are shipping a 5 lb package can vary as much as 3.00 for priority mail. And as others hav
If you know a little about computers and e-Bay, definatley go with E-bay. Model RR buisness is booming on that site, and you yourself can also get some good deals. Good luck!
Feedback - I used to post feedback to buyers as soon as I received their payment, figuring they did their part. I’d ask them to post feedback on my eBay ID when they received the item, as it would let me know they got it.
You know - only about a third of the buyers would even bother to leave feedback. So when I started another round of auctions a few months ago (mostly cameras, no trains), I indicated that I would only post feedback when they posted on mine. You know what? Only one buyer didn’t bother to post, so I gained about 27 more positive feedbacks - my total now is 340. It’s not a matter of confidence in the items I’ve sold, it’s getting credit for delivering what I offered.
As to selling outside the US, I think anyone refusing to do so is losing out on a lot of potential buyers. Here in Canada we have a lot less selection in model rallroad items, and a lot of us buy through eBay. The only “extra” that you need to do to ship to us is add a small green customs tag with the contents and value (get it at the post office), and in some cases extra postage that should be paid for by the buyer. I’ve often asked sellers if they would ship to Canada, and most of the time they say yes, will cost $X more for shipping. Small parcels probably don’t cost anymore to ship here than in the U.S.
One other major point - you practically need to have a PayPal sellers’ account. My last round of auctions, only two paid by money orders. It’s fast - get your money and mail out the items right away and you’re done. It encourages bidders to buy more stuff, because they don’t have to go to the bank and get a money order, with the associated expenses, and also the postage. Sure PayPal takes a cut, but I look at it as a cost of doing business and I’m glad to get the payments quicker.
Hi… Just a few more comments on E-Bay… I have sold a large amount of auctions on E-Bay from my experiences…
As was mentioned before, I wait on giving feedback (when I am selling) to a make sure I get it back. This was done for a specific reason, I sold to an individual, combined his shipping and returned ca***o him. Then the guy had the nerve to give me a negative. Also you will recieve more feedback if you wait until they give it to you first for the reasons listed earlier
If you decide to take checks, state you will hold for 10 business days, that will help to reduce the # of the them you get. I don’t say I won’t take them cause that is the only way some people will pay, but you want to discourage it becasue it put more time on you.
You may want to require Insurance or Delivery Confirmation of the person paid via paypal with a credit card. Even if you choose to say no refunds, if they paid via credit card and used paypal, but claim they never got it, you will be forced to give the $$$ back. This way it protects you.
I always send things Priorty Mail… The cost differance is not much, and there is a big time differance. Also the USPS has boxes that will fit HO rolling stock or locomotive boxes nicely and they are FREE!!! Cuts down on your charge.
Never end a listing on the day before, of, or after a major Holiday. Avoid doing right after X-Mas, (people have less $$$ to spend). Also as above try to end during the evening when peope are at home and have time free to be on the PC.
Take a look at where the price structure of Ebay starts and ends on listings, you can avoid higher fees if you price a bit lower starting out. Espeicially if you are selling items in the $5-$40 range. For example start at 4.99 versus 5.00… etc. If you want to move an item, offer free shipping but make it up with a slightly higher price…