Pete J. Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 I am getting to the age that I need to dispose of some of my huge collection of kits. Frankly, I don't want to leave this mess to my family to try and figure out. I know we cannot sell them on this site, so I am looking for advise on other websites that you may have used to either buy or sell on. I know that I can go to e-bay, but they have such a huge book that I suspect my offerings may get lost. I have some rare stuff that is worth hundreds if not close to thousands, but the majority are more mudain pieces that I would like to see go to a good home. The vast majority of the kits are Tamiya autos and bikes. Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89AKurt Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 If you can stomach Facebook, there are several model "Marketplace" groups. The Admins tend to keep out ripoff artists. FB even offers a way to pay, but I'm leery of spreading such information around. I've acquired several kits via this source. I'm also not adverse to eBay. Will PM you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 9 minutes ago, Pete J. said: I know that I can go to e-bay, but they have such a huge book that I suspect my offerings may get lost. Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated. Use eBay, and use succinct, accurate descriptions. Trust me, people will find what they are looking for if you have a good listing title and description. It's tough to beat that worldwide market, and you can get plenty of free Priority Mail shipping boxes from USPS in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike999 Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 (edited) Casey's right about succinct, accurate descriptions. I've been selling on eBay since the days of money orders, before PayPal existed and you had to provide your own photo hosting. Which reminds me...put at least one clear photo in your listing. Also put some thought into your listing's TITLE. It's the first thing buyers will see when they search, along with the photo. As an example: BAD TITLE: Revell '57 Chevy Kit Rare! BETTER TITLE: Revell '57 Chevy #1234 Original Issue SEALED Revell has re-issued its '57 Chevy many times and none of them are very rare. There's also a Snap-Kit. Younger buyers may have never seen an original kit, so even a photo of the box art won't help them much. But the "Better Title" at least lets them know it's an original and shrink-wrapped. Collectors will want to know the same info. Space is limited in the TITLE, but if you can't fit the Kit Number in the title, at least put it in your listing. I'm always surprised by how many eBay sellers don't bother to give the kit number, or any really useful information. I just looked at an old Jo-Han kit on eBay, where the photos told me something important: the chassis had been sawed into 2 pieces. The seller didn't mention that in the listing, until I messaged them and asked about it. Edited January 16, 2020 by Mike999 goof Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webestang Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 When I sell on E-Bay I look to see if an item has SOLD that I want to sell and use that listing as a guide, if it sold once it should sell again......seems to work most times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbill Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 Depending on the size of the ‘lot’ of kits you want to liquidate, and how much time/hassle you want to spend, and how much you need to get out of the ‘run of the mill’ kits, maybe contact one of the guys that buy collections. Granted, you won’t get market value, but you can liquidate in one fell swoop, obviously, keep the high end stuff and sell that at your leisure, or hang on to it. Just another avenue to look at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeE Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Correct spelling. Searches don't fix spelling errors, and they look silly. I've found great stuff wandering amongst the misspelled listings. People missed it, and I didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Smith Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 (edited) 10 hours ago, Casey said: Use eBay, and use succinct, accurate descriptions. Trust me, people will find what they are looking for if you have a good listing title and description. It's tough to beat that worldwide market, and you can get plenty of free Priority Mail shipping boxes from USPS in advance. Yes. For rare kits, people will find them. Buyers save searches, so every time a kit they are looking for or collect comes up, they get an email. Rare kits sell for hundreds of dollars all day long on eBay. I can’t think of any other market that compares to eBay’s in terms of exposure and buyers. Make sure you have lots of clear, uncluttered photos. Show all the parts on opened kits. Include a good description. Don’t start them priced too high for auctions. I start all my auctions at the old school .99 - it gets buyers involved and gives them a sense of “mine”. Time your listings as well - don’t list them to end at 1:30 on a Monday - most people with money are working. I found it best to end on Saturday afternoon or evenings. There is more traffic. Also it gives you Sunday to pack and get them to the post on Monday. Don’t list run of the mill or easy to find kits for .99, you will end up selling them for .99 plus shipping... For Run of the mill and common kits, sell them in groups. You will not make any money on run of the mill kits and selling more than one at a time reduces your time in listing, packing, and shipping. Just make sure your kits will fit in a box that will ship priority at the lower rate - last time I sold off some kits I was unaware of the new volume restrictions (not just weight) - I cant remember the dimensions, but shipping went from something like $15 (based on weight) up to $50 because my box was a couple inches too big. You can sell run of the mill Kits singly for a buy it now, but you will be sitting on them for long periods of time. if you want to get rid of a large portion easy, look for craigslist ads for people buying collections. Edited January 17, 2020 by Erik Smith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemodeler Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 A lot of great advice and I agree that if you have some desirable kits, eBay is the way to go. Be prepared to answer questions from bidders and spend time boxing stuff up and going to the post office. You might want to see if there are any shows coming to your area and get a table to sell there. I have moved some larger quantities of kits at shows because people come looking for deals and sometimes other vendors will buy your collection on the spot. Best of luck. Make sure you educate your family on what your collection is worth so when the day comes, they don't drop them off at Goodwill or sell them at a garage sale for $1 a piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomerS Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Check local toy/collectible stores. One local to me will give 25% to buy and 50% to trade. Be leery of antique malls as I know one vendor that sells bobbleheads for $15-20 each but only gives $1-2 to purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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