Consignment Auctions

[jlspec]

As I get closer to retirement I have decided to downsize most of my assorted collections (not my aircraft). I have shelves full of 1/18 Ertl / American Muscle Diecast, Star Wars, and sports figures. Has anyone used a consignment auction service to move alot of stuff. I don't want the hassle of ebay
Thanks for any thoughts or other ideas

[kimtheredxd]

only advice I could give is make sure the auction is specific to the types of items you are selling. A general auction would probably be bad, as the items might not bring much and some auction house dont even do reserves. so you get what you get. less there cut which could be 20 percent or more. check there previous sales records to see what kind of prices they realize for items sold. and read the WHOLE contract line by line they some times can have interesting clauses included that favors them immensely. good luck

[normandy]

Sounds like good advice.
Good to hear from you Kim.

[maritime96]

Having a lot of experience with this type of stuff I will warn you to prepare your self for disappointment with the prices on a lot of those items. Toy and diecast car prices are way down. I know people who payed almost $75 a car for some of the diecast NASCAR stuff and they don't fetch $25 these days. You can go the auction house route, but like has been said read the fine print. There are also places that will buy your collection outright to sell themselves. Most of them will pay about 50% of what the items will actually sell for because they have to list them, pack them and ship them; all while still making a profit. If you go that route have a price in mind you are looking to get and a price you would be willing to accept, it will make the process much easier. Stores that do that are the quickest route to divest yourself of your stuff and you can walk out with cash in hand, but remember convience costs. Doing ebay yourself will always net you the most money, but it is also the most work.

[jlspec]

Thanks for the advice. I have a lot of leg work to do.

[BELTxFED]

I would suggest selling in lots on this board and on other sites. Form them up into groups, don't just let the crowd cherry pick your stuff, only to leave you with hard to sell items.

For example, a single lot of 1/32 armor: 3 desireable FoV's, 1 less than desireable FoV, and a mix 3 of 21C vevhicles. The popular FoV's mixed with mostly decent other stuff will cut down on your work.

I think if you have to sell for less, might as well do it here. Lots probably should be presented one or two at a time. Pay no attention to the "if you part out your lots" posts. Of course everybody wants an NKK Spitfire , so make them buy a P-40 as well ...both for a good price that makes you and the buyer happy.

Good luck and have fun selling with your collection. Afterall, buying and letting go is all part of the fun.