So, you've built up a collection and now decided it is time to sell it on,
or perhaps you have cleared out the attic and discovered a stash of untouched
toys from your childhood. Whatever, you have decided to turn the collection into cash.
In general the more time and effort you put into selling your collection the greater
the final value achieved will be, but just as you need to value your collection you also
need to value your time. Some people are quite happy to use up free hours in the evening
photographing and listing toys for sale online or spend the weekend travelling to toy fairs
to sit behind a table waiting for a customer. Indeed selling direct yourself, on or offline,
can be very rewarding as well as profitable. Most people however have other more pressing things
to do with their time and would much prefer someone else did all the work for them.
1. Value your collection.
This is the most important part, if you don't have a good idea as to what things are worth,
selling will become a lottery, you may be lucky but why take the chance.
Take a look at our valuing article for some help here.
2. Produce an inventory
Produce an accurate list of all the items in you collection, include manufacturer's name, model name,
condition grading (see valuing), and value. Then produce another copy of this list but without the values.
Never send a list with values on to potential buyers or dealers etc, they should know what things are worth
so if you have got your valuation too low a mean offer may be coming your way. If you have over valued your
collection you will probably receive no offer at all and therefore not have learned anything. Most dealers and
auction houses will ask to see a list detailing your collection before agreeing to sell on your behalf or travelling to view.
3. Select a selling method
Online Auctions like eBay are a great way to dispose of your collection
if you have a lot of time. You will need to accurately describe and take quality
photographs of each item to stand a chance of getting the best price. You
will also need to answer plenty of buyer's questions. Once the item is sold
you will then have to pack and despatch the toy and finally you may have to
deal with any complaints and returns. A high feedback rating on the auction
site will help greatly with getting the best bids.
This method of selling is very high labour but with the potential for good
returns. Total charges will vary but can be as high as 20% once you take into
account listing, final value & PayPal fees.
Opening an Online Shop is today very easy, you can use one of the many platforms
like eBay or if you have a very large collection to sell set up your own web
site. There are now some excellent ready to go web sites provided by such
companies as EKM. However with your own web site you will need to be patient
as it takes time for customers to find it. Platforms like eBay will find the
customers for you but of course at a price. You can set up an EKM shop for
as little as £20 per month whilst selling via eBay may cost as much as 20%
and you still have to do all the work.
Specialist Toy Auction Houses will have a good customer database and be
able to achieve on average a fair price for your toys. They will do all the
work even down to picking up the collection from your home. However the process
can sometimes be slow and the service comes at a price. You must take into
account that most auctions will charge the buyer and the seller a commission
and you will therefore in reality be paying in the region of 33% for the service.
It is possible to negotiate the commission on larger collections particularly
if the individual items are of high value as it is no more labour to process
an item for worth £500 than it is for one worth £100.
This method is low labour with reasonable returns but can be slow.
The Toy Dealer can be an excellent method of selling your collection if
you exercise a little care. When approaching a dealer it is essential that
you have a good idea of the value of your collection. A dealer needs to work
on a margin but this margin will vary according to a number of factors, generally
however, on high value individual items it may be as little as 20% but up
to 60% on large quantities of low value items. This again is due to the simple
fact that it is a lot of work to sell lots of cheap items. Remember that dealers
regularly need to replace stock and may pay over the odds if they happen to
be short. Always get an offer from more than one dealer if possible and don't
forget to haggle.
This method of selling can be quick and low labour with a good return if a
little care is taken.
Toy Fairs can be approached in two ways. Firstly you can turn up outside
at a fair with your collection in the car, then approach dealers inside and
ask them to come out and take a look at you wares. Secondly you can rent a
table and sell to collectors at the fair. This second method is high risk
as even on a good day you will only sell a proportion of your collection and
on a bad day you might take home nothing more than your toys and a certain
respect for the other sellers who attend fairs on a regular basis. I would
recommend the first option in that it makes it easy to meet a number of dealers
at the same time. Take care not to organise a situation where more than one
dealer is invited out to view your toys at the same time. That can sometimes
be a bit awkward.
In summary you will probably achieve the best return on your
collection if you set up your own web site but this method is best suited to very large collections and a lot of work and patience is
required. The fastest method of disposal is to go via a dealer but you must of course
take into account that a dealer needs to make a living and some negotiating
skills may be required.
If you would like help selling your collection see our new brokerage
service.
