WHERE to sell or WHO to use to liquidate huge train inventory?

20% seems like a very good deal for a fee.    A reseller would probably not even give you 50 cents on the dollar.   But he would give you your money  up front.      He would be stuck with the inventory until he could sell to recoup his investment.

I would be very surprised if the 20% fee included coming to your place, packing the trains, and hauling them to the auction house, especially in this era of high gas costs.

Just as a point of comparison, opted to liquidate my lifetime collection by establishing a "virtual estate sale" website.   Seven years and counting, all-in cost thus far has been 28% of original prices paid for merchandise sold.  Does not include donation of much time and labor to the effort, but it's been fun and keeps the brain active.

Why not check directly with Trainz and find out their details.  They are just one click away as they are an  OGR Forum sponsor.  Their ad resides at the top of this page in the advertisers section ... in the 4th row down from the top.

Ted Maurer is another auction house that does a lot of trains.

I would suggest Stouts. Its an actual auction house. You get what is bid minus a sellers premium. Quality items will likely fetch more that what the outfits that simply buy your trains and resell them will give you, usually a fraction of market value.

Pete

For truly mint, high end stuff, Stout Auctions is far and away the best place.  They will also come to your place for pickup.  I used them several years ago for my overstock and was very happy with the outcome. One of their auction/warehouse facilities is in Pennsylvania so they are not far from you.

I second Stout as they seem to get the most bids for their auctions. Be weary that Stout may be picky as they want most items with their OEM boxes.

I'm thinking about selling most of mine as I would like to switch scales.   Let us know how you come out if you sell.

I've heard horror stories of sellers being low balled. Be careful of who you get to sell your collection.

@trumptrain posted:

Why not check directly with Trainz and find out their details.  They are just one click away as they are an  OGR Forum sponsor.  Their ad resides at the top of this page in the advertisers section ... in the 4th row down from the top.

Pat makes a good recommendation. When I closed our train shop, Trainz in Georgia gave us a good offer and came by Baltimore on the way back from York to collect them and take them to Georgia. They are true professionals and are quite honest.

Jim, VINCE is back in the game!

Ambrose Bauer, Pittsburgh.  Expect 10 to 15% of purchase price.  Related expenses, trucking, sorting, cleaning, etc. are monitored and deducted as sales expense.  At the time of Matt Irwin's death, we,(Fort Pitt High Railers) worked with Bauer to sell Matt's Trains, proceeds to his wife.   Bauer provided a truck and two workers, to Matt's home.  We helped load the truck. There was/were additional trains beyond, what the truck would hold.  We, (Fort Pitt High Railers) rented a second truck, for the remaining trains.   Lots of work, expect 10 to 15% of purchase price.  A hot item that got close to purchase price, was a recent issue Lionel Big Boy.   Sad day,  I spent a few more days removing what was left, of Matt's home layout, lower level of the home.   Most of the layout, less the few remaining switches, and track, was burned.   

I was very pleased with the results Drew Bauer at Ambrose Bauer got for me selling my collection. The amount of “eyeballs” he put on his auctions, to me, was worth the commission he changed.
His fee for sending two men and a truck to pick the stuff up a my house was worth it to me. He combined my stop with another east of me to greatly reduce my share of the expense.

All in all a very positive experience.

Brad

@Jim Rawlings posted:

If one wishes to sell a lifetime collection of mint engines, freight and passenger cars, both 3 rail and tinplate, I am aware of such companies like Cabin Fever Auctions as well as Trainz.  Cabin Fever comes to your location, packs, removes and conducts the auction for, as I understand it, a 20% fee deducted from gross sales. I have no info on Trainz or any others.  What is needed is the best auction site which comes to your location to pack up, remove the trains and then provided the best return.  So, if anyone has some helpful input, please respond here or send me an e mail at "JDRlaw1776@gmail.com".

Thanks very much!!!  Jim

Jim either Pete at justrains or Kenny at Trainland might be good places to call. Even if they are not onboard both men are honest and may be able to point you in the right direction

Just a thought Jim, but it appears that you live in Pennsylvania, so you are probably within a 3 hour drive of York.

I would rent a table at the next York show, pack up all of the stuff, and man a table for three days to sell it.  (Don't take any "smalls".  I.e., low price items that take up table space. Set a limit of something like $30 and above.)

Mark it 10% to 15% less than fair value, and give additional discounts if people buy multiple items in lots.  Put sets of related cars together in advance for bulk sales.

Advertise in advance by posting a list here, and make it cash sales only.  (Unless there is a trusted dealer from whom you will take a company check.)   Post and sign it as a Private Collection Liquidation Sale.

Hopefully, you can sell more than half of the stuff, and while you are there, go to the other tables and tell them that you are going to auction off all of the remaining items 2 hours before the show closes.  I am not sure if you can run an auction from your table, but there should be some place very close by where this can be done. Open each bid at 50% of fair value. You would be surprised at how often a frenzy of bidding can occur.

Anything that is priced at a real bargain may very well be bought up by other dealers before the show even opens.

Be sure to bring a counterfeit detector pen and check every bill $20 and above.  And be sure to bring along at least one helper.

It would be interesting to know approximately how many items you have.  100?  200?  500?

Even if you are planning to have a dealer come to your house to look at the entire collection, you are going to have to prepare a complete itemized list of everything and the prices in advance, plus pack it up yourself, unless you want to pay $40 to $60 per man hour for "packing charges."   So, since you are going to do that stuff anyway, take it to York.

I have doubts as to whether a dealer or auction company you contact would want to take "everything" in your collection.  They will almost certainly pick and choose.  If you make them take "all or nothing", then they are going to pay you very little for the items that they don't want.

So go to York first.  What have you got to lose?  Yes, it will be exhausting, but getting rid of a large bulk of items in one swoop will be worth it.

Mannyrock

Mannyrock,

You obviously have never dealt with Stout Auctions.  Basically none of what you said is true of them.

Hot Water was very happy with Stout, in fact I got one of his engines in his auction

I don't know what to think. Only getting 10 to 15 % seems low to me considering what this stuff is bringing on Ebay.

I'm doing inventory on my stuff and I'm up to 29 steam locomotives and counting. I hope if Jim sells his trains he does a lot better than 15%.

@Mike CT posted:

Ambrose Bauer, Pittsburgh.  Expect 10 to 15% of purchase price.

That’s a typo, right?  10-15%?

Any old Legacy diesel is $500-600.  Can you imagine if you listed a Legacy diesel here (or anywhere) for less than $100?  It would sell in a nanosecond.