This may be really random but I have a lot of buildings and accessories some custom made and some store bought that I want to get rid of. I have an Ebay account but have never sold anything on there. Anyone have any ideas on how to get started on this? I live in central Illinois and if anyone is interested in this let me know or maybe how I could get it out there as the locals don't have much interest in this. Thanks!
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Why not list them here on the BUY/SELL forum? If the price is right and you post photos it'll sell.
Look through the For Sale/Trade Forum and decide if you could list your items in a similar manner and at a similar price level. You should have an Internet address in your profile when listing items as people will need to contact you. Decide how you want to be paid and how quickly you will mail items which sell. Will you accept reasonable offers? Can people pickup what they buy? Will you be at the monthly train show at the DuPage County Fair Grounds?
If you are selling rolling stock, order from the USPS their 'shoe box' shipping boxes. At no charge they will deliver to your front door a package of knocked down boxes each of which will hold a 14" x 7" x 5" item. If a single item is longer than 14" (i.e. passenger cars) place it in a box, close one end and cut a second box to length for cover the first box. Purchase a roll of two inch wide packaging tape. Purchase or find some packing material. Look for a source of clean shipping containers for multiple and bulky items. Good sources are liquor stores, fast food chains and florists.
Have you heard, "A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step?" Take a few pictures of an item and place it in the FOR SALE Forum Sunday morning. Get you feet wet and see what happens.
John in Lansing, ILL
No offense intended at all, but if you've "never" gotten a sale on ebay, your pricing too high. Have you tried adding the "make an offer" option?
Train Nut posted:No offense intended at all, but if you've "never" gotten a sale on ebay, your pricing too high. Have you tried adding the "make an offer" option?
You are making a rather large assumption here, that he has even tried selling on Ebay. I read the original post very differently. I have exactly one sale on my account, but over 400 purchases. Selling on Ebay isn't as easy as selling on the forum.
The "best" approach depends on your objective. Maximum dollars vs. getting what you can and moving on to other projects. Custom built items can be tough to sell, as everyone has a different opinion regarding levels of craftsmanship, and they can be difficult to pack and ship.
For the store-bought items, posting them on the forum is probably the best option - properly priced items will sell. For the custom-built items, I agree with the previous suggestion of getting a table at the DuPage meet - the buyer can tell exactly what they are getting.
IMO, eBay has become too much of a hassle for selling, between the fees, scammers, and a buyer's ability to contest almost anything.
Donate them to me. Problem solved.....LOL
Train Nut posted:No offense intended at all, but if you've "never" gotten a sale on ebay, your pricing too high. Have you tried adding the "make an offer" option?
Yes, as big boy 4005 pointed out I think I may have misinterpreted your post. I took it to say that you've been trying to sell on eBay and haven't sold anything. EBay is a hassle, but to me it's still the best way to unload things and get a reasonable price for them. PayPal makes it easy to collect your money too.
Train Nut posted:Train Nut posted:No offense intended at all, but if you've "never" gotten a sale on ebay, your pricing too high. Have you tried adding the "make an offer" option?
Yes, as big boy 4005 pointed out I think I may have misinterpreted your post. I took it to say that you've been trying to sell on eBay and haven't sold anything. EBay is a hassle, but to me it's still the best way to unload things and get a reasonable price for them. PayPal makes it easy to collect your money too.
That's an assessment I can agree with. 
The advantage of using the forum to sell, is no fees, but there can be some risk. I've had almost perfect results dealing with forum members. I say almost, because there was one transaction, a long time ago, that could have gone better. It was resolved eventually. Forum members are a smaller, but dedicated audience.
Ebay reaches a much larger audience. Those pesky fees do come with some protections though. Buying on the bay is easy, selling is a bit of a can of worms, as it comes with responsibilities. I have tons of stuff I should get rid of, but never want to take the time to list it.
Let's see what you have - I know I am always looking for buildings and accessories.
I'm interested too, but I think the moderators would say the proper way is to list them with prices.
dcam88 posted:Anyone have any ideas on how to get started on this?
Selling isn't fun, and it's not supposed to be. It's business, and many depend upon their livelihood doing it.
rattler21 posted:This may be a sham. Without an Internet address, there is no way to contact this member off list to make offers to buy or offers to help. John in Lansing, ILL
Not so fast John, he's been a member for a while now. He's not actually offering anything for sale. A lot of members don't have a display email listed. Now if he does want to sell his stuff on the forum, he'll have to fix that, but for now, let's not jump to conclusions.
Just some things to know about selling on eBay:
eBay charges you 10% of your total price. Your total price is how much you sold the item for plus what you charged for shipping. Yes. eBay charges you 10% on what the shipping was.
Then, PayPal charges you 2.9%, plus 30 cents per transaction; again, on that total price.
While that may sound like a lot . . . there's no other single way to reach that many potential customers.
We have had good luck on Ebay grouping items of similar nature (such as accessories) together and selling them as a lot. We always price the lot at noticeably less than if we were selling the items individually and so folks can see a good bargain in front of them. This seems to work well for various items in one category and much better and with far less hassle than selling them one by one.
Big_Boy_4005 posted:rattler21 posted:This may be a sham. Without an Internet address, there is no way to contact this member off list to make offers to buy or offers to help. John in Lansing, ILL
Not so fast John, he's been a member for a while now. He's not actually offering anything for sale. A lot of members don't have a display email listed. Now if he does want to sell his stuff on the forum, he'll have to fix that, but for now, let's not jump to conclusions.
Well said, Elliot. Since you can't take anything at face value on the internet, I checked the OP's join date and post count before replying. And I see no attempt to circumvent any "for sale" rules.
Train Nut posted:No offense intended at all, but if you've "never" gotten a sale on ebay, your pricing too high. Have you tried adding the "make an offer" option?
I have never posted an item for sale.
Mallard4468 posted:The "best" approach depends on your objective. Maximum dollars vs. getting what you can and moving on to other projects. Custom built items can be tough to sell, as everyone has a different opinion regarding levels of craftsmanship, and they can be difficult to pack and ship.
For the store-bought items, posting them on the forum is probably the best option - properly priced items will sell. For the custom-built items, I agree with the previous suggestion of getting a table at the DuPage meet - the buyer can tell exactly what they are getting.
IMO, eBay has become too much of a hassle for selling, between the fees, scammers, and a buyer's ability to contest almost anything.
To be honest if I took a loss that would be fine I just want to get the stuff moving for cheap. Too much clutter
John H posted:I'm interested too, but I think the moderators would say the proper way is to list them with prices.
I will take pics and take my try at the for sale section.
Big_Boy_4005 posted:rattler21 posted:This may be a sham. Without an Internet address, there is no way to contact this member off list to make offers to buy or offers to help. John in Lansing, ILL
Not so fast John, he's been a member for a while now. He's not actually offering anything for sale. A lot of members don't have a display email listed. Now if he does want to sell his stuff on the forum, he'll have to fix that, but for now, let's not jump to conclusions.
It's not a sham. I have a layout I've been updating for years check my topics! I just never sold anything online before.
Can't wait to see the pics -- good luck with your sale!!
Dewman51 posted:Can't wait to see the pics -- good luck with your sale!!
Ditto!!!!!!!!!
Tom (Gilly@N&W) offers good advice about listing on Ebay. Pay heed to what he says about photos and descriptions. As someone who makes most of his train purchases on Ebay, I can tell you that I am far more likely to bid on an item if it has good photos and a good description. Remember: a good photo is an in-focus photo. Out-of-focus photos are almost always worthless. If an item has any defects, include pictures of them, in addition to noting them in the description.
People complain about the fees, but remember that they are buying you exposure to the marketplace, seller protections, and a straight-forward process. I've only sold one or two items on Ebay, but it was easier than I expected.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
