Opinions on best auction/consignment/cash offer sites for collections

Stouts is great. Buy or selling, they work for you. They get my vote!

There was actually someone, no later than a month ago or less,I have forgotten who it was, that had publicized his interaction with some of the above mentioned sites. Which was very good.Hopefully someone will chime in on this.

I've had a very good ongoing experience over several years with BrassTrains.com for consignment sales. They maintain an excellent website and provid very good photographic documentation for every item listed.

Their listing in O gauge are almost all 2-rail models, but they usually have a few 3-rail brass items as well.

Because I live close enough to Cabin Fever Auctions to drive there they are my favorite auction. Although I miss the live auctions

Since we have several advertisers that offer this service, we should do our best to use them.  They support the forum and magazine which helps keep it going.  So ... please keep this in mind AND if you are going to mention a service other than a sponsor/advertiser, then no direct links.  Thanks.

@GZ posted:

Stouts is great. Buy or selling, they work for you. They get my vote!

Same here. They sold everything I had, and I was VERY pleased.

I sold about a dozen items through Stout's a few years ago and was very pleased with the outcome.  Since they're not too far away, I delivered the trains directly to them.  If you have a large collection or particularly desirable items, you may be able to negotiate having the auction pick them up or pay for shipping.

Things to consider with an auction include watching the kind of prices they tend to get for items like what you're planning to sell, the costs associated with getting the items to them (shipping, delivery, pick up), how well they promote their auctions, and overall reputation (there have been auction houses that failed to pay the seller).  Don't get too wound up about their commission percentage or buyer's premium - what matters is how much you net as the seller.

How quickly you need the money is another factor.  You might wait months for an auction house to sell your items and provide payment, while a cash offer is immediate - but there's a cost associated with getting paid quickly.

OK...I'll put my two cents in this.  Stouts used to be a sponsor when Derek Thomas was there however not long after Derek left, I received communications from them letting me know that they could do without OGR (in so many words).  Again, I hope you consider doing business with sponsors / advertisers or at least giving them a shot first.  Same goes with Cabin Fever however Jared was very nice and mentioned that they may come back as a forum sponsor in the future.

You just need to contact each potential buyer and talk to them as their interest may vary depending on what they already have in stock. For example if you want to sell an engine that they already have 4 of, they may not be interested in a 5th.

I would say be organized in exactly what you want to sell and make this more of a conversation. Every situation is different imo.

Trainz!!!! And a forum sponsor, c'mon guys & gals. My wife has been informed to get ahold of Scott at Trainz when that fateful day comes. Just my two cents

Word to the wise: regardless of who you choose, do your loved ones a favor and catalog your entire collection to the extent possible, and let them know where to find this information!  I have a large spreadsheet that details my collection which can simply be sent to an auction house / estate liquidator when I kick the bucket.  This will make that part of the process infinitely easier.

BTW, the spreadsheet is also useful while you're still alive, too.  :-)  For example, I use it to track the names and unique numbers of my GGD passenger cars so I can quickly determine whether "I've already got that one" when individual items pop up somewhere.

Select a place that works best for you.  Contact all of those mentioned above and do your homework.  You're the one that has to feel comfortable with them.

Do any of these buyers or auction houses specialize in, or at least handle a lot of, postwar Flyer?  That needs to go first before I start to sell off the excess Lionel items.  I do some shows but the Flyer collection needs to go and the amount of Lionel is probably more than I can sell in the next couple of years.  Thanks for any help.

@lionelflyer posted:

Do any of these buyers or auction houses specialize in, or at least handle a lot of, postwar Flyer?  That needs to go first before I start to sell off the excess Lionel items.  I do some shows but the Flyer collection needs to go and the amount of Lionel is probably more than I can sell in the next couple of years.  Thanks for any help.

I've seen a lot of postwar Flyer on both Stout's and Cabin Fever.  It seems like they hold onto things so that they can list a lot of related items together in the same auction.  A good place to start would be to look at the results of past auctions at the various sites - it will give you an idea of what kind of stuff they sell and an idea of the hammer price (which is what your payment is based on).

If you want to see opinions regarding a particular auction house, search the forum for them - you'll find LOTS of opinions.

Our club uses Lloyd Ralston in Shelton CT.

To me, it seems like the time of year effects many of the results.

Two years ago  I was somewhat time-constrained to sell my house after my wife died. I tried emailing and phoning Stout but never received an answer to either attempt. I then contacted Trains and a young lady called me back the same day telling me to list my items with condition and catalog numbers. I ended with eleven pages of items. About two days later I had a quote from them which I accepted as they were also going to send a truck to collect my collection. They paid me half of their quoted "buy' price" once I accepted their offer; once they had picked the items up and returned them to Atlanta and inventoried them, they sent the balanced owed.

In my instance, Trains came through for me in the clutch and have to say the amount they paid was fair for a re-seller. As my friend likes to say, "I never saw a U-Haul following a hearse"......

@D&H 65 posted:

As my friend likes to say, "I never saw a U-Haul following a hearse".

Your friend is a wise man indeed.  Is his name Confucius?

As mentioned previously, a list of items is good for many purposes.  Insurance, checking what you already have bought, deciding what can let go, (once you realize you have bought too much) and of course when you head to the big roundhouse in the sky.

I had real good experience with Trainz I think.  I sold almost all my O gauge Lionel stuff to them. I made a list, they gave me a price, picked it up at my door, well coordinated went smooth, I was ready and helped load etc.  The driver gave me a check for half down their estimate then no more than 2 weeks later got the balance in full.  Couldn’t have been easier, nice people too.  I think it’s a well organized outfit, I have bought a standard gauge item here and there and always top notch in my opinion.  I have no qualms about trusting them in either way.  I’m very loyal, it’s just the way I am, if I think you are trying hard I will stick with you, but Trainz has never tested me this way.  That said I have no experience selling to another outfit, that was a one shot deal so to speak.

My experience with Trainz, about 6 weeks ago, was not very good. I have/had a modest collection of Postwar Lionel, I needed to dispose of rather quickly, due to a rapidly upcoming move and downsizing. I called and talked with someone there at Trainz. They basically were not interested. They supposedly have seen a slowing market and must have too much inventory on hand. I would not count on them to take your items. Luckily, someone not far away saw my ad and bought the whole lot of items I had.

Jeff

I would say all my stuff was early TMCC, PWC series, etc.   I will sheepishly admit I collected every TMCC GP7/9 ever made.  My only venture into collecting and I did love those geeps, but I kinda learned I don’t need all that.  Just regular cars and some accessories.  This was probably circa 2016 when  we made the deal.  Times change or maybe there is more of a demand for one thing over another.  Don’t think I’ll ever venture back into O gauge, but it was fun while it lasted.  If I remember correctly Breeze is an early TMCC guy too, maybe there is more of a demand for that than postwar.  Make a list first, then ask around.

Whatever Auction House you choose, MAKE SURE THEY TAKE BIDS ON LINE AND ADVERTISE HEAVILY!

Without internet bidding and heavy advertising, you will not get the best bang for your buck. Just having a face book page doesnt cut it as on line advertising and on line bidding. Remember these auction houses charge You the seller as well as the buyer.

This is where Stout, Harris, Cabin Fever, and other auction houses with on line bidding excell!

Good luck!

You may want to check out Mr muffins trains a forum sponsor.  They run auctions every month with used items.  Details on their web site the cost are transparent.  I have purchased a number of items from these auctions and the products were as described and process smooth.  

Steve and his family are top notch.  https://mrmuffinstrains.com/pa...nd-saturday-auctions

Rich883, I second Mr Muffins, how could have i forgot about them!!! Steve is a real treasure to our hobby. I know he gets "a lot" of my train $$$$$$$ on the new items. First rate dealer, like some many other forum sponsors. What a great time to be in O Gauge.

Jeff