selling my trains

That's a good question.  It concerns my wife more than me.  She'd like to know what a good options for a small collections (about 100 items - cars, locos, accessories and a lot of track./

I really don't care what happens to my trains, sell them, throw them away or keep them. It's up to the person that gets them. 

Dave

An alternative to auctioning/selling them off: find a 501(c)(3) non-profit that is interested in receiving the trains as a donation. Ideally the would even come to pick them up. It might take a little bit of work to find the right home, but your wife would receive the whole value of the collection as a tax deduction.

Selling trains yourself (as with e-Bay) is time-consuming -- photographing every piece, writing descriptive text, posting the listings on line, monitoring the auction process, packing and shipping the stuff to winning bidders, dealing with "bottom feeders" who may offer bids that are an insult to you, and handling an occasional discontented bidder or buyer.

An auction house would do all that work for you -- for a fee. Expect to get about 33% of current market value from an auction house, such as Stout Auctions. They'll drive to your location and pick it all up. After the auction sale is done, they'll send a check. Because of my medical situation, I decided to sell my entire Rock Island O-gauge collection through Stout -- to spare my wife/widow the agony of the transaction.  The Stout team sold eight pages of inventory in a weekend!

Afterwards, my medical issues cleared and (with 20/20 hindsight) my decision to sell may have been somewhat premature. But the "de-collecting" would need to be done sooner or later.

Mike Mottler   LCCA 12394
mottlerm@gmail.com

I am about to find out.  I have had enough disappointment in new O-gauge equipment and a lack of a commitment to have parts for the new engines.  I have been trying to get parts for new 21" passenger cars for five months.  I am going back to HO.  Of the 130 HO engines I purchased, only two did not work when I received them. One I fixed, and the other was DOA with no hope of resuscitation or resurrection.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

I will be selling on Ebay as (john.rowlen)  No hiding my name from buyers.  Ebays structure of accounting and payments is excellent in helping the seller keep sales organized.  The Ebay protection is good for buyers, offering protection from shipping damage and misrepresentation of items.  "Nobody makes money buying and selling trains today."  My personal collection was fun to create.  Selling it may take time. 

I will leave my layout and all the trains to my family and they can decide what to do with it.

Phil:  What trains do you want to sell?  PW or modern?  Ho  or O ga?

Rob

After a while without touching my trains I started a few weeks ago to pack them up.  I was thinking a garage sale for trains only.  I don't want to mail stuff and I don't want to pay eBay a fee.  They are taking up a fourth bedroom in my home and it is time to move on.  I was thinking of putting up 5 or 6 tables in my garage stacking everything on top and posting on here and other places advertising the sale.  When people come I will have a transformer and small circle to test accessories or trains.  Here is the post I started a while back - https://ogrforum.com/...train-bedroom?page=1

Hmmm.......had not really thought about this much.....I don’t plan on leaving anytime soo......but I guess I should.... I suspect my wife would seek help from my train buddies in modular group.... another good reason to have good long standing friendships in the hobby.

Peter

I found selling off my fast track [& some cars] of which I had several hundred linear feet and somewhere in the teens of switches to be ... Kinda fun. I used the ogr, eBay and online retailers to guess at a price. I did not sweat the "profits". I was more interested in finding good homes etc... I got quite good at guessing shipping and making boxes... From time to time I even would beat a flat rate box. Once or twice I cut some slack on shipping to the buyer because that's what I wanted to do... And eventually it was all gone. I tried to price it to get interest right away. The languishing ad .... languishes.

That a good topic.  I have a relatively small collection that I may have put 50-60,000.00 into.  Even if my heirs could get say 10,000.00 out of it, its is still a good chunk of change.  The problem is they know nothing about trains except they are fun to watch and run.  So I have given them a list of a couple places that will come give them at least a decent amount and handle the trains for them rather then guessing at what to do and getting nothing for them.  

That's all you need to do is give them some choices to contact and explain that those places have to make money too and only will give them a third or so of what they are worth.

I once saw a neighbor's wife who had all these Century Club II sets, mint unopened, just throw them in the garbage because he had no idea they were anything but toys and did not know where to take them , so I gave her one of the hobby shop names to take them to and she got some nice change for them (she gave me a set of my choice for helping her which was nice)

Luckily I have 2 hobby shops that buy trains in my area of the country.  But give them a list in order of who they should contact in case some places are no longer around when you move on from this world.

John Rowlen posted:

I am about to find out.  I have had enough disappointment in new O-gauge equipment and a lack of a commitment to have parts for the new engines.  I have been trying to get parts for new 21" passenger cars for five months.  I am going back to HO.  Of the 130 HO engines I purchased, only two did not work when I received them. One I fixed, and the other was DOA with no hope of resuscitation or resurrection.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

I will be selling on Ebay as (john.rowlen)  No hiding my name from buyers.  Ebays structure of accounting and payments is excellent in helping the seller keep sales organized.  The Ebay protection is good for buyers, offering protection from shipping damage and misrepresentation of items.  "Nobody makes money buying and selling trains today."  My personal collection was fun to create.  Selling it may take time. 

John, sad to see you sell yours; if you have any sealed Big Boys, I would be interested in one: RickM46@live.com

I recently read an article about a train collection owned by a gentleman named Dennis Chandler who had amassed the largest Lionel collection perhaps in the world.  To make a long story short it was purchased by a museum in Painesville, Ohio.  They will build a museum to handle and display it.  They apparently purchased it for about one fifth the estimated value.  I suspect that was because he wanted the collection to remain together.  I also remember reading about someone several years ago that wanted to donate his collection to a train museum if they would promise to keep it together.  They declined.

My point here.  Enjoy your trains.  If I could take them with me I would.  However my instructions to the family are to put me in the nearest dumpster when I die because at that point I don't care.

I collect.  I don't have time to build a layout, maybe later.  I have, in my mind, built a very nice collection of Weaver, Williams and MTH.  Compared to the amount of product out there it is not important and with enough money and a little effort I could duplicate it within a few months.  At least one of my sons will want the trains and that is fine with me.  There is other stuff for the other kids.  Anyone want a collection of three to four hundred electric shavers?  Or, maybe you are curious just how many little hand held TV's were produced before they were made obsolete by cell phones.  Trust me, a lot!

If the end goal is the wind up with the most money and ones time spent is not important then ebay is the only real answer.  The largest number of possible buyers will see the product and determine just how special your years of fun is worth.

Check into a local auction house. Yes you need to get them there but most only charge a about 20% to sell and then they charge about the same to the buyer . But your only getting more than just 30% once it is done. Even if the auction house gets $50 for the item you get $35., if it's worth $75 and you get 30% you will only get $22.50

trainz will give you a third of a third of a third so your wife wound not get much out of the but trainz would triple there profit. your better to ell them out right or at a tca meet in York and some place like that!

you can sell them here on ogrforum for free but I believe you have  to sell them individually which would take time but probably make out better if your wife have the time to put pictures and description on forum!

John R. I am sad to read you are leaving O gauge. Your detailing is/ was such an inspiration to me.. The. O gauge hobby will be truly poorer for it . 

All my best Frank I.

Mike H Mottler posted:

Selling trains yourself (as with e-Bay) is time-consuming -- photographing every piece, writing descriptive text, posting the listings on line, monitoring the auction process, packing and shipping the stuff to winning bidders, dealing with "bottom feeders" who may offer bids that are an insult to you, and handling an occasional discontented bidder or buyer.

An auction house would do all that work for you -- for a fee. Expect to get about 33% of current market value from an auction house, such as Stout Auctions. They'll drive to your location and pick it all up. After the auction sale is done, they'll send a check. Because of my medical situation, I decided to sell my entire Rock Island O-gauge collection through Stout -- to spare my wife/widow the agony of the transaction.  The Stout team sold eight pages of inventory in a weekend!

Afterwards, my medical issues cleared and (with 20/20 hindsight) my decision to sell may have been somewhat premature. But the "de-collecting" would need to be done sooner or later.

Mike Mottler   LCCA 12394
mottlerm@gmail.com

 

Good breakdown Mike.

So you get about 25% of purchase price. If it was bought for $1,000 new and now it is worth $750 a third is $250. Guessing local stores would give you only between 10% and 15% IF you could get them to purchase them?

Wow!

Who would leave a complicated mess for their loved ones to sort out and deal with?

If one’s trains could bring income to our families giving them some guidance on how to make that happen is the least we should do. 

Why advise having a widow become a train expert and list them on eBay, would you do the same if she were a doll collector, or had antique sewing machines? I doubt it. Yes, there is more money to be made but in your wife’s grief is this how you think she should mourn your passing — dealing with identifying, pricing, selling, and shipping your trains. 

There are auction houses who will take care of this, leave an inventory and the contact data in with your estate plans. Easy. 

Also, seriously, don’t be a self centered arse when it comes to what happens when you die, have a plan, have all the insurance, banking, and relevant paperwork in a place known to your loved ones. It takes very little time and your family will be spared the trouble of sorting it out while also enduring the pain of your loss. 

We’ve been through this twice in the past few years, let me say my final memories of one family member are forever going to be negative because of the months it took us to deal with the entirety unnecessary mess they left behind. I venture none of us truly want our wives or children to remember us as having caused them pain and suffering from the grave. 

To address your original question, Trainz did a good job for me.  I purchased a pretty large collection a couple of years ago and while it had some really nice items, there were also quite a lot of items that would be difficult to to sell.  Trains came by the house and loaded the group of around 300 items that I just needed out of the way.  Over the next couple of months, I received a check each week for items were sold that week and a list showing what was sold and the price it sold for.  I was surprised how much it all added up to.  (sometimes it is best not to look at individual items but just the total amount).

If one can be realistic realizing that any company that will take on the task of reselling your trains will have a lot of overhead and should be expected to make a profit, then getting about 40 to 50 percent of what an items actually sold for at an online auction is not that bed.

Based on my experience with Trainz, I would give them an EXCELLENT rating.

I have also instructed my wife and kids that I intend to enjoy my trains as long as I can and that once I am gone, there are companies that will come in, pack the items up, take them away, sell them and send them a check!  And if they only receive 10 cents on the dollar, by **** that would be 10 cents they would not have had. 

Happy railroading,

Don

Perhaps the moral of all this is to have a hobby that deals in ephemerals;  play golf, expensive vacations,  high priced wine and then there would be nothing left to worry about.

I showed my wife the "postcard" from Trainz. She can call them when I am gone. 

The problem is my other collections...diecast planes, model planes and military vehicles, Dinky and matchbox collection, the list goes on...

I entertained the idea of having everything placed in a dumpster when I am gone, or maybe before. It would just be easier. Of course I would post the location on the appropriate websites when I do, so people can come and dumpster dive!

I just have too much stuff...

Tom

No rocket science here! Auction houses, dealers, etc. are in business to make a profit, and they will get most of the spoils.

If you have the time/ability/knowledge to do so, selling it yourself should net the most return.

If you are REALLY in a hurry, there is the dumpster, but I would donate it to a non-profit before that.

If you have the delusion you are sending it some where to preserve it for eternity, be assured that sooner or later it will go away.

Simon

I am lining up with Simon.  My wife worries too - I tell her I am enjoying it, and when I croak it will have completely served its purpose.  Any residual value is ok, or just have it hauled out to the metal scrapyard.  Or call a buddy and give it away.

Same will happen to a bunch of Piper Cub parts - give them away and be done with it.

I entertained giving my Cab Forwards to the Sacramento museum, but they would just sell them.  Same for our local museum - they even rejected them for a temporary display during " Cab Forward" month, sight unseen.

This stuff is only valuable to us - it is a hobby, not a business.

There is no question in my mind: Trainz.  Or something like them. 

I was heavy into graded sports cards for many years.  This summer I boxed them up and shipped them to a big consignor that lists on eBay.  I received roughly 85% of the auction totals.  Obviously, at that percentage, it wasn't even worth my time to list on eBay.

Train consignors will get a heavier % but the idea for a loved one is EASE and getting some value vs. tossing them in a dumpster.  

I have 4 power supply’s for my layout, so with that said I could give 4 complete train sets with track to local children hospitals, or some other charity that deal with children. 

I wonder how someone could do this?

Reality check:

Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay.

Everyone wants a bargain. No one wants to pay retail. 

 10 cents on the dollar is probably closer to what you will get from a local retailer.

Recently I came into a vintage collection of wrist watch parts, misc dials, bezels,stems, springs, ect.

I know nothing of watches. I checked "on line ..EBAY" and saw that most of the individual vintage watches needing repair sold for $10 + shipping. Various mfg.

Not bad , I thought.

But, I did not want to bother with individual listings, pictures, shipping etc. So....I gave everything to a local, reputable auction house that has an "on-line presence". They put everything into "lots" with no reserve. Sold it all. My final take after fees was about $400.

(There just wasn't alot of interest in watch parts the week of the auction).

Had I listed just the watches that were intact needing repair on EBAY "buy it now" for $10 each plus shipping. I'd have made more than twice that amount....

But I would have needed to do the work myself. And I would have to have had patience (not everything sells right away).

Sooo.....best to liquidate what is occupying shelf space..now.

Join the TCA, LCCA, use their "for sale" venue. Sell "on line" or here on OGR, or at a local train show, or club swap meet.

You had fun acquiring it all, now have some fun selling it.

If you have to die with the most toys..ok you win.  At least tag each piece with a fair "garage sale" price (save everybody the anxiety of figuring out what it cost and then what the current market will bring.)

This hobby is not like having a coin collection where even if gold and silver tank...you still get "face" value.

Dedicate a few pieces to friends or family. In fact..do it now.  Enjoy this hobby with them now. Let them know now why a particular piece is so special to you that you want them to have it. Keep a set or two for you to enjoy during the Holiday season. Go ahead and "downsize" now. 

Tranz is a good beginning and if what your family realizes in money is important you. Sell it all off while you are alive and put the Money in a joint account with whomever.

To AlanMancus:  On what did you base your 1/3x1/3x1/3? Also,please see Don Jone's reply below yours.

To DGJones:  Thanx for the report; and, you are one of few who actually addressed my question!`

My neighbor had a huge train collection. He was a former employee of Lionel back in the early 50s. He had everything and by that I mean new and old trains with 550 engines and over 2000 pieces of rolling stock. He also had a huge layout with many beautiful scratch built homes. I did not discover this guy lived on my block until all the trains had been purchased by a train broker from New Jersey. I was told he had close to one million invested and the train broker gave him $35,000. I live in Arizona and the train broker came from New Jersey to purchase so you know this collection had some rare stuff. I was told 4 men worked for 6 days and filled the largest rental truck they could get.........This made me sick when I heard what he received. I understand the train broker needs to make a profit but this sounded like a rip off to me.

Take the time and start selling them on eBay, the O Gauge Forum, or on local Internet selling pages like Offer Up.  It does not take long to take pictures and copy and paste descriptions from manufacturer’s pages on the Internet.  Be sure to give an accurate description of present condition.  Then sit back and check account activity for buyer interest.  You can collect more value by selling it yourself.  “Train” your wife on how to do this by selling a few items you no longer want.  It is very easy to google the manufacturer’s no. And copy and paste their description into your item listing.  Teach your wife how the numbers on the boxes identify the car or locomotive and how she can use the number and manufacturer’s name to search the Internet for that item to get the manufacturer’s page and determine value for the item.  She can copy and paste the manufacturer’s description in her listing on various internet sites.

While I've never sold through Trainz, I can say as a buyer they're fantastic.  Their eBay listings are accurate.  If you ask a question, they answer it almost immediately.  Their packaging is great.  They ship promptly.

I will die- my kids will sell my $40,000.00 collection for 5 grand get tattoos new cell phones and eat at Chipotle.And I got news...I AINT the only one. Nick

DGJONES posted:

To address your original question, Trainz did a good job for me.  I purchased a pretty large collection a couple of years ago and while it had some really nice items, there were also quite a lot of items that would be difficult to to sell.  Trains came by the house and loaded the group of around 300 items that I just needed out of the way.  Over the next couple of months, I received a check each week for items were sold that week and a list showing what was sold and the price it sold for.  I was surprised how much it all added up to.  (sometimes it is best not to look at individual items but just the total amount).

............................

Don

The Portland Rose posted:

Take the time and start selling them on eBay, the O Gauge Forum, or on local Internet selling pages like Offer Up.  It does not take long to take pictures and copy and paste descriptions from manufacturer’s pages on the Internet.  Be sure to give an accurate description of present condition.  Then sit back and check account activity for buyer interest.  You can collect more value by selling it yourself.  “Train” your wife on how to do this by selling a few items you no longer want.  It is very easy to google the manufacturer’s no. And copy and paste their description into your item listing.  Teach your wife how the numbers on the boxes identify the car or locomotive and how she can use the number and manufacturer’s name to search the Internet for that item to get the manufacturer’s page and determine value for the item.  She can copy and paste the manufacturer’s description in her listing on various internet sites.

I'm only highlighting these points because I think they are based on specific conditions (and volume of stuff trying to be sold!)  and I think those conditions are very different.

Don's note about needing to get rid of 300 items surely would not seem to be as "quick" and "easy" to do on one's own as described, even for those who do know what the hobby is about.

The descriptions of how to proceed on on'e own could be a full time job, depending on how large the collection is.  Doesn't sound like a good thing to drop on one's spouse as a reasonable expectation.  The wife may not have time to do anything else in life but sell the trains!

If you are talking about 50 or 100 items total, maybe it's doable (or maybe not, depending what you have) in a reasonable amount of time for someone who isn't already well versed in the processes to do all of that.  If you are talking a few thousand items, it's not going to be "quick" by any stretch of the imagination. 

And if the items are not very recent modern production, that "little" part about easily looking up info on the internet is not going to always be easy.  You won't find even some relatively recent stuff in a clearly reputable (to someone not in the hobby) site you can trust what you are reading.

How many different websites would a non-hobbyist  need to go to to look up paste-able info for a Post War 445 Switch Tower, an MPC 2315 (497 reproduction) Coaling Station, an LTI 6-18006 Reading T-1 Steam engine, and a 6-32988 Control Tower?  (Assuming someone not in the hobby can even easily tell the difference between some of those and their similar  looking twins from other eras - not a good assumption, IMHO)  Those are just random examples off the top of my head.  Most of us probably know all about those.  BTW, is that Control Tower a Vib-rotor, or gear box driven?  (again, we all probably know, but someone not on the hobby 1st needs to know what the question even means)

-Dave

John Rowlen posted:

I am about to find out.  I have had enough disappointment in new O-gauge equipment and a lack of a commitment to have parts for the new engines.  I have been trying to get parts for new 21" passenger cars for five months.  I am going back to HO.  Of the 130 HO engines I purchased, only two did not work when I received them. One I fixed, and the other was DOA with no hope of resuscitation or resurrection.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

I will be selling on Ebay as (john.rowlen)  No hiding my name from buyers.  Ebays structure of accounting and payments is excellent in helping the seller keep sales organized.  The Ebay protection is good for buyers, offering protection from shipping damage and misrepresentation of items.  "Nobody makes money buying and selling trains today."  My personal collection was fun to create.  Selling it may take time. 

Why not go into post-war Lionel.  So simple, not much to go wrong with them.  And as far as parts, they are abundant.  

NYCGreg68 posted:

After a while without touching my trains I started a few weeks ago to pack them up.  I was thinking a garage sale for trains only.  I don't want to mail stuff and I don't want to pay eBay a fee.  They are taking up a fourth bedroom in my home and it is time to move on.  I was thinking of putting up 5 or 6 tables in my garage stacking everything on top and posting on here and other places advertising the sale.  When people come I will have a transformer and small circle to test accessories or trains.  Here is the post I started a while back - https://ogrforum.com/...train-bedroom?page=1

Garage sale !   Talk about buyers who want something for less than nothing.  That's what you'll get, on a good day.  You would be better to sell them here, Ebay or rent a table at a train meet.  If you do want to rid yourself of them, as you say, price them at very reasonable prices.  You'll get rid of them sooner and buyers will be happy and possibly buy more at one shot.  

CincinnatiWestern posted:

Wow!

Who would leave a complicated mess for their loved ones to sort out and deal with?

If one’s trains could bring income to our families giving them some guidance on how to make that happen is the least we should do. 

Why advise having a widow become a train expert and list them on eBay, would you do the same if she were a doll collector, or had antique sewing machines? I doubt it. Yes, there is more money to be made but in your wife’s grief is this how you think she should mourn your passing — dealing with identifying, pricing, selling, and shipping your trains. 

There are auction houses who will take care of this, leave an inventory and the contact data in with your estate plans. Easy. 

Also, seriously, don’t be a self centered arse when it comes to what happens when you die, have a plan, have all the insurance, banking, and relevant paperwork in a place known to your loved ones. It takes very little time and your family will be spared the trouble of sorting it out while also enduring the pain of your loss. 

We’ve been through this twice in the past few years, let me say my final memories of one family member are forever going to be negative because of the months it took us to deal with the entirety unnecessary mess they left behind. I venture none of us truly want our wives or children to remember us as having caused them pain and suffering from the grave. 

I will be in the same position once a family member of ours passes.  The task appears more daunting each year.  

Mike H Mottler posted:

Selling trains yourself (as with e-Bay) is time-consuming -- photographing every piece, writing descriptive text, posting the listings on line, monitoring the auction process, packing and shipping the stuff to winning bidders, dealing with "bottom feeders" who may offer bids that are an insult to you, and handling an occasional discontented bidder or buyer.

An auction house would do all that work for you -- for a fee. Expect to get about 33% of current market value from an auction house, such as Stout Auctions. They'll drive to your location and pick it all up. After the auction sale is done, they'll send a check. Because of my medical situation, I decided to sell my entire Rock Island O-gauge collection through Stout -- to spare my wife/widow the agony of the transaction.  The Stout team sold eight pages of inventory in a weekend!

Afterwards, my medical issues cleared and (with 20/20 hindsight) my decision to sell may have been somewhat premature. But the "de-collecting" would need to be done sooner or later.

Mike Mottler   LCCA 12394
mottlerm@gmail.com

 

Hi Mike, I'm glad the sale was premature and you are doing fine. Stout Auctions is a good idea, that is what I told my wife and son to do should it ever be necessary. Not for a long time I hope!

A couple of things to do before hand is to put together an accurate inventory and try to locate all the boxes.

I have written a letter to my two (adult) sons, about what to do with the trains.  I update the letter periodically as I buy additional "stuff".   Here are the steps I advised.

1.  The layout was built so as to be easy to cut into two operating 10 X 16 tables.  IF they both want one, then that is it.   I told them ONE gets the ZW-l and the other my three ZW transformers.  Alternate- I choose A, the he chooses B and so on.

2.  If only one wants the whole layout- easy- he gets it and pays the other one 50% of the total value (see below). 

3.  I have a "Train Log" with every loco and rolling stock item, its value (Greenberg's) and how much I paid for it.  The Excel spreadsheet totals so the full value of the trains (somewhere in between) is apparent.

4. If neither wants the trains- I name a local (younger- 50s) guy who seems quite enamored by it, has a large basement, and has his and his Dad's old Lionel trains.  I priced the whole thing to him at less than 50% of value assuming HE moves it.

5.  If not my sons hold a one weekend "buy it all" sale- take the highest bid, including removal.

6.  I plan to approach a local religious-based 501-C home for teenage males with drug and gang problems in the past- but not (yet) felons.  Maintaining a model train layout leached mechanics, maintenance, painting, electrical and electronics, in addition to being fun.  

7.  Finally- Give it to the Painesville Depot - NMRA (where The Lionel Experience" is planned) to sell or include in the display, at their option.  They usually sell off the stuff for the cash, to benefit their project.

Don't look back, "I have had my fun." I tell my sons in my letter in the will.

Thanks @DGJONES for sharing your experience.  You said Trainz came to your house.  I wonder if they would come all the way to Texas?

Is anyone else on here aware of other "consignors" who will sell the trains for you, and remit to the original owner a percentage of the actual proceeds?  (As opposed to a dealer or auction house, that buys the whole collection "up front"?)  Good topic!