Best way to sell our sets?

Canadian_brix

Greetings from Toronto, Canada.

We'd like some opinions on how to handle our situation.

Due to an upcoming long distance move we have to divest ourselves of about 800 unopened sets mostly from 2002 to 2013.  We have about 6 months to complete the sales.  Of course we'd like to get top dollar for them, but we also don't want to spend a great deal of time listing them all on eBay or something similar and paying their fees.

We are slowly gathering an inventory of the sets but we don't have a list ready yet, but it will range from Advanced Models to World Racers with lots of City, Pirates and Star Wars in-between.

I've enjoyed reading many posts in this forum and believe that this community can help to guide us.

Should we open a Bricklink store? Go the eBay route? Get to know our local Post Office/FedEx staff? Look for local buyers via this forum and the local LUG? 

We look forward to your ideas.

Renny

Hi there.  In order to move 800 sets in such a short period of time you are going to need to "attack" this sale on multiple fronts. A combination of ebay, Bricklink and Craigslist will help expand your target audience. Keep in mind sales using Bricklink are slower so unless you are priced very competitively, your sets will just sit there.  I would recommend possibly bundling some themes/sets together. Maybe bundle a big set and a small set within a theme.

Are you prepared with tons of shipping boxes, bubble wrap, tape and packing materials?  Moving 800 sets in 6 months sounds like quite the endeavor. 

Best of luck!

 

Basta

It really comes down to the amount of time you want to invest. eBay generally will see  higher prices but obviously the fees are higher.

If you don't want to spend too much time, I'd start with listing the more valuable sets individually (Advanced models etc).

You can then decide what you want to do with the cheaper sets. Sell them all at once in a bulk lot (Probably won't get nearly as much as you would like, but it would be quick) or maybe split them into smaller lots. Just remember that packing and shipping is a big time consumer.

ecmo47

The first thing you need to do is decide if you’re going to move sets quickly OR get top dollar. You will be extremely lucky to achieve both. There probably is a buyer out there that would willing to buy your entire lot if the price is right - like 30-50% below Bricklink selling average. I'd be cautious about unloading all of the valuable sets right away. Those sets are the "seeds" to draw in a customer that might be interested in a bulk purchase…..and (to move that many sets) you HAVE to sell in bulk. Think about it, to move 800 sets in 6 months, you have to sell an average of 4 sets PER DAY! That’s a full time commitment! I think I’d made up package lots of anywhere  from 50 to 100 sets group by a certain theme that includes all range of value. Craigslist is good for helping find a local buyer so you don’t have to mess with shipping but be prepared to get all kinds of ridiculous low-ball offers. I’d also post some lists on the Brickset marketplace as there are many re-sellers on this board. Good luck!  

Canadian_brix

Thanks for your comments so far.

Please watch this space for lists of available sets soon.