Advice: Selling a used collection of sets

[Tmo]

Hello,

 

I think the timing is right to sell a used collection of 10  long retired sets from the same theme.

 

The BP lot calculator determined the value to be about $350.

 

I am now trying to find the best strategy to sell off the sets and open to suggestions and advice.

 

Should I go the auction route? If so, should I set a reserve within a close range of the value? I am a bit wary of auctions because you just never know which way the winds will blow on Ebay from day to day.

 

Should I sell the sets as one big lot? Or do a listing for each individual set? 

 

Buy it now pricing for everything? Or perhaps Buy it now at a slightly higher target with "make an offer" option.

 

Any thoughts or stories about your experiences are appreciated.

 

-Tmo

[MartinP]

Hello,

 

I think the timing is right to sell a used collection of 10  long retired sets from the same theme.

 

The BP lot calculator determined the value to be about $350.

 

I am now trying to find the best strategy to sell off the sets and open to suggestions and advice.

 

Should I go the auction route? If so, should I set a reserve within a close range of the value? I am a bit wary of auctions because you just never know which way the winds will blow on Ebay from day to day.

 

Should I sell the sets as one big lot? Or do a listing for each individual set? 

 

Buy it now pricing for everything? Or perhaps Buy it now at a slightly higher target with "make an offer" option.

 

Any thoughts or stories about your experiences are appreciated.

 

-Tmo

If you want to maximize your profit on the sets, I would sell the sets individually.

[Migration]

Hello,

 

I think the timing is right to sell a used collection of 10  long retired sets from the same theme.

 

The BP lot calculator determined the value to be about $350.

 

I am now trying to find the best strategy to sell off the sets and open to suggestions and advice.

 

Should I go the auction route? If so, should I set a reserve within a close range of the value? I am a bit wary of auctions because you just never know which way the winds will blow on Ebay from day to day.

 

Should I sell the sets as one big lot? Or do a listing for each individual set? 

 

Buy it now pricing for everything? Or perhaps Buy it now at a slightly higher target with "make an offer" option.

 

Any thoughts or stories about your experiences are appreciated.

 

-Tmo

We could be of more help if you listed what sets you have, but BIN will be your best bet. Sell each set individually. There is nothing wrong with using best offer, just be sure to set up auto decline to weed out stupid low ball offers.

[knarrff]

I would not use a reserve. I know that I hate it as buyer, so please avoid it. If you have a minimum price you want to sell it for in an auction, then start the auction at that price.

 

As for separate or bulk: it depends on the value of your sets. As buyer, shipping will be part of my cost, so I will want to minimize it. This is less of a problem for larger sets, but I will not buy a set that is worth $5 if I pay already that for shipping. If you have small sets like this, bundle them up - either with larger sets, or a lot of smaller sets together. If you have multiple large sets it is probably better to sell them separately. You can still point to your other offers for someone who wants all and likes to combine shipping.

 

I am unsure about offers. I don't like them so much as buyer, because it "ties up" my money for some time until the seller decides, and I don't like it as seller because you get silly offers (but I think you can auto-decline these). I also don't like it as buyer if I offer 10% less than what they ask and automatically get a decline. If they didn't want to get offers that are that much lower they shouldn't be using that option IMHO. Despite all this I can see the value of this system sometimes, which is why I am overall unsure about it.