Looking for advice about selling Lionel collection

[annenap]

Hi-
We have a collection of Lionel trains and we're looking to possibly sell some/all of them. I have no idea if they are of much value though. I've uploaded pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/4038150...7624754051718/ and have larger copies of those pics available. Any advice is very welcome.
Thanks!

[rtraincollector]

in CTT magazine there a few that buy trains and resell them now there you might get 50% if you luck of there value. best thing to do is goto ebay and look for what you have for sale and see what there going for to get an idea what there worth. Then list and sell them or call some of the guys as I sid to give you a few there is www.traincity.com , www.trainz.com there 2 of the biggest anyway.

[traindaddy1]

to the forum

I would suggest that you look through the listings on E-Bay to get an idea of what the market is showing for similar items.   If you are comfortable with that venue, "go-for-it" and try a few items.

Just keep in mind that the buyer will consider how much he is going to pay for the shipping above the bid and that you will be giving a small fee to both E-Bay and PayPal which will be deducted from the payment. (On the bright side: For the next couple of weeks, E-Bay is waiving their listing fees)

My    You have a few nice items and, with a little "TLC", (if you don't need the $), perhaps you might consider keeping them. ((But, again, that's only my opinion)) All the best.

[rtraincollector]

The message I got from ebay I thought was they 8th thru the 14th it was free listing wow just tried it and it is free need to list more lol

 

[dwiemer]

With trains, a number of issues come into play.  First rarity of the item.  Then, condition and extras like box with inserts.  These all add to the value.  If you have a complete set with boxes and all the extras (like the satellite for the car, etc), the value could be substantial.  If not, it would be dramatically less.  Good advice above for selling. 

Dennis

[annenap]

Thanks so much for all of the advice!  I would love to clean them up.  Are there any tips?  Anything to be careful of?  Some of them have rust, is there anything that can be done about that?

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to offer advice.

[servoguy]

IMHO, you don't have a lot. Most of the cars are rusty and/or the paint is chipped and/or something is missing or bent or broken. Collectors only buy stuff that is in near new condition. Guys like me that run trains rather than collect them will buy what you have, but the prices are not going to be very high as, obviously, there is a lot more available in well used condition than in new condition. Most of the cars are common and there are many available. Some of the prewar stuff might be valuable. I don't know much about prewar stuff. If you got $400 for all of it on eBay I would say you did well. You will be competing with the swap meets where people don't have to pay shipping. I buy stuff at the swap meets because I like the prices better than the prices on eBay. Bruce Baker

[cwburfle]

I have to agree with Bruce. There are some nice items there, but everything is on rough shape.
I think the best items you have are the two yellow passenger cars, and the Bronx zoo car (yellow lettering is uncommon) 

For me, it's really hard to judge from pictures, but I'd guess that the passenger cars won't clean up. The Bronx zoo car might.
I would leave any cleaning to someone with experience. Using the wrong cleaning techniques can remove paint, lettering, and other decorations.

[servoguy]

I agree with cw. Don't attempt to clean anything because you could seriously damage it. Let the buyer clean it and then if anything happens, it is his problem, not yours. Bruce Baker