I'm an HO guy and this is my first foray into this part of the Kalmbach Empire
I have two neighbors:
1) distant relative passed away and he has boxes and boxes of American Flyer trains and transformers. Locos and tenders have been separated and except for some things, like scale 18 wheelers NIB, the rolling stock is no where near mint condition, from the sample I have seen.
2) different neighbor, I know less of the story but her husband may have been the original owner. She say she has Lionel trains still in their boxes. I haven't seen them, so no idea of condtion.
Neither I not the owners are willing to do a substantial amount of research as to what they have or comparable prices.
What's the best way for them to dispose of their collection without being the sacrificial lamb? Baltimore Washington area, if that makes any difference.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Most of the ones who will buy collections will give you about 40% of there value. You may look into some hobby shops in your area and see if they buy trains, you might get a little better thru them, but to me the best option would be to take them to a reliable auction house in your area who would be glad to put them on there site before the sale to attract buyers and let them go. usually a auction house will charge about 30% so if that is the case your already double what you can get for them instead of contacting the ones who buy collection, as you also will get stuck with paying what ever the shipping is. say you there worth $500 for the collection ( this is just so you can see what I'm talking about ) you would get about $200 and still have to pay what ever it cost to ship them. You take to an auction house they sell for $500 you get $350 and don't have to pay to shipping ( as long as you deliever them yourselves. ) So you could probably be ahead around $200 over the ones that will buy your collection right out as figure about $50 at least to ship,
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Are they two rail or three rail American Flyer?
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Pretty sure they were 2 rail AF, my neighbor showed them to me last summer.
Thanks for the replies.
Hi BigDaddy,.
You are welcome to call me at Classic Toy Trains for some advice--we have published articles about this matter.
For everyone else, this problem is the best reason you should complile an inventory of what you have in your collection. It is essential for insurance purposes and in the event a spouse or other relative has to dispose of your trains.
Roger Carp
Senior editor
262-796-8776 ext. 253
If the neighbors are not interested in doing any research then options are limited.
There are numerous individuals or companies that will come in and take the trains @ .10-.20 on the dollar. However, before you get mad realize that the toy train market is shrinking and these days unless it's something very rare or mint the going rate is about .50 on the book value dollar.
Somwhere along the line an inventory and photos should be taken. You can start here at https://www.trainzauctions.com/dash/home/
BigAl 956 If the neighbors are not interested in doing any research then options are limited. There are numerous individuals or companies that will come in and take the trains @ .10-.20 on the dollar. However, before you get mad realize that the toy train market is shrinking and these days unless it's something very rare or mint the going rate is about .50 on the book value dollar. Somwhere along the line an inventory and photos should be taken. You can start here at https://www.trainzauctions.com/dash/home/
You have a lot better options than trainzauctions.com sorry I have heard to many bad stories of dealings with them. But to each there own, as I said originally I would look for a auction house to sell them before I went to any of the ones that say they will buy your collection. As stated you probably only get about $0.10 - $0.20 on the dollar. and another thing as you know in HO scale condition rules the price completely, Where a nice looking unit may get you $75 a unit with a few scrapes will get you about $30
BigAl956 was right on the track. Inventory the items (and photo them).
traindaddy1 BigAl956 was right on the track. Inventory the items (and photo them).
If you sign up as a paid member at the trainzauctions site you can upload your inventory and take advantage of thier price trending software. They pull auction sales data to compare against your inventory. Pretty slick.
Again, if the neighbor is looking to dispose with no effort, orther than a donation to Goodwill, the minimum to do is to take photos and post on craigs list an be prpared to accept an offer of .10 of book value dollar.
The problem I found with Craigslist is unless there is a very rare or near mint item, collectors and shops have too many trains and are not really buying ordinary stuff. Your typical craigslist buyer falls into 3 catagories:
You might consider making them a cosignment offer and do the homework or at least help them photograph.
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