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Hi I am going to sell several Dinky supertoys and wondering whether to put them on ebay, not keen on that option or one of the toy auction sites. I used to buy from Vectis but never sold any, I think they had the best reputation then but there are many more out there. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

It really depends on what you are selling and if you know the exact price its worth and the exact price you want,if its rare and desirable then an auction is a good idea.Both ebay and an auction house will let you set a reserve but you may be still
be liable to charges if it doesn,t sell at an auction house.
If you sell on ebay use all your 12 photos and send the item recorded,it sounds obvious but if it goes missing you can get a refund off the carrier ,though it is an hassle
With an auction house you will need to send the items or drop them off youself,again a little bit of an hassle,as to which auction house well there is now a vast choice,the internet as increased the buyers but this effects the price pushing rare items up and ordinary stuff down,personally i would check out the list in my link ,during the week watch online similar items and get an idea of realised prices and the last time i sold something in an auction i went to it and made a day of it,something you can,t do now.
i would advise going for a saturday auction ,as i buy from auctions saturdays are a knighmare ,theres always someone pushing up the price up lol.

My recommendation for an auction house would be lacy knight and scott,they have a large following and do pretty well with toys
the link to th auctions
https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctioneers
dave

If you do choose to sell them via an established auction house you will find they will value them for you and their valuations will be nowhere near your own valuations for single items and even less for them as a whole lot.

Ebay and John Ramsey's published price guide books will give you a good idea of prices realised on past sold items.

You might also try the couple of Dinky specific groups on facebook. A lot of sales are now being conducted on that platform which at the moment is a lot cheaper than ebay or any auction house because it is YOU selling the items, not anybody else so no commission is paid you just point out the price you want for the model and how much shipping or postal charges will be.

Whichever way you sell them you must provide good clear pictures one of which must always be of the underside of the model as this area can tell a collector a lot about the model's status.

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:You might also try the couple of Dinky specific groups on facebook. A lot of sales are now being conducted on that platform which at the moment is a lot cheaper than ebay or any auction house because it is YOU selling the items, not anybody else so no commission is paid you just point out the price you want for the model and how much shipping or postal charges will be.

If you do decide to go down that road, please also list them in The Marketplace on this Forum.

These are the first two but the photo has not been taken with my present camera as I am just not confident In my camera and my camera skills. But tomorrow I will be in possession of a tripod and Anglepoise lamp to set up a better taking scenario thanks to the advice I received on another thread.

Recent sale of the two you show. Remember, if you sell through an auction house, they will take a percentage of the hammer price, plus VAT on that percentage, as sellers commission.

YYS4BOB wrote:Recent sale of the two you show. Remember, if you sell through an auction house, they will take a percentage of the hammer price, plus VAT on that percentage, as sellers commission.

True, but the buyer very often pays a commission on the hammer price so, on that basis, if you offer them at the price shown, it will be a win-win situation since no one pays any commission.

Thanks for the replies, since I last posted I have sent off to Vectis and M&M auctions for an estimate. I'll let you know what they quote.

When I sold off my MB regular wheels collection (along with other diecast sub-collections), I investigated the various auction houses. The commissions ranged quite at bit from place to place. The houses with the highest volume of traffic tended to monopolize on that success and charge some pretty big commissions.  I decided to go the route of ebay and private sales.

The good thing about ebay is that if you meet their standards for returns, etc., you can quickly become a preferred seller and move into a bracket where the fees drop to a lower percentage. They also provide you better service with regard to seller protection once you are in that group.

Private sales takes a lot of networking and effort but it pays off when you factor in the fact that you pay no commissions or seller fees. You also are on a 1 to 1 relationship with the buyer and problems are minimized. The up side with auction houses is that you can unload everything in two or three auctions. The down side is that while they may achieve higher prices for your items, they take a big chunk of change out of that hammer price. If you can't hand deliver everything to them, you have to factor in some expensive insured shipping costs, packing materials and the time to pack everything up and ship it out.  Since some packages may quickly reach the insurance limits, you may have to send many packages to stay covered against loss or damage.

The up side to private sales is that you pay no commissions or fees. The down side is that it can take a while to sell off a large collection. My die cast collection was close to 3,000 individual models. It took about three years to sell off 95% of the collection (I kept about 5% and have slowly sold that off in the following years). Ebay fees will always be much lower than any auction house and buyers don't have to factor in what can be a steep buyers premium.

I do not regret my decision and the end result was a significant difference over the net amount I would have received if I had selected an auction house. I banked about 87% of the total earnings from the collection and have grown that figure about another 30% via some savvy investment options.  The additional time and effort to sell off the collection on my own was well worth it. The funds raised were combined with my retirement savings and opened up greater low risk investment options.

The more money you have, the more financial institutions are willing to simply give you money!  Many will outright give you money just for moving your money to them for as little as 90 days. The more money you move, the more money they give you.  I've made thousands of dollars just by moving money over the last 10 or so years. All of that is giveaway money is at zero risk and minimum time commitment. The average gain for moving money is a give away (to you) of $1,000.00 USD per move.

Do I miss my collection, yes, very much so. Do I regret my decision to sell, NO!  The financial security is far more valuable and provides far more comfort than a hobby. Navigating the financial risks and making your money grow can be a hobby in itself.  A collection can be an investment, but how you convert that collection into a financial reality is, in and of itself, a very important key to realizing and maximizing that investment.

If you collect for the simple joy of the hobby (and don't care about the investment or financial cost to acquire the collection), then just dump everything at an auction or two via an auction house.  If the money you have spent on your collection matters, then you need to make wise choices and go for the long game and maximize your investment. If your needs are to raise money to cover an large unexpected expense, then by all means you need to use the quickest method to raise the funds. Just remember, when selling off a collection in lots, the larger the lot of models - the more the buyers want to low ball you on the price.  What ever your needs or desires, good luck and happy trails.