# Need your guys advice, expertise



## bill36 (Jan 5, 2014)

Hello everyone,

First off, thanks to the administrators and members of this site for providing this venue for my family to have some concerns addressed. I am new here and signed up solely to get some good advice. If this post is inappropriate in any way, my apologies.

My father-in-law (70) passed away unexpectedly at the end of November. He was an avid and enthusiastic collector of model trains, and his basement is a testament to his dedication to the hobby. There are elaborate track layouts on customized table setups, boxes upon boxes of valuable engines, cars, and equipment of different gauges. I imagine it probably is a lot like some of your basements. We have no real idea of the value, but it was estimated to be in the 50K range by the owner of the hobby shop that he dealt with primarily. 

My wife and her family are at a loss and overwhelmed by the volume of his collection. They know they each want to hang on to a piece of his collection as it has a lot of sentimental value, but they also know it has to be liquidated otherwise. They have asked me if I would be interested in piecing it out and selling it on eBay or some other online auction. He had it all inventoried by item and value, so that part of the equation is solved, and that would be helpful.

My question to you guys is what should they do? They have heard that there are dealers that will come and take it all off your hands, but will give you 10 cents on the dollar. Is that accurate? Should they just leave it as part of the estate, and put it up for auction? Is it even reasonable for them to expect that they could get a decent amount via eBay or others? What percent of the value can you expect to get if you do sale items individually? Ex. there are engines that he has $1,000 on. If that is correct, what would a piece like that go for via online auction? I'm hoping that some of you have considered these same questions and are able to help out. 

Many thanks, they are in that difficult spot where they are grieving the loss and trying to settle things in a way that is respectful to all the hard work he put into it. 

Bill


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

First, Sorry for your loss. We have a standing joke here that if the wife sells our trains for what we told them we paid, someone will get a good deal. Without knowing your father-in-law I don't know about the prices he wrote down on the inventory lists. They are probably in the range though. I will turn your questions back around to you and ask,
do you want a fast sell and pennies on the dollar or lots more money but alot more work and effort and sell the collection piece by piece. In my opinion (I buy and sell on ebay)
selling the collection piece by piece on ebay will get you 75 to 120% of the value. Lots better than pennies on the dollar. Sounds like it is a very large collection and it will be alot of work and time to sell it all on ebay. You will get tired of packing all the boxes to be mailed. If you have the time go for it. It will be worth it in money. I am assuming (I know) that the collection is higher end stuff. You might want to post some pics and see what the other guys say. At this point we don't know much about what you got.


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## ggnlars (Aug 6, 2013)

I would talk to Stout auctions. I know they auction specific collectors trains. Most of the ones that I have followed are strictly trains of all sizes. I think they do it for the various seller and buyers premiums. Which totals around 30 percent. You will also have to pay a transportation fee to get the stuff from your house to the auction house. It is well worth it because they get train people to attend, either in person or on line. It is well advertised with good pix. 
There are several others who specialize in train auctions, so you could shop around to see how the terms may vary. My best experience as a buyer is with Stout.
If you go this way, the buyer will either be on site or will pay the shipping and Stout will do the packing and shipping.

You can sell the pieces on e-bay. You can make 85% of the sales price doing it this way. The problem in this instance is you may not get the same attention from other collectors. So the sale prices may be lower, and at the end of the day, you will have pack and ship each item. You have to decide what your time is worth.
In either case, you should auction each major piece separately. 
If you decide to do it your self on e-bay, there are several on the forum that can help you assess the expected value of the items. The amount that your father in law listed may have been what he paid. Depending on what they are they maybe worth more or less. 
Good luck,
Larry


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## DT&I (Dec 6, 2013)

where are you in ohio? personally I would ebay it. if you're close to me, I could help you with that


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## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Sorry for your loss. Maybe some ideas here http://www.modeltrainforum.com/showthread.php?t=21772


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your loss, since I'm 70, I can assure you that I don't think it was his time!

As for the collection, if it's reasonably desirable stuff, going for on-line auctions would be the most _bang for the buck_ as far as getting a decent return goes. Any time you sell a huge lot, you take a bath, that's just the cold hard facts. An auction or a dealer will give you at the most maybe 30-35% as mentioned, put some work into it and you could realize at least twice that.

Also, you will want to take the valuations with a grain of salt, we all think our stuff is more valuable than it is. If I could sell my gun collection for what I think it's worth, I'd be a rich man.  The best way to find a value is to pick a piece and look at the sold items on eBay for an identical or very similar item.


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## bill36 (Jan 5, 2014)

mopac said:


> do you want a fast sell and pennies on the dollar or lots more money but alot more work and effort and sell the collection piece by piece


Thanks for the response. I think if there is somewhere in between the 2 options that would be ideal. I am willing to put the time in if necessary because we think that is what he would want. They were encouraged to hear that you can get that kind of value through eBay tough.


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## bill36 (Jan 5, 2014)

DT&I said:


> where are you in ohio? personally I would ebay it. if you're close to me, I could help you with that


I am in Chillicothe. Ironically though, I am from Ironton and have walked the trestle that brought the D,T, & I into town many, many times. Thanks for the offer to help, we will keep that in mind.


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## DT&I (Dec 6, 2013)

yeh, that's not too far. pretty cool you're from ironton. my father in law lives across the river a little way into kentucky in grayson. we always go through portsmouth, and turn down the industrial highway right near ironton to go down to his house (it's near grayson lake). 
if you wanna go the ebay route let me know. I used to work for UPS as well.


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## flywithcoop (Jul 29, 2012)

Bill, Sorry for your family's loss. I recommen you contact a local auctioneer who will give you some free advice on how to liquidate the collection. A auctioneer will charge you 20 to 30% of the total sales from a auction and do all the work required to sell the collection. Go to www.auctionzip.com to see auctions within a specified distance of your home. You can search on the auctionzip web site for specific items like a Lionel Diesel engine. I live in Canal Winchester and attend auctions within 30 to 50 miles of my home. Local auctioneers I like are John B auctions and also DAF Auctions. They are fair honest auctioneers. A high end auction house is Garth Auctions in Delaware OH just north on Columbus. You could get some advice from them. They do national sales. DO NOT expect to get anywhere near the prices listed in the appraisal books, etc. eBay auction sold prices are lower then any other method of selling. That is why eBay is still in business. I buy trains on ebay to get the best value for my dollar knowing that I will probably have to rebuild or rerstore the item I am purchasing. The same item at a local auction will usually sell for more than it would on ebay. Good luck and if you decide to go the auction route make sure it gets posted here so we can attend the auction to buy your items.
Flywithcoop


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Sorry for your family's loss - it's never easy or expected.

If you already have the items inventoried and valued - I would put the effort into personally selling the higher value items and bulk sell the lesser items.

That would give you the most bang for your effort, without spending years liquidating the assets.

OR - you could always take the hobby up yourself......


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

Bill36 I have some advice for you. I would take the inventory that the man has made and starting at the top take each item and wrap it in paper and box the items up with a list on each box as to what is in there. Take all the trains somewhere where you can store them for free and start selling them on ebay or Craigs List individually and in small lots so you don't get overwhelmed with buyers. Take your time with it no matter how long that takes and get the top dollar for the items. If you sell in large lots you won't get the good prices.Take good pictures to post with the sale and get the money before you ship anything out. Charge postage on top of the winning price too. You should also get 15% for your efforts. 
The auction idea is a good one but you must get people who understand the value of model trains. Otherwise they will sell the stuff for peanuts and charge you a good percentage on top of it all unless they pass the premium on to the bidder. Then the bids will be lower too.
Look on ebay for items like what your selling to see what others are wanting for their stuff. It's the best way to determine a value of what you have.
You have a daunting task ahead of you so take your time and go easy with it until you establish a routine for your selling. Then it gets a bit easier.
Ship by US postal service for the best prices. Ask at your PO and they will tell you how to set yourself up with what you need to figure your postage and put the postage on the package. This will save you a ton of time and all you have to do is take the pkgs to the PO if they won't pick them up.
It would be great if you could take a bunch of pictures and post them here. That way we can get a better idea of what your looking at.
Good luck with this and don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. It's the only way to learn and the people on this forum will not mislead you. We do this day in and day out so we have experience to help you. Pete


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## Gamebits (Jan 5, 2011)

"_Look on ebay for items like what your selling to see what others are wanting for their stuff. It's the best way to determine a value of what you have_."

I have to disagree on that one, what people want for their stuff has nothing to do with the value, you can find item listed and relisted on eBay for months when not years because what they want is not in touch with reality, if you want through value look at sold items over a period of time than you'll know what people are willing to pay for it which is the value of your items.


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## ggnlars (Aug 6, 2013)

If you can find like items that sold on e-bay in the recent past then that is likely the price you will get. I sell trains on e-bay all the time. Top dollar only comes for the vary unique and then it depends on if the right buyers are watching. The guild is off the rose for e-bay. People are still looking, but it isn't the passion it was. 
Getting the right people interested will require the right combination of advertising and timing. As I said before and has been said by others, talking to some auction people about the stradegy would be good. There are national auction people who do specialize in train auctions. They are the ones who would be most likely be able to bring the biggest sale prices. I'm not sure that will translate to the biggest income for you. 
For me, this is how I fund my involvement in the hobby. I'm only interested in a reasonable return on each item, knowing that I will be posting items continuously. For that e-bay is absolutly the best. 
In your case, you have a finite, although possibly large, number of items that you want to get the most income from and then you will be done with it. 
These two situations are distinctly different. 
To gage how long it might take to sell the collection on e-bay, I find that for one person, 200 items a month is a good average. Really hot items will go quicker, but not for the top dollar. The higher the price, the longer it is going to take to sell on e-bay. 
I suspect there may be a better venue for you.
Larry


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