"Any Recommendations re Dealers purchasing Collections?" Topic

Be prepared to unintentionally hurt feelings, somebody selling what they call "vintage castings with collector quality painting", may just be 2010 Minifigs with average paint jobs. Telling them the truth, tends to ruffle feathers. Be honest and straight with them, wether you are the seller or buyer.

I should add that I just outside of Richmond, Va.

I guess I really goofed up. I an looking for recommendations on dealers interested in purchasing large painted and unpainted collections. What can I expect? Thanks. Hal

Someone asks this about every other month. There is no used casting dealer as such in the US. There are eBay dealers with more or less experience in miniatures. You pay to ship to them, and they get a percentage of purchase price. Do keep in mind that anything over $600 USD per year must be reported by the dealer or PayPal to the IRS. At least keep records of the shipping costs, and good luck on the price of the figures.

Scale and period, Hal? Generally, the smaller the casting and the more obscure the period, the more eBay is your friend, and I can maybe find you some dealer names. At 20mm and up, postage kills you, and you really, really need a local group or convention.

And set expectations low. Just talked to a guy looking at moving about 10,000 painted 30mm Napoleoncs. A firm specializing in estates thought they might fetch a dollar a casting--less shipping and handling, of course. (The collection is not on the market at this point. Please don't PM me.)

I would check with Noble Knigt Games. I have purchased many second hand items from them in the past.

I always assume that it is a bit like selling Vinyl LP collections.

We see great prices and think "I've got that", only actually we have a later pressing, or the second version of the album sleeve or the wrong label, or…..a thousand reasons why our copy of the album is not actually the valuable version.

Or

We do have that…but the dealer knows it'll take a year or more to find a buyer so its dead stock until then. So only offers 1/10th the resell value.

I think the hard way is the only way to get anything near the "real" or "achievable" value – get busy with the Digital Camera and get on Ebay with reasonable values and a lot of trips to the Post Office.

Yeah, there's really not a good option. I get contacted twice a year from an estate about just this issue. Usually a local club steps in but mostly the owners want to avoid tossing it in the bin.

Noble Knight would be good for selling everything in large lots. If your willing to sell in smaller lots, you could list here or there are some Facebook groups dedicated to selling miniatures/boardgames/etc. What periods/scales are you selling?
I would expect a lot less than you think you should get. Your 8 out of 10 paint job, probably only rates 3/10 in some peoples eyes. People asking what scale and manufacture even though you clearly included that information.

anyone who buys collections will give you pennies on the dollar. Not their fault, but they're buying the collection not knowing the quality and, more importantly, how long will it take to process the collection and sell it. Some bits may never sell. In the meantime, they're out the money that could, at least, be earning them interest.

If you want to make more money, then you need to sell it yourself to include advertising, processing, handling, and postage.

If you want to make money, do it yourself. If you want to just get rid of the collection, then expect less.

I've used GAJO and Noble Knights. I just needed to get rid of stuff. Didn't get much, but I got rid of the stuff and was done with it.

Hal – I/ve seen some guys sell off their collections as vendors at war-game conventions – a few have done that with some success here in Texas.

Charlie Torok
Lone Star Historical Miniatures (LSHM)

Mindtaker Miniatures gave me nearly double that of NKG for unpainted historical miniatures I had. It was a no brainer for me. 2 transactions with no hiccups. Like mentioned above, be prepared to stuff USPS Priority boxes for shipping deals. I use the term deals loosely. They were fair for me; Good Luck!

mindtaker.org

Good point about unpainted – probably not your area of interest Hal but SF/f figures in mint condition are often more valuable than painted – because the 10/10 painting of 20 years ago is "I've got to paint strip these" today. If they are still in a blister pack and even better an unopened one then you can see a good price among collectors. If you can find the right collector (probably on eBay!).

Wargame or toy soldier conventions are a good place to sell off your stuff. Most shows have selling done in the hotel rooms for a day or two BEFORE the show, the dealers buy from each other.

Some retail shops sell on consignment.

Selling one at a time on eBay is the most money and the most work, and it can be a lot of work.

Facebook has groups that permit selling. I run this one:
link

Of course you can sell stuff here on The Miniatures Page.

Ask yourself, do you want money? Or do you want it to go to a good home? That can mean giving the collection away, or maybe parts of it, or selling at a reduced price.

There are companies that buy toy soldier collections. Here is one I got in a quick web search. link

Good luck, I hope your expectations are met.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek

PS I always enjoyed reading MWAN, and thanks for printing a few of my letters.

I've noticed collections don't have much value. They tend to be old, dusty, and 20 year old castings. Plastic has come along and whatever the collection is won't be the new hotness.

Even in a heavy aftermarket area like 40K you have people wanting to pay pennies for another's "treasure". There is even an entire channel: eBay Miniature Rescues dedicated to the phenomenon.

I've used Noble Knight for my purges and netted hundreds in store credit.

my view is if I get 10 bucks for something that otherwise is going to sit unused, in a box, then I'm in front. Might be worth more, but market dictates sadly.

Thank you to everyone for their opinions. I found them both interesting and helpful.

What is really amazing to me is the stuff I think is junk goes for far more than expected and my treasures don't get a bite.

If selling off wargames armies items, alot has to do with luck. As the new Halo series started I found a huge collection of Halo spaceships in mint condition still in boxes. When sold on Ebay I was very lucky there were several people prepared to pay alot for each item. I find wargame conventions and word of mouth often good for offloading surplus collections.