"Father-In-Law's stuff" Topic

…is not Mother-In-Law's stuff as the gentleman passed in 2003. MIL has asked me to help sell his various collections and I am looking for advice on how best to do so.

She has some military items (bayonets,etc), tons of baseball cards, coins, and stamps.

Any advice appreciated, at this point I was going to Ebay it, but not sure what is the best way to go about that either.

Cheers

Ebay and Paypal between them will fleece you for too much of your take. In My Opinion. Auctioning a big collection in small lots is also a right pain – take photos, write ad copy, post, go through auction mechanics, repeat ad nauseam…

Scout Ebay to check prices. See what similar items have sold for, not what they're listing for. Beware that you may not be well equipped to evaluate condition or rarity of the items. And prices can be all over the place, but it will give you some idea.

Check Craig's List for similar items being offered, or for local people offering to buy collections. Check your phone book and google the net for professional dealers in your MIL's area. If a collection is portable (coins? stamps?), take it around to the shops and get bids. If you can't easily pack it up, try to get a dealer to come to your MIL's place to check the goods out.

It may be worth taking a low bid from a dealer just to liquidate the lumber, and save the trouble of shopping it around, especially if you don't know what values should be for that hobby.

Take a good inventory and keep records. Try to get more than one bid. Beware of leaving any of the goods in someone else's hands, for 'evaluation' or 'on consignment'. Even reputable dealers may foul up.

Good luck. Don't work too hard. In the end, a lot of 'collectibles' are just junk, if you can't find another collector who wants to pay for them.

I agree that going through the hassle of trying to sell it all yourself isn't worth it.

You should consider brick and mortar auction houses. If I were you, I'd do a google search for auction houses that specialize in each of the catagories you mention: militaria, sports, and coins. I'd then contact the ones that seem the best, or are close by, and talk to them, and let them know what you have.
They will be able to advertise to and draw in the collector base that desire these items.

If there's no time-scale for getting rid, take the time to research, and if anything seems of value, get it checked out by a regular auction house's expert.

Ebay and Paypal certainly won't take more than you will pay to a regular auction house but will require more effort on your part. It also makes no sense to stay away from Ebay because of the cost but to then dump it on a dealer for a huge discount unless you need the money right now.

I guess the thing is we don't know what's most important to you. Finding out that will help guide people in recommendations. So what is most important to you?

Maximize money?
Sell fast?
Low effort?

Pretty much just looking to empty the closets and get her as good a price as I can. Thanks for the advice thus far, I'll start looking in to it, and please keep it coming if you have alternatives or ideas for New England region, USA.

Cheers & thanks guys.

I went to show where dealers were buying Military items. I had a German bayonet and a pair of German field glasses. Guess what several of them told me…. sell it on Ebay as they would not be able to give me price I was looking for.They offered $100 USD USD for the field glasses ( went to 3 different dealers). Put them on Ebay and I got almost $400 USD USD. Yes I had to pay Ebay their cut , but in the end I made out. Any dealer will tell you that they have to but from you, stock it and then hope they sell for a profit.Same with auctions.Everyone wants a cut. Unless you know a collector who will buy them from you direct you choices are limited. Good luck though.