Selling Collectibles on EBay

[Republic DC-9]

When I was in my pre-Mustachian days I acquired a LOT of expensive die cast airliner models (and a lot of model trains, clothing, books, clothes with tags still on them even now, etc.)

Having become very tired of dusting all of these with a makeup brush and realizing I overdid it, I’ve thinned the herd down to one representative bookshelf of my true favorites and am beginning the painstaking task of listing them for sale, mailing them out, etc.  I’m up to $700 in the first 6 models (which doesn’t include the time involved), but have almost 200 to go.

My wife asked if these had increased in value and I explained that sure, many had, BUT if I’d just put all of this money into an index fund or CD it’d have been much better.

The good news is this exercise reinforces that no, I don’t need any more collectibles or other clutter! (facepalm) :)

[comicguy]

I did the same thing with my comicbook collection (about 33,000 comics and a shit ton of comic related collectibles; action figures, books, promo items, etc...), I started downsizing it about 10 years ago and sold the last of them on Friday morning! It was a slow and sometime agonizing process. I did make more money even with the selling fees than I paid for most of the items but like you stated had I put the money into various stock funds I would have been much further ahead! But I did get years of enjoyment out of them so there is that to factor in as well!

[Republic DC-9]

I did the same thing with my comicbook collection (about 33,000 comics and a shit ton of comic related collectibles; action figures, books, promo items, etc...), I started downsizing it about 10 years ago and sold the last of them on Friday morning! It was a slow and sometime agonizing process. I did make more money even with the selling fees than I paid for most of the items but like you stated had I put the money into various stock funds I would have been much further ahead! But I did get years of enjoyment out of them so there is that to factor in as well!

Well done, comicguy!

The first few models DID bring me joy (as do my favorites I’m going to hang onto and display), but the next 150 became a burden that I compulsively collected out of habit, and it’s a relief as each leaves the house for its new home.

[Car Jack]

The amount of research time to put into finding items worth selling is astounding.  One year, my son was trying to find a job without success and took to taking his Legos, figuring out what's worth something and putting them up on Brick (something).  If you don't know, every single Lego piece has a number on it and you can look up what kits it was in.  So someone with a Millennium Falcon missing a piece you have will pay good money.  He mostly put together multiple piece offerings.  Over the summer, he pulled in over $1000 doing this. 

But other "collectibles" are worth very little.  The research will show this.

[Dicey]

DH spent some time this year selling off various things we had and didn't need. It was labor intensive and time consuming. It was a fun post-FIRE exercise for him, but donating them would probably have been worth more. FWIW, these were mostly things that had come to us in one way or another, so the don't represent much OOP.

Example, we had a box full of Kirk Steiff Rose sterling silver. DH's FIL purchased a house and contents from an estate. He found this box of silver in the attic. He died, and bequeathed it to his daughter. She died, and bequeathed it to her husband (my now-DH). It had no sentimental value for us. His kids didn't want it, so he posted it on eBay. He got a bunch of lowball offers from resellers. He took the best of them and got $1.1k. I just checked eBay and there's a set of the same pattern for $17,400. If it sells at that price, it would be a lot more valuable as a tax write-off. (Yes, we itemize.)

[Republic DC-9]

Interesting feedback!

I just spent a lot of effort to photograph, list, mail, etc. five silly airplanes (out of…um…like 200) for $650.

Frustrating, for sure, but as I told the guy in the post office dealing with all of this helps reinforce that I do NOT want to bring more expensive clutter into the house.

Maybe stamps, I suggested, seeing their ads, but he told me his uncle has an entire room filled with stamps.

I have successfully rid myself of a huge Atari 2600 collection and a lot of other junk, but admit I’m prone to collecting things.

So, I’m now turning to collecting “little green employees” and (someday!) minimalist spaces in our house!


Ugh…Legos…loved those as a kid, have thought about re-collecting those 1980s sets as an adult (must…remain…strong!)

[HPstache]

Ebay is really awesome for getting the most eyes and the best price for collectibles!  The fees are insanely high, but I dont know of any other way.  You may get a 1099-K for selling over $600, but there is also rumors of putting the line at $5k this year.