Yesterday I decided to have a bit of a sort out in my toy/wargame room. This is part of my long-term plan to downsize my collections, and I found a whole load of stuff that I no longer use or that I am not likely to use in the future.
Once I have put together the first tranche of stuff that I’m going to dispose of, I’ll give some thought to how to do that. I could use eBay … but it seems to have become a lot more difficult to use as a casual seller than it used to be. If any of my regular blog readers have any suggestions as to how I can sell my surplus bits and pieces, I’d be grateful to receive them.
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Bob, I've see people dispose of stuff via forums or their blog. Mostly, it's a case of corresponding via email and or PMs. Most people use PayPal Friends and Family to send money to avoid fees, but it does mean less protection. I've never had problems despite working on trust, but these days it's something to be aware of. With a forum there is the risk of public naming and shaming, with blogs, I'd be wary of people who are "new" suddenly appearing, but on the whole wargamers are generally honest, with the exceptions being the minority.
ReplyDeleteNeil
Neil Patterson (Neil),
DeleteThank you for the very useful advice, particularly with regard to the caution I should exercise when selling to people I don’t know.
All the best,
Bob
In the first instance I would suggest you simply start listing them on your blog! Once a price is agreed, send a Paypal request to the buyer's email address and they pay as a normal Paypal transaction - it works quite easily. As alternatives of course there are auction houses like Vectis https://www.vectis.co.uk/ or the second hand dealers such as Hinds https://www.hindsfiguresltd.com/
ReplyDeleteRob Young,
DeleteI must admit that selling them via my blog does appeal to me as I would feel more in control than if I did it using an auction site or auction house.
All the best,
Bob
A lot of people seem to use the Sale Board on the Lead Adventure Forum; if it doesn't sell there, then they put it on Ebay. Rather depends upon what you're thinking of selling,
ReplyDeletebut worth a shot.
Leadboy,
DeleteI’ve not thought of using the Lead Adventure Forum, so I’ll take a look at their Sales Board as soon as I can. Thanks for the suggestion.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI have recently had a clear out and used Ebay for a lot of items. It is a bit of a pain to use but you do get a large market (although they take 12% in fees).
I have also used Lead Adventure Forum For Sale forum and sold a fair amount on there and the Face Book group "Historical Wargamers Buy, Swap and Sell" .
If you have any Minifigs 25mm Marlburians going then I'd be interested for my Siege of Dendermonde project...
Mike Lewis,
DeleteI’ve used eBay before to sell stuff, but since the way they pay sellers has changed, I’ve not used them.
As I wrote in reply to Leadboy, I’d not thought of using the sales page of the Lead Adventures Forum before and will be giving it the once over as soon as I can.
All the best,
Bob
Hi BOB,
ReplyDeleteAs a suggestion you could photograph your items and do a Blog Post where potential Buyers could purchase your wears via PayPal. I'm somewhat getting close to listing a few items on Australian e-Bay...I've had good fortune previously selling via e-Bay. Best Wishes. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteThanks for the suggestion. It makes a lot of sense … and I wish you luck selling items on Australian eBay.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob.
ReplyDeleteYou could start my advertising on your blog. It seems to have a wide readership with an interest in a wide range of periods!
Cheers
Simon
Simon,
DeleteThanks very much for your suggestion. It certainly makes sense to list what I am selling on my blog even if I sell it on eBay.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteYou could obviously also list them on the Portable Wargame io group and Facebook pages. Much depends on what exactly you are offering. If you have books to sell and can't find any other way, try ziffit.com - I use it regularly to sell books that haven't shifted in the Cats Protection shop - and if your books total over £10.00 they will send DPD to collect.
Best wishes, Arthur
Arthur1815 (Arthur),
DeleteThanks very much for the suggestions. I’d not thought of listing any stuff that I sell on the PW io group and FaceBook pages … but that makes a lot of sense.
I’d not hear of ziffit.com before you mentioned it recently, but it is certainly an avenue that I will explore.
All the best,
Bob
Why not just put your unwanted stuff into the BnB at COW this year? There were quite a few deals arranged via Whatsapp before COW in 2021
ReplyDeleteMike,
DeleteNow there’s an idea I’d not considered until you mentioned it … but I certainly should have!
Thanks for reminding me of something so obvious.
All the best,
Bob
I'm planning to clear some stuff out via COW in the first instance. Lots of other useful suggestions in the comments here though. I usually start with people I know though. I expect we will all just end up with each others things and just as much stuff as before!
DeleteMartin Rapier,
DeleteI think that I’ll try listing and selling stuff on my website and at COW before trying out eBay.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteI’ve just spent 2 1/2 years clearing my mates stuff (he retired from wargaming, at 75)
…about 14 carboot loads (!!). I used fb selling groups, where possible, as the ebay fees mentioned by others don’t nibble away at the sale price. But as mentioned ebay does reach further.
The groups I sold on were:-
15mm miniatures buy/sell
Wargaming Miniatures Sales Page-Hampshire
UK Wargames trading
15mm Wargame figures sales UK
The International Historical Wargames eXchange
Wargames Market Place
Wargames Miniatures Trade and Chat
Historical wargamers buy, swap and sell
15mm Market Place
Talk Wargaming’s buy, sell, trade, advertise, classified
Wargamers buy swap and sell
And
Buy, Trade or Sell 20mm?
Hope this helps.
Martin S.,
DeleteYe gods! That’s some list … and very helpful indeed. Thanks for all the potential avenues for me to explore.
All the best,
Bob
Try your blog first Bob.
ReplyDeleteRay Rousell,
DeleteI’ll certainly be listing what I’m selling on my blog. Thanks for suggesting it as a way forward for me.
All the best,
Bob
I turned 60 in May last year and had one of those epiphany moments. During the summer I put tigether all my fininshed and unfinished miniature models, rules and boardgames and decided to downsize the iple to something manageable.
ReplyDeleteHow did I do it? First, I'm a member of a large club in Madrid and posted in the internal Telergam group but also gave away o a lot of stuff I'll will never use again or paint in the near future to other club members interested. Second, instead of eBay I used a hugely popular domestic platform (Wallapop). Third I'm a heavy Twitter user and contacted with some of the contacts potentially interested in my stuff (including some other Spanish clubs) or posted directly in this social media. Fouth, why not use your own blog as some other comments suggested. Hope this helps
Anibal Invictus,
DeleteI’ve left my downsizing until a bit later (I’m 73!) … which means that I probably have even bigger piles of stuff to get rid of than you had.
Thanks for the suggestions that you have made, which has given me some ideas that I’ll be exploring further. I’ll certainly be listing what I’m selling on my blog so that my regular readers get the first bite of the cherry!
All the best,
Bob
What about advertising in the Nugget? Is that possible at all?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if WordPress had a way for you to do commerce by some sort of plug-in or something. Maybe I'll dig around to see if that's possible.
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteUnfortunately, THE NUGGET doesn’t contain any adverts … except for those ‘selling’ WD conferences etc.
I’d not thought about using WordPress to sell my stuff. Thanks for your suggestion, which I will look at ASAP.
All the best,
Bob