Offloading 25mm collection

[dwkay57]

I thought I had posted this, but it seems to have vanished....

Following on from Steve Neate's article on de-cluttering in Slingshot 364, I am considering disposing of my collection (not too large) of 1970/80s 25mm figures. They haven't been out of the tool box / display cabinet for about 30+ years so it doesn't make too much sense in hanging on to them.

Be interested to hear about potential ways for doing this? Thanks.

[nikgaukroger]

There is always eBay.

[Denis Grey]

Or some of the Facebook groups.

Martin Smith sold quite a bit of stuff for a friend who had left the hobby, so he might have some more concrete suggestions

[Dave Knight]

Post a list on the for sale section of the forum.  I for one am often interested in such figures, but usually not whole collections

[Martin Smith]

Following on from Steve Neate's article on de-cluttering in Slingshot 364, I am considering disposing of my collection (not too large) of 1970/80s 25mm figures. They haven't been out of the tool box / display cabinet for about 30+ years so it doesn't make too much sense in hanging on to them.

Be interested to hear about potential ways for doing this?

All depends what your expectations are and what prices you have in mind. As Denis mentioned, I sold off a friend's collection from 2020 to 2024 (around 18-20 car boot loads 😯).

On here is a good starting point - anyone on this forum is likely to be an ancients wargamer, for one thing...

What I found was if you're a facebook user the facebook selling groups are not bad. You have to post to lots of them, as the chances of a particular gamer with the niche interest in that particular batch spotting your 'advert' / post are relatively slim... but it does happen.

I also sold on eBay, but it's a bit hit and miss. To get interest you need to start with a lower price, and SOMETIMES it sells for a pittance, when you know it's 'worth' a lot more.

Local club etc worth a try, but again, price may not be marvellous.

When it came to pricing, I looked to see what something similar was SELLING* for on eg eBay, and went with a price a tad lower ie more competitive (the guy I sold for wanted stuff to 'go to a good home', so pure price wasn't the driver). * not what people were asking....two different things.

Another consideration is how much faff you're prepared to put up with. Selling the whole batch is nice, but you're likely to be hard pressed to find someone with eg a few hundred pounds they want to splash out.

Selling in decent sized units works, but there's more packaging and so forth. Always add 'PLEASE SEE MY OTHER ANCIENTS LISTINGS' to the bottom of yr advert, to maximise the sales per customer (and therefore minimise postage hassle).

Ask yourself...do I want to sell to overseas? There was often someone who wanted stuff mailing to eg US, which is great til things go missing en route, or take forever to arrive. I had a rule that I wouldn't sell overseas, but suggested to the enquirer that if they had eg a wargaming friend in the UK who would forward the item I'd happily send on internal post.
Always use tracking services. (nb Tracking overseas is expensive). Best deal was usually Evri, and despite their occasionally shaky reputation they only failed on a couple of packages out of 200+.

Good luck...

[Imperial Dave]

Very sage advice

[stevenneate]

You're also lucky enough in the UK to have people who will buy your stuff and then sell it on. They often advertise in the glossies.

Do ask yourself, though, do you want to get rid of it or do you want to profit from it? If the latter and you overprice, then it won't sell fast. It is only worth what someone will pay, not a "market price" based on current figure prices, painting & basing, hours spent painting, 'collectability', etc.  None of this sentimentality is worth diddly squat for historicals, unless someone is super keen.

Also remember you may need to add P&P.

Friends just sold a fair bit at the bring & buy stand at the most recent Melbourne show. My club also runs a b&b stand at every meeting (I made great use of it for books and terrain items). I also used local clubs' Facebook sites.

[Imperial Dave]

I recently attended and sold a fair amount of stuff at a table top event in Birmingham.

£10 for a table and you do the selling

There are also traders who attend these things and will buy bulk off you

[dwkay57]

Thanks for the feedback chaps (especially Martin). I was hoping to avoid as much faffing about as possible.
Was it a specialist tabletop event Dave? I'm not sure carboot sales around my area would generate sufficient interest. Selling to traders, despite the likely low price, might be an easy option.

List of figures attached, plus there is a large assortment of impedimentia and some fantasy stuff (but I might ask the guy at the local warhammer shop about them).

[Denis Grey]

You're also lucky enough in the UK to have people who will buy your stuff and then sell it on. They often advertise in the glossies.
.....................................................

One of whom (Ian Hinds) sponsors the Society's Championship.

[Imperial Dave]

Yep, specialist wargame tabletop sale and busy af 

[dwkay57]

Oh, where have all the toy soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Gone to toolboxes everyone
Short time ago.

Ok, not every figure. I'm keeping about 20 (general and escort) for sentimental purposes. The other 1,100 or so are now stored in toolboxes ready to march (see attachment).

Just in case anybody reading this knows someone who has a friend who really needs a Roman army urgently or has an entrepreneurial interest in selling "stuff", I attach a link to my website where the latest post has more details of the figures.

https://veryverylittlewars.wordpress.com/

[Nick Harbud]

But what are you going to do with all those empty cabinets?  I mean, they look a bit lonely now.

 

[Martin Smith]

Some lovely models in there...,👍🏼

[dwkay57]

I think the cabinets are going up for sale too Nick.