Companies buying painted figures for resale

[Doug ex-em4]

A friend has asked if I know any of the companies/individuals who specialise in buying collections or parts of collections. I know there are some but I’m a bit out of touch. Can anyone refresh my memory?

Thanks

Doug

[JollyBob]

Depending what you've got to move, Colonel Bill's, Hinds Figures, The Troll Trader and our own Meier Elf Fanatic might be worth a call.

[Citizen Sade]

Auction houses are worth considering too as he’ll doubtless see more money for his man dollies. Wessex Auction Rooms near me, for example, hold regular toy auctions. Old GW seems to do very well with them. There is the small matter of the seller’s commission of ~20%, of course.

[Doug ex-em4]

Thanks for the replies - I’ll pass the info on.

Auction houses are worth considering too as he’ll doubtless see more money for his man dollies. Wessex Auction Rooms near me, for example, hold regular toy auctions. Old GW seems to do very well with them. There is the small matter of the seller’s commission of ~20%, of course.

Being as how I’m in Wessex (I think!) I’ll check out the auctioneer as well.

Doug

[Panzer21]

Rob Palmier(?):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/thelastnazgul

Claims will take whole collection not just best bits, based Wolverhampton IIRC.

Neil

[Bloggard]

re: Rob Palmier ( 'thelastnazgul' on ebay).

very straight forward to deal with - and will collect.
Other's might, depending on size / value of collection, but generally want stuff posted to them.

obvs. you potentially lose a lot, dosh-wise, selling thus, rather than sticking on ebay etc. But then, (potentially) no fees etc on the plus side.

[Harry Faversham]

Maybe not Colonel Bill's, these days. Stew's an absolute gent to deal with, but recently he told me he's concentrating on selling.

[Orctrader]

obvs. you potentially lose a lot, dosh-wise, selling thus, rather than sticking on ebay etc. But then, (potentially) no fees etc on the plus side.

This.

In recent, very friendly and informative, discussion with one of those mentioned here, if you sell on EBAY even with fees you will achieve a higher price than they can offer, as they need to make a profit when selling.

[Bloggard]

time and trouble I suppose.

ebay - a lot of variables: primarily 'when and for how much (and thus the question of 'auction' vs 'BiN')' - but also ebay can be funny about paying (or so I've read in recent times when considering getting back in to it) out in a timely manner - particularly if you've not been active in sales for a while (but of course - YMMV).
Then fees.
Also, if you're not used to / geared up for it, the packaging and posting, and 'managing' of messages / queries can be quite the time-sink. Particularly if dealing with a good number of 'smaller' lots.

If going to a reseller, given my experience of mr. Palmier - you need to be able to price up the items in a detailed and relevant manner (i.e. if painted, the 'value' is a difficult one I should think - I've only sold unpainted stuff) and then you'll 'only' be getting 25% of this agreed value.

I've been lazy in terms of listing for one or two deals - and have def. been low-balled as a result - but I've also got cash in hand, and everything collected 'in one go' from my gaffe.

Depends on what's most important - maximising income or convenience I suppose.

The 'Bazaar' here has been great for selling stuff for me - although, again, I'm not talking large collections of painted figures.

[Orctrader]

time and trouble I suppose.

I'm not going to sing Ebay's praises as their fees are high BUT...

As a Private Seller - not a business:

Listing is easy - just select one of your sold items, select sell something similar and edit the original to suit.
Here in the UK I am frequently offered "70% off final fees" and rarely do any auctions when there is not a deal.
I sell just a few auctions each time, so as not to get bogged down with packaging.
Payments - since they dropped PayPal I have always received payment within 24 hours.

The main thing for me though, the market is huge when compared to our own friendly trading space here.

With the original question though, if the aim is to move a large quantity as easily as possible and maximising returns is not the main aim, Ebay will probably take too long.

[Citizen Sade]

My experience is the same as Orctrader’s though I get offered 80% off fees. I run occasional auctions with small lots that I think might go for a good price. A fair number have gone overseas via eBay’s GSP service despite the griping you sometimes hear about the prices. My experience, FWIW, is that they are usually ballpark competitive and are sometimes cheaper than Royal Mail tracked.

[Bloggard]

I'm not going to sing Ebay's praises as their fees are high BUT...

Payments - since they dropped PayPal I have always received payment within 24 hours.

interesting and reassuring.
my comment wasn't from personal experience.
I've not had a problem with payment time from ebay at any point over the years, but I've only been a very small-time seller; odds and sods now and then for the most part.
Haven't done anything on there for a while, and when googling a few months back was seeing a fair few threads about Ebay delaying pay-out ... If that was true to any significant degree, hopefully it's sorted now.

[Orctrader]

Ebay payments, recent example.  Jigsaw sold and paid yesterday, Ebay sent me the payment today.

[Khusru2]

I sold several books recently and had payment delays until delivery confirmed.