How to find the fair value of Engines and Rolling Stock

I have a bunch of N scale Engines and rolling stock I bought in the 90s and are near new since I never had a layout, just ran on a test track. I want to sell this stuff but need to find fair selling prices. How does one do this? Looking at ebay sale prices? Is there a Kelly Blue Book for N Scale rolling stock?

Also, if the rolling stock (Atlas) has been modified to Micro Train coupler and trucks how much more should I ask for the rolling stock? Or should I put the old coupler and trucks back on and sell the micro Trains coupler and trucks seperately?

Again, I'm looking for fair prices.

Thanks

 

If you want to sell it for a fair price list it on eBay with a starting bid of $1.00 and it will sell very near the market value.

Have fun, Mark

 

It all depends on how much effort you want to put into selling them too. If you have the time and don't mind taking multiple photos of each item, Ebay is the way to go. Keep in mind the ebay fees and PayPal fees eat up about ~20%.
There are other options like the Swap Meet forum right here on TB: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/forumdisplay.php?306-TrainBoard-Swap-Meet
Also, the yahoo group is a good place to sell. Make sure you read the guidelines:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/NScaleYardSale/

About removing MTL, You might be able to make a few bucks off the trucks separately but keep in mind the time to swap them out, making sure you have the original type of truck on it.

You can always put up a sample of items and judge your prices based on how quickly they sell (or not at all). Takes more time to do that but might be worth it for you.

I'll keep a lookout for your offerings

 

I've had pretty good luck selling on eBay, even with the nearly prohibitive fees, which in my case were around 10%, not 20%. The secret to my successes were to watch for what's selling, and if there's a big bidding war happening on a particular item, and you have one just like it, take really good photos of what you've got, post it for a 3 day Buy It Now for an equivalent price, and it'll sell quickly. I've never had that fail, and many of the items I sold were big-ticket items which sold for my asking price of over $800 to a high of $1600.

On more mundane items, such as cars that you've replaced trucks and couplers on you're probably not going to get an increase in price that will compensate for the new trucks and couplers. However, well done weathering and a bit of superdetailing will often make the bids go higher. I take really good photos of them...I mean professional quality (since I AM a pro photographer) that are (1) in focus (2) the correct color temperature so the colors look right (3) I manipulate the photos so that the blacks and shadows are "opened up" a bit so the details can be seen. If there are any flaw on the item, I do not hide that fact and include it in my very complete description, some of which could be classed as "boiler plate" and is common to similar items that I have going up for bids at the same time.

I also don't charge an arm and a leg for shipping, but include a buck or so for my effort and delivery, which I call "shipping & handling". I also combine shipping costs when possible which encourages the bidder to bid on more than one item.

I put them up for bids for a week usually, with the bidding ending before 10:00PM EST on Sunday night. I'll pack them up and ship them on Monday, and I always do a first-class job of packaging and using peanuts and/or bubble wrap and USPS boxes. I get a lot of positive comments about my packing as a lot of people think that's important. I also ensure each and every item and require delivery confirmation and I state it clearly in my ad. If the winner wants it extra quick, then they have to pay extra for that. I always ship within 24 hours of the winning bid, and I state that also...with the exception in the Winter if I get snowed in.

I always start the bidding at $1.00 and sometimes I make a good amount, and sometimes I don't. Most of the time, the winning bid determines the actual value, unless you've got a "collectable" and already know its value, I consider what John Q. Public will pay for a model to be its "actual value".

The two main things that I believe help me to get good prices are the quality of my photos and the complete descriptions of both the model and my selling and shipping policies.

Here is a sample of some of my eBay photos I used to sell my custom detailed and painted Overland Centennials:














This was a high-ticket item, so I took more photos that I do when I photograph cars. But, the potential customers like to see what they're bidding on and good, clear photos makes them trust they're not bidding on junk.

Hope this helps.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

 

Various Places to Sale Items

I use FEEBAY as my last resort to see wanted/excess items. There are many other places to sell Model Railroad (train) stuff. Many people have their own websites for selling. But that seems to be hit or miss, as there is no place to find out all the websites that have new/used N-Scale For Sale. You can do a GOOGLE search and see what comes up.
When I can find one, I like to do SWAP MEETS. You can meet your buyer, face to face, get a pretty good idea what the market price is on items and maybe swap your unwanted item for something you do want. Check your local area for Swap Meet notices. Here in the So. Indiana (Louisville KY Metro) area. There are several around that are coming up in the next month or so. Cincinnati & Dayton Ohio have some GREAT Shows also.

There are several online sites that have excellent online sales sites attached to their websites. TRAINBOARD is one of them, with their Swap Meet Forum: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/forumdisplay.php?306-TrainBoard-Swap-Meet and the YAHOO! Group N-SCALE YARD SALE: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/NScaleYardSale/conversations/messages is another. I have used both groups with success. NO FEES on either one, but there is one drawback to both of them. You will have a potential buyer email you that they want the item, and want payment information. You send payment information, what you will accept for payment (Money Orders, CASH, Cashier's Checks and Personal Checks[NO PAYPAL], who to make the payment out to, where to send payment, and then YOU NEVER HEAR FROM THE BUYER AGAIN!!! And by then you have other buyers wanting to purchase your items. I let the 2nd & 3rd etc. etc buyers know what's going on, and inform them if the first buyer doesn't respond to a inquiring email or 10 days pass with no communication, the item is theirs. This is in according to what order they are in the waiting line. Most of the time, the #2 buyer will complete the sale.

If nothing sells by now, I will use FEEBAY to attempt to sell my items. I call it FEEBAY, because of all the FEES involved. I only use the standard listing profile, nothing fancy. I'm trying to get as much as I can for my stuff and don't want to give FEEBAY any more $ than I have to. Up to 50 listings per month for FREE for listing. But the Final Value fees add up after that. 10% for what you sell the item for and what you receive for SHIPPING also. FEEBAY really wants you to include FREE shipping in your listing. The only payment you "SUPPOSEDLY" can accept is PayPal. Used to be you could take, Money Orders, Cashier's Checks & Personal Checks for payment, but no more. I guess FEEBAY/PayPal didn't like that they didn't receive any $ off these types of payment?!?! PayPal fees are 2.9% + $0.30 of the total transaction (item sales price & shipping cost). For the small, non-commercial user, this fee structure seems a bit much! But when you are the 600 lb gorilla in the room, you can make whatever rules you want!

As for pricing, if I can get back 50% of what I paid for an item, I'm happy. Now some items will sell for a little more, but as a rule, 50% seems about the limit. I sell them as is, where is. I don't change out trucks & couplers (all my stuff has Micro-Trains couplers anyway) The main thing is to describe you items CLEARLY and take GOOD pictures. Include anything in the description that you think a potential bidder/buyer will want to know. New/used, weathered, with box, tray, paper insert or not, tell it all in the description.

'Nuff Said. I'll get down off my soapbox now. LOL

 

I know why. I've determined that me and one other guy are shopping for the same N scale stuff on eBay. How do I know this? Because whenever I don't bid it goes for next to nothing and when I do, I get in a bidding war and mostly lose.

 

Yeah..Over my dead body..Once I saw a set of NIB Victor RC car scales on Ebay..List price? $499.00!! The guy goofed up,listed them stupid,nobody saw them but me.Yep,I bought them for 99 cents!! But,since I'm not a lowlife,I still gave him 100 bucks for them.but still,1/4 what they were worth...
The best way to sell stuff on Ebay,group cars to save shipping,better yet,offer free shipping,and just use economy shipping instead or Priority,and put the starting price at the minimum you'll take for it,or put a minimum buy it now,be sensible,and just leave it forever until somebody buys it.I had some rare RC car part on,put them on in August.Asked what they were worth,just sold the last of 5 items last Wednesday.Some stuff is seasonal,three of them went this month!! If you're not in a hurry for the cash,you'll almost always sell it..I'm sitting here putting stuff on right now..No,not trains,LOL!!

 

I second that Ken.

 

My method has been the following:
To find fair market value: Search "SOLD" or "Completed" listings on E-bay.. to get a rough Idea of what it's selling for..
Another thing I ask myself: "At what price would I buy this if I were at a train show?"

To Sell:
1: List on N Scale Yard Sale first at 50%-60% of Retail value..
2: List on E-bay for 12-15% over your NSYS listing.
-- List on a 7 Day Auction.. If people get in a bidding war.. Great, if you get one bid, then your netting the same as if you sold on NSYS
3: List on E-bay as a 30 day Buy Now for same price.
4: List on Auction for a lower price or keep it.

Couple of other things to keep in mind.
Free shipping = Seller pays shipping = No benefit for multiple purchases.
Buyer pays calculated shipping = Net income to seller is stable, Buyer has incentive to buy more.

--- When I find something I want at a fair price, and the seller combines shipping I actively look for something else to buy.
Case in point.. I purchased a BLI T-1 for the display case ("Dead" - $99) - Since I paid shipping, I also found (and bought) an M1A for $99.

Had the price been $115 with free shipping, I would have just bought the T1.

 

This is now far too risky. There is a fair chance that it will sell for that minimum bid.

I would list (and have listed) cars with MTL trucks/couplers for at least the going rate (street price, not MSRP) for the trucks/couplers. Buy the trucks, get the car for free.

My experience outside of eBay has been fair to middlin'. I've gotten e-mails back with insulting counteroffers. I do have a sense of what things are worth, and I WILL throw it out first, folks.

Combined shipping without a further discount may put off some buyers, but I think charging shipping at all puts off other ones. (I don't mean excessive shipping... see "eBay Humor" thread). Pick your poison.

 

Thanks for all of the replies, I will try ebay and if that doesent work will list them for sale here. I will be searching ebay and the Swap meet forum here for fair prices.

 

Yeah, I have that same problem.

On the bright side though, often when you lose a bidding war, you really win because you're not overpaying for something that will most likely show up again eventually.

Some good points made. I agree about avoiding the 99cent start...the risk is too great. Although it was mentioned, I would reinforce the point about factoring in your time...you can spend a LOT of time prepping items and taking photos etc. Utilizing the trading posts and Yahoo NScaleYardSale and/or N-Scale groups are a GREAT way to sell items. You still might have a request for a photo on occasion, but generally a good description is all you need if the items are truly in "stock" condition.

 

Here is my take on N-scale train values. The only true indicator of a value of an item is what someone will pay for it. Whether we like it or not, eBay is, by far, the closest thing that we have to find this out. Printed manuals are absolutely worthless with one exception. That exception, in my opinion, is for the collectable MTL cars and it ONLY gives you values of a car in relation to other MTL cars.

I buy and sell trains on eBay and have for a number of years. Here is what I have found.

There are some specific times of the year where I have seen that sale prices go higher in general. Late Fall (First part of October through Thanksgiving) and late Winter (Early January through early March). People are inside more workin on layouts, playing with trains, etc.

On lower dollar items (lower end rolling stock, lower end locos, etc), I list them with $.99 opening bids, run them for 7 days and have them end on either Tue, Wed or Thu nights at about 10PM ET.

I try to list like items (roadnames, etc.) to end on the same night or consecutive nights and combine shipping; that highly encourages people to bid on or buy multiple items.
On upper end items (high end locos and rolling stock, especially newer, hard to find items), I put them on a 30 day Buy It Now with a Best Offer and list them at about 20% over what I would take for them. It gives the buyer a good feeling to talk me down 10-20% and I get what I want for them.

On obscure things, where there isn't a large market for them (like Japanese trains in the U.S.), I always use a Buy It Now because there is too much risk involved in using a pure auction. There is a good chance it won't sell, but I am not giving it away either. One poster mentioned that if an a particular item is selling for a high price and you have one of them, list it quickly with a Buy It Now and it will sell rather quickly.

Regarding shipping, I add 20% to the actual price it will cost me to ship an item. Why, you might ask? Ebay charges a Final Value Fee of 10% on the shipping costs and Paypal gets another 3%+. That leaves 7% for tape, peanuts, etc. If I can ship in a Small Flat Rate Box ($5.25 if you buy it only, I charge $6.25 to $6.50 for the shipping).

As far as rolling stock, say an Atlas car with MTL trucks and couplers, don't expect more than $6-9 for them, even if they are mint in the box. Lower end rolling stock just isn't worth much. There are exception to that, but that is what I have seen.

Keep in mind that price is determined by supply and demand. For most N-scale items, a person can almost always find another one for sale. The prices for a majority or locos and rolling stock plummets once you have purchased them new. I try to buy everything I want used because it is a better deal. With the short runs of some of the things being released now and the possibility it will be years (or never) before being run again, I sometimes have to buy new.

I personally have not had good luck selling anywhere other than ebay. I have tried the Trade section here on TB and on the N-Scale Yard Sale. It seems to me that, for the most part, the only things that sell well on these two forums are things that are priced very cheap. I won't give away my trains so I market them to the biggest audience in the world, eBay.

These are just my opinions.