Huge Disney Collection - Many Questions!!@@!!

[MaggieMouse39]

Hello everyone -

I highlighted my 2 main questions, because I feel a lot of rambling coming on

Over the past 23 years, I have accumulated a pretty massive Disney collection. I have a little bit of everything from figurines, to watches, comics, games, store displays, etc....basically anything that is Disney affiliated in any way. Old and New.

Just to give you an idea

I pretty much have 3 rooms that look like that from top/bottom and side/side. I've acquired all these items as a hobby from flea markets, friends, etc. I really don't pursue the hobby anymore and I'm thinking about selling. Which is where my questions begin.

- What is the best way to go about pricing items?
I have many Tomart Illustrated Price Guides and some other random "cartonn collectibles" price guides, but none of which are very comprehensive. And quite frankly, all the ones I have are very old.

- What do you think is the best way to sell these items?
I've thought about listing them on EBAY, but that is VERY time consuming to make all the auctions, and I'd just have to hope that someone was looking for the item in that 5 day window that it is listed.

I've also considdered, hosting a giant album on photobucket with all my items. "advertising" my link to people I think may be interested in my items, and letting them look through the pictures at their own speed. If they are interested they could contact me and we'd go from there. I've put up a small 10 item page, as an example of what I mean...it can be found here:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v715/MaggieMouse39/
If someone is interested in "x" number of items, they could email/call me with the item numbers they'd like and I can give them all the info I have. This way, the items could be up indefinitely as opposed to the week on ebay.

Or, there is the live auction idea. I live about an hour NW of Chicago. How would I go about advertising something like this to get people from different places to come. This option would be far less work, but I would also be reachin FAR less people.

Or, find someone interested in buying the whole lot. Again, how would I go about this?


- Are there any Collector's oriented sites that I should/could check out?

Basically, just any info that you could think of that would help me in this huge process in any way, would be GREATLY appreciated.

Apologize for the long post, and I hope this doesn't infringe on the "No for sale posts" rule. I'm not trying to sell anything in here, just wondering how I could sell stuff in the future.

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Your best return, of course, would be eBay. Before you put anything up you could check eBay's closed items to look for the same or similar for an idea about pricing. Yes, having them up on 7 or 10 day auctions is not as bad as you think. Many people have saved searches and will look for items at least weekly, which would give them wide exposure.

Another opportunity would be to set up an eBay store; however I would not recommend this as the fees are higher and basically everything would be a buy it now.

If you use auctions and set prices at the minimum you are willing to accept all it takes is one bid, and if it is a valuable item there is a pretty good change it would gofor a much higher price.

As far as a live auction is concerned, first of all you don't want people traiping all over your house, second you are correct thatyou would not reaqch a lot of people, and third sime most of the items are not very high value you would have a hard time getting an auctioneer. If you wanted to go to an auction house you would have to arrange to get the items there and take back unsold items.

If you absolutely must get rid of them to clear out your house, and you are desperate for money, then find someone to get a bulk purchase. You will be shocked at how low an amount you are offerred.

Prior to my move from Virginia (and after we had both retired), my wife and I put well over 100 1.5 cubic foot cartons full of collectibles into storage. We moved all of these separately from our other household goods and they are now in storage in Orlando. I have finally purchased a house and shortly after moving in will start displaying some of them and putting the rest up on eBay as a "full time job".

Anyhow, I hope this answers some of your questions..

 

[NHMickey]

Wow... that is a great collection.

 

[dizpinzinwhitby]

I have heard thru other boards that there is a 'store' or 'booth' at the Webbs Antique Mall (13373 W. Colonial Drive, Winter Garden, FL) that already sells all kind so Disney collectables. Maybe you should take a trip over there and talk to the owners. Maybe they could help you out with some ideas OR maybe you could put some of your items there on consignment ?
Please let me know what you find out !

Gabe Manda (just west of Toronto, Canada)

 

[MaggieMouse39]

Sorry for the late response. Been busy...

Thanks for the compliments and the help. I'm in the Chicago area, so I doubt the folks down in FL would be too much help for me. Thanks for the idea though. It seems as if Ebay is the way to go.

If/when I start putting this stuff up on Ebay, would any of you like for me to email you and give ya the "heads up" that I'm going to start? Feel free to email me.

 

[geetey]

Maggie,
This is just a thought - might not be exactly what you are looking for - but around here (St Louis area) there are several businesses that will auction/package/ship your ebay items for you. Basically, they will do all of the work, take a flat percentage fee and your items will be taken care of. You may consider this, if you don't want to do the ebaying yourself.
I keep thinking that I want to sell some items but just haven't gotten up the nerve to be a seller (doing fine as a buyer ). I may go with something like this though. If nothing else, I will be able to copy their format for future sales.

Good luck!

 

[MaggieMouse39]

Very interesting...what kind of businesses are these? Is this all they do? Any idea what the percentage is?

Now I have to run see if theres any of that around here.

 

[TEENEE]

If you do decide to go with Ebay please let me know. My husband collects Donald Duck. He has approx 600 dd's. It's insane but he loves the duck. Your collection is unbelievable.

 

[Goofy4Pluto]

Howdy!

I'd definitely like to know when you begin auctioning also!

I collect mainly Pluto - but if I see anything interesting... I'd bite!

Please email me when you get ready!