Selling old kit

[Erfolg]

I want to sell an old kit.

It was on my bucket list, of must build, before............

Any way, I have very little experience in selling anything, especially in this Covid era.

I know of at least sites which have potential places,

• this site
• the BMFA site
• eBay

what should I be aware of, what are the charges. I live now, at the very end of the Universe. On that basis I expect that not many would want or be able to collect. The box is quite heavy, and big (it is a Mercury Aeronca Sedan), on that basis postage could be quite expensive. If I had to post it, how much can I realistically charge, without incurring a loss, yet not be seen as profiteering?

 

If you wonder why sell. Before starting building the kit, I received some adverse reaction to my intention to modifying the model so as to be an "all weather" RC model. Instead I redesigned the model, to be a ordinary RC Scale model. This has now flown, successfully. I do not want to put the kit in my to build pile, I now have the Tee Shirt, it will only stay there until some one decides that it is junk and bins it (you all know when).

 

 

[Denis Watkins]

Can the kit this size Erf

Carrier is not expensive

Maximum Parcel weight	Maximum Parcel size	ParcelShop or Locker drop off	Courier collection
Postable (Under 1kg)	A maximum length of 120cm, with a maximu ...	ParcelShop or Locker drop off Next Day £ ...	Courier collection is not available for ...
Under 1kg	A maximum length of 120cm, with a maximu ...	ParcelShop or Locker drop off Next Day £ ...	£3.62 (£3.02 + VAT)
1-2kg	A maximum length of 120cm, with a maximu ...	ParcelShop or Locker drop off Next Day £ ...	£4.92 (£4.10 + VAT)
2-5kg	A maximum length of 120cm, with a maximu ...	ParcelShop or Locker drop off Next Day £ ...	£6.71 (£5.60 + VAT)

[Ron Gray]

Or ask buyers to arrange their own courier.

[John Laird]

Erfolg,

 

check out the parcel post - royal mail - for their rates - you input size and weight and postcode of destination and the cost is given.  I have used them for even larger kits than the Sedan and the local PO where i took it to post took it OK and usually quoted a little under PO quote.  Send it recorded delivery etc.

 

john

[Capt Kremen]

Whilst not dismissing the Post Office / Parcel Force, suggest look up 'Parcel2Go'. It's a sort-of comparison site for postal & courier services. You may well be surprised what good rates for very large packages you can obtain from the 'big boys' e.g. UPS, DHL etc. For modest increase in cost they will collect from your premises. Tracking and proof of delivery are also available.

[Erfolg]

the weight is 1902g

dimensions 920mm|*185mm*70mm

Unless I am doing the entry wrong, Parcel Force is quoting £31.80. Seems a lot to me.

The post office system says outside parameters, to large.

 

I was also wondering which of the sales sites supports Paypal, if any. 

 

I am also wondering, are any of the sites better than the rest?

 

[Keith Berriman]

Maybe worth a try on My Hermes and you can pay a small fee extra and have it collected from your home and fully tracked

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by Keith Berriman

[Capt Kremen]

Using the details you have given:

Hermes 5.29 / Parcel Force 8.05 / TNT 9.70 / UPS 11.28 All £ & p

AND Collection from UK Address Delivery To A UK Mainland Address

AND Yes, Parcel2Go accepts PayPal

[kevin b]

Hi Erfolg.

First of all I would suggest advertising it as a collect only item on BMFA and RCME classifieds.

Particularly if you have an idea as to how much you want for it.

The problem is that built kits do not command a high price, either at auction, or at swap meets.

Also the packing size creates its own difficulties, regarding transport costs.

I find it curious that as private individuals we struggle to get reasonable prices for shipping "larger" parcels, yet many retailers have no difficulty.

The best example I can give is that I recently bought 2 polycarbonate panels (1500mm x 700mm) which cost £19.00 including shipping.

I can't find anyone to ship an item of that size for that price, never mind the purchase cost!

[John Laird]

3 hours ago, Erfolg said:

the weight is 1902g

dimensions 920mm|*185mm*70mm

Unless I am doing the entry wrong, Parcel Force is quoting £31.80. Seems a lot to me.

The post office system says outside parameters, to large.

 

I was also wondering which of the sales sites supports Paypal, if any. 

 

I am also wondering, are any of the sites better than the rest?

 

Erfolg,

 

PO asks for wt in kgs and dims in cms.  - you appear to be inputing gms and mms.        earlier reply quotes about £8 which is what I would expect for UK deliveries.  I never paid more than about £20 for larger and heavier boxes and that was for recorded delivery and generally next day.  I also used ebay/ppal and was pleasantly  surprised by the prices I got.

 

john

[Ron Gray]

Prices from Interparcel (yes you can use PayPal).

 

[Erfolg]

John, given that the prices others have found, compared to my own, does indicate that I have at least once put in the calculator at least one dimension incorrectly.

 

I still wonder from a selling perspective, which sites are more favourable, than others.

[John Laird]

13 hours ago, Erfolg said:

John, given that the prices others have found, compared to my own, does indicate that I have at least once put in the calculator at least one dimension incorrectly.

 

I still wonder from a selling perspective, which sites are more favourable, than others.

 

Erfolg

 

Ebay lets the kit find its own price and I have never been disappointed particularly for older kits.

 

The Mercury Sedan is both rare and in my opinion one of the best kits produced by Mercury - I built one a long time ago and if I wasn't slowly and reluctantly disposing of kits I never got round to building, I would have been interested in the Sedan.

 

It fits in well with the vintage collectors and builders.  When I have put a kit up, I posted a notice with the link in several forums incl RcGroups vintage forum with the ebay link included.  Good luck with the Sedan

 

john

[leccyflyer]

On 15/04/2021 at 19:52, kevin b said:

Hi Erfolg.

First of all I would suggest advertising it as a collect only item on BMFA and RCME classifieds.

Particularly if you have an idea as to how much you want for it.

The problem is that built kits do not command a high price, either at auction, or at swap meets.

Also the packing size creates its own difficulties, regarding transport costs.

I find it curious that as private individuals we struggle to get reasonable prices for shipping "larger" parcels, yet many retailers have no difficulty.

The best example I can give is that I recently bought 2 polycarbonate panels (1500mm x 700mm) which cost £19.00 including shipping.

I can't find anyone to ship an item of that size for that price, never mind the purchase cost!

I've had no problem whatsoever finding parcel services willing to ship large boxes at reasonable prices. Just a couple of months ago I had Parcelforce pick up a large empty box to send that to a seller down south for a rare RTF model, which he didn't have a bos for and was reluctant to post. Essentially I paid twice for shipping, once to ship the empty box to him and then for him to post the model back. The model had been listed three times as local collection only and had not sold -each time it was listed the price went down. 

 

For something like a rare kit, making it collection only will greatly reduced the market and result in a lower price. Given the quoted rates shown in the posts above it;s a no brainer - for a modest shipping cost, you greatly increase your chances of getting a good price at auction.

Like John said - for particular models, putting the link to the auction up on appropriate sites is a good idea. If you know what you want to get then setting an appropriate reserve price is important.

 

I'd also said that a boxed kit is an easy item to ship, certain;y compared to an assembled model, but would encourage putting the box inside another sturdy box - that should be obvious. but it's surprising that sometimes the seller doesn't do that. If you bought the kit from a decent model shop it would be correctly packed and for a rare kit that's what the seller should do.

[Engine Doctor]

Hi Parcels2Go is good site to get the best prices for delivery. You can even arrange for the parcel to be collected from your home. If the buyer wants it they pay the postage etc, no hagling.

If you sell on eBay and the buyer is overseas then suggest you use eBay's GSP(Global Shipping program) . All you have to do is post it to the eBay postal center ,suggest you use signed for or recorded delivery. Once receive it they then deal with all the postage etc to the buyer with no risk to you.

You must make this clear in your advert as the buyer will have to pay for the service direct to eBay.

Use of classifieds does have risks. PayPal is good but if the buyer is dodgy then they can claim parcel never arrived and PayPal will do a chargeback. Suggest do a cheque or PayPal gift and the money is yours once in your account but then it's down to you to do all the post etc.

Probably the simplest is " Buyer collects, cash on delivery" ith social distancing although this will limit you buyers.

Good luck with sale.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Engine Doctor

[Erfolg]

The kit is un-started and complete.