How to sell lots of collectors items quickly (possible in bulk)

[danpige]

DH has been collecting model cars for years (like toy cars) and when we moved a few months ago he finally decided to get rid of the majority of it all. but he has just got so much. He has been selling loads on ebay, over £5000 worths in the last 3 monhts. I'm obviouslly not complaining about this but i would quite like my DH back! he spends every spare moment, when he is not working his full time job, ebaying. So has anyone got any ideas on how to sell things in a less time cosuming way? I have suggested having a stall at a toy fair but he feels that he will only sell a little each time and not really saving any more time.

All his stuff is currently in our spare room and in an expensive storage place. He gets quite stressed about the whole ebay thing, lots of none payers, spends a huge amount of time packing and going to the post office. We have discussed selling things in bulk but he is not sure as many of his items are worth quite a lot of money.

Any ideas?

A specialist auction house, like Vectis?

A specialist auction house would be the best bet. Failing that, if there isn't one close enough, you could look at auction houses nearer to you and see if they hold a specialist auction every so often.
Selling at a collector's fair would bring in the price you want but as your dh has said, they won't all sell in one go. Selling at auction would mean that they more or less all sell in one go but probably at slightly lower prices - although you can get a few surprises especially if there are collectors bidding. If there are dealers bidding the bidding will end at a price that still leaves room for a profit to be made (usually on ebay!) Of course you need to take into account the auction house commission for each lot, or at a fair the cost of the stall which can be quite steep.

I'd say, in your circumstances, ie need to get rid quite quickly and at a good price, ebay is actually your best bet.
Maybe look at ebaying a different way to try and solve the stress problem? Could you set aside a time when you can both do it? Get a batch of cars, take photos and research each one and label the start price or bin. When that's done, list the batch on turbo lister so that they can go live on one day that suits. Prepare the packaging and put it to one side. Don't print out the ebay stuff but hand write a little note "thank you for your business, regards, ebaycarseller" and place it all conveyor style. By batching on turbo lister you could have a week of listing and then a week of posting. I find trying to do both is the stressful bit.