Advice about preparing cars for sale

[paullyjay]

Hi Everyone, I have a few cars which I recently put up on eBay for sale and had no real interest in them, I originally planned to sell them as complete packages with batteries chargers and 27Mhz radio gear. I want to sell my re-re Wild One (has been used but not much) my re-re Lunchbox (has been well used for 6 months and the shell is a bit shabby) and possibly an old scruffy but running TL-01

So, my questions are:

1. Should I sell the cars as complete packages or sell radio gear and electrics separately?

2. Should I strip, clean and restore them, including repainting or replacing body shells etc...

What do you guys do to get successful sales or what would entice you to buy?

Cheers

Paul

[Prescient]

Usually, if little interest it's simply due to pricing.

You also want nicely clean kits and good quality photos not the 20mp camera but blurry UFO/Bigfoot/Loch Ness Monster effort shots.

I always suggest going buy it now with best offer and free or heavily subsidised shipping since PayPal and eBay subsidised offers like the save 10-20% coupons don't count on the shipping element. Auctions can go either way though really but usually end up adverse to a buy it now price.

27mhz & radio kit sells really well on its own and usually much more than as an included set with a kit. Price it right and it will be gone the same day. You usually get more splitting electronics and mods too.

Expectations of what prices can be achieved Vs what they actually sell for though are often poles apart.

Well used kit, expect 10-30% of the new lowest eBay retail. A well used lunchbox isn't an attractive option as a few spares later and you could buy a new kit.

Lightly used expect 40-70% depending on availability of kit and it's vintage. It's only highly sought after used kits that achieve much more and even then it's limited.

Proper vintage kits even when well used can fetch decent money but there are only a few kits that get really surprising money.

Old scruffy TL01s can go for £15 upwards. 

It is the wrong time of the year as well and the wrong side of Christmas pay day.

Tamiya are always a hard sell though. To sell quickly you need to look at the bottom book eBay prices and set at that or slightly less.

Too high or even when just on a median value and it can take 1-3 months. 

[TurnipJF]

Never sold one, but from a prospective buyer's perspective I appreciate the following:

 

Lots of pictures, showing the good and the bad points of the model, from above and below, body on and off.

Clean chassis, so I can be confident that there isn't damage being hidden by dirt.

No radio gear - I'd want to fit my own gear compatible with my 2.4GHz TX, so you'd may as well sell the 27MHz stuff separately and save me the hassle of getting rid of it.

If the shell needs replacement and the chassis can take a variety of different shells, I'd rather not have a new shell included as I would want to pick my own. If it is a chassis that only has one shell option, I would like a new but unpainted shell included, so I can choose my own colours.

[Hobbimaster]

I buy and sell on Ebay almost on a daily basis. I would say clean the cars as best as possible, and take good pictures outside under full daylight. I tend to get better sales by including radio gear I have laying around to try to make the model fully RTR. This is especially true with a Tamiya sub $200 kit if it were new, your only going to get around 1/2 of what a new kit costs anyway, so anything extra will help out. People tend to buy these RTR's for there kids, or just want another car to restore themselves, and like the idea of older radio gear. Race kits such as TRF's with all the bells and whistles tend to do better without electonics. Just be honest in the ad too.

[Nobbi1977]

Be honest about how much you will get for it. eBay can be mad with price sometimes, I have seen great cars not sell and junk go for top money but often it depends on if the buyer can collect because on a cheap item postage can be a big % of the total.

[Baddon]

17 hours ago, Hobbimaster said:

I buy and sell on Ebay almost on a daily basis. I would say clean the cars as best as possible, and take good pictures outside under full daylight. I tend to get better sales by including radio gear I have laying around to try to make the model fully RTR. This is especially true with a Tamiya sub $200 kit if it were new, your only going to get around 1/2 of what a new kit costs anyway, so anything extra will help out. People tend to buy these RTR's for there kids, or just want another car to restore themselves, and like the idea of older radio gear. Race kits such as TRF's with all the bells and whistles tend to do better without electonics. Just be honest in the ad too.

Any changes you would advise on this add?

202118664902

Edited November 25, 2017 by Baddon
left off item nr

[ALEXKYRIAK]

I’ve sold a few bits and bobs including a vintage car here and there, I was very careful to take really clear photos in good light.

The same product photographed in a poorly lit room, or at night, with a dodgy flash will look 100 times worse than if photographed in a generously lit room in good daylight with a considered composition of the shot, and as clear a background as you can get - try to get just the product and a single colour background behind it. I use a white table or a big kitchen floor tile, for example. A good, clear, image is very powerful. A complete box, and good photo of the box, is also a good plus point IMHO. 

[iluvmud]

I’m an eBay ho..... clean the car to the best of your abilities, good lighting and a clear background as to not distract from the item your selling. Also if you got radio gear to add with it to make it rtr add it if you want, I find that it rarely if ever increases the sell price but that might be just me since I mainly deal with vintage stuff though.... and be thorough in your listing list mods in a list to their eyes jump to that since most buyers rarely read everything in the listing. As for the body, just clean the crap out of it too and list it as not being the best or few scuffs or whatever.... you buy a new body for 40 only for it to add 10 in the final price....

I can buy a junky looking car that has that one mod I want for a sweet deal, take out the mod and possibly other mods, clean the car up and relist it and still make a little profit... it’s all about presentation.

[Munchbox]

**** you guys are good at this! Will someone please sell my vintage Blackfoot and my HPI Wheely King for me!! I'm great at buying stuff my problem is I'm not nearly as good at selling off the unnecessary stuff later on..

[Juls1]

As a seller it’s best to just clean it best you can and sell it as is. Old radio gear is unlikely to improve the value. To be honest old am/fm radios included with cars these days reduce the value that I’m prepared to pay, it’s just more clutter and junk I don’t need and have to dispose of. 

Dont spend money on any of it, you’ll never recover what you spend. The chassis may be worth more without the shell if the shell is really tatty, cracked and scratched. 

It is worthwhile rebuilding and cleaning everything so it looks in its best as possible condition. 

Battery’s and chargers can be a bit like the radios, especially if the charger isn’t Lipo compatible and mains powered. 

It comes down to if the model is suited as a rtr or if it’s more geared to a tamiya enthusiast. That will dictate the value of adding radio and battery’s and charger. If it’s not a collectible type kit it may be of value to have it rtr. But if it is collectible it’ll probably decrease it’s value. 

Nimh battery’s and chargers, am/fm radios are worth the worst part of $0.00 second hand so don’t over estimate what they add to the value of what your trying to sell and you will easily sell your items quickly. 

[iluvmud]

1 hour ago, Munchbox said:

**** you guys are good at this! Will someone please sell my vintage Blackfoot and my HPI Wheely King for me!! I'm great at buying stuff my problem is I'm not nearly as good at selling off the unnecessary stuff later on..

ship them to me and Ill list them for you.... for a minor fee of course

[Munchbox]

24 minutes ago, iluvmud said:

ship them to me and Ill list them for you.... for a minor fee of course

Ha I know right. I guess my main problem is accepting a fraction of the cost of what I spent on the items. 

I guess that's sort of an on topic point to make; don't buy stuff expecting it to hold any real value and don't be surprised when all you can get are offers much lower than what you expected. In general, for me, any offer is better than no offer at all.

[TurnipJF]

Indeed. With only a few highly collectible exceptions, RCs are terrible investments. I believe one should buy them to have fun with, and if afterwards you can get a bit of your money back by selling them, that is a bonus.

[yogi-bear]

45 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

Indeed. With only a few highly collectible exceptions, RCs are terrible investments. ...

of course we'd never tell our partners that 

[iluvmud]

9 hours ago, Munchbox said:

Ha I know right. I guess my main problem is accepting a fraction of the cost of what I spent on the items. 

I guess that's sort of an on topic point to make; don't buy stuff expecting it to hold any real value and don't be surprised when all you can get are offers much lower than what you expected. In general, for me, any offer is better than no offer at all.

I’ll give you 20 for that wheelie king!

 

honestly, I do lose a little bit of money on some cars but not much as I never buy new. Also I’m pretty good at knowing what I could get for the car I’m listing, but if I’m off a bit I’ll pull mods off the car and sell them separately to recoup some of the cash. Also if I’m in too deep on what I’ve put I to a car I’ll just keep it or deal with the loss. 

[Munchbox]

Sometimes I get an offer and I think to myself "for that price I might as well keep it!"

Im not really into the collecting aspect of rc though. It's weird. I'm interested in building and trying a lot of the models I see on here, but I know that soon after I will be over that car and on to something else. 

It would be great if I could work out the logistics of building a kit with a decent budget radio, ESC, battery and charger and resell it as rtr to recoup the money. That way I could build myself into oblivion, keep the cars I really end up liking and not worry about spending on stuff that's going to sit around or resell for beans.

[paullyjay]

Thanks for all the great advice here - looks like I've got a week or so of dis-assembly, cleaning, re-greasing and rebuilding ahead of me!

[Baddon]

Wish I read all this about a week ago. Just sold my T Maxx for £26.....ouch. Oh well someone has a bargain.

I only give it a rough clean, put the postage tooo high and used an auction.

 

I have also been bidding on 3 diff cars at different stages and stopped as they just went above what I reckon they are worth to me.

 

Was looking for a Madbull and one just finished this evening with another tomorrow. One had a spare set of wheels to make it back to a buggy as well as an ESP and radio gear. I stopped at 54 but it was still rising last I looked, up to over 75 with 7 minutes to go.

Finished at just over £102......Whats that all about then? thats over NIB with an ESP.

 

I also was bidding on a Super Saber with broken rear suspension but rest of car looked ok and I need a set of wheels and tires so bid up to £24 and it sold at 25.....argh.

 

Is there any rules you guys on here have about bidding against each other? (We in our trike club do but that is REAL big money we are playing with.

[novicelad]

When I want to buy something second hand all the prices are extortionate, when I want to sell I only get peanuts! 

Recently sold a practically brandnew lunchbox new RTR with all electrics inc tx for £75 I made my money back which is something I suppose.

 

[magnumb]

Keep the description simple...sometimes too much info seems like you are trying to cover something up. 

I remove all radio gear and try to list only original kits as anything else is too big of a loss.

[scollins]

My major advice for anyone selling on eBay---beyond taking good photos and a simple well written honest description for the general listing,,,,take photos of the car in its shipping container with packing material presented and show how well you packaged the item, and have this as part of your listing..... here is a reason why...

My restored, rare, and fully RTR Kyosho Porsche 906 was sold on eBay in late September this year and two weeks after the car was delivered to the address, suddenly the buyer then claimed damage (which was very tough to prove that it was not done intentionally- it was really looking suspicious and since I restored the body with fiberglass and resin properly I know what it would have taken to crush it so badly - the buyer refused to show images of the damaged shipping container I boxed it up in- only pics of a badly smashed car) The car was damaged so badly there was no possible way it could have been without the shipping box being crushed, but it was never shown. Unfortunately after numerous calls to eBay and messages back and forth with the buyer, eBay sided with the buyer due to their "buyer protection program".

Even though I have(had) 14 solid years of 100 percent positive feedback as a seller on dozens of R/C parts and many full R/C cars, as I don't sell junk or broken stuff on purpose. My solid reputation suddenly meant nothing to eBay over the phone or via email due to the buyer calling me out and filing a claim before I could work out/understand what took place with the buyer, or if the shipping service was to blame. I got no response from that avenue to resolve the case either.
Worst part- eBay fully refunded the buyer (taking money back from my Paypal account) and the case closed before details were arranged for the car to get sent back to me. Then the buyer never returned the car per the rules after many many attempts to contact him. I was also set back by the fact that you positive feedback as a seller really means very little in a claim. It was a really negative experience. I enjoy this hobby so much and want anyone that buys from me to have a positive experience. 

Not trying to scare you from selling, just protect yourself for that one person that doesn't play nice. Most people do in this hobby we all love.

Bottom line-

If you have solid photographic proof that is was packed well you may have a better chance of being heard if a buyer claims you sent bad items in the mail. I learned the hard way eBay seems to side with buyers before they do with sellers regardless of their passion for getting things right or your multiple years of positive feedback as a seller.

[yogi-bear]

1 hour ago, scollins said:

...

Bottom line-

If you have solid photographic proof that is was packed well you may have a better chance of being heard if a buyer claims you sent bad items in the mail. I learned the hard way eBay seems to side with buyers before they do with sellers regardless of their passion for getting things right or your multiple years of positive feedback as a seller.

this is good advice and very true. Ebay is pretty much geared for the high volume sellers now, the ones who can budget in a loss or two, and not so much the individual, low volume seller anymore. I am not a fan of their resolution process, although to be fair, I think that would be a tough one to manage. Also experience has taught me to not trust the global shipping program, I've had more issues with that than anything else.

[Hibernaculum]

2 cents...

Think I’ve sold around 200 cars in the last 3yrs, from NIBs to basket cases, and many more going back through the eons...

I’m largely repeating what many others have already said here, so full credit goes to them. But here are my dos and don’ts anyway.

Do...

- List for Buy-it-now, after researching your price point (search ebay sold items, and ask around).

- Clean/restore the car fully, or as far as you consider reasonable (within your budget). A soft toothbrush, soapy water, and hour of your time could add $50-$100 to your price.

- State the car is 100% original issue (if it is original), as this will reassure collectors.

- Photograph indoors, in natural window light, with an actual camera (not phone) if you can.

- Photograph on a white surface with nothing else in the frame of view but the thing you are selling. No cats, laundry, or girls in bikinis in the shot.

- Test the car fully!

- Offer a guarantee that the car has been tested and actually works. If possible.

Do not...

- List as an auction. The glory days of auction bidding pushing up prices are over. One in a hundred items listed as auction, might out-do expectations. The rest won’t. I won’t go into the reasons why, its just the way it is.

- Photograph car outside, in sun, or especially sitting on dirt. You will immediately scare off collectors looking for shelf queen material.

- Use other people’s photos or stock photos. Obviously this is pure laziness. Same goes for blurry photos, sideways photos, upside down photos, portrait photos - all of these just look farcical in 2017 with all the good, cheap cameras around.

- Write one sentence of description, and expect that to be enough.

- Refuse to post the item. If you don’t want to post the item, don’t list it for sale to a worldwide audience on the internet! - just tape a For Sale sign to a telegraph pole instead.

- Refuse to post internationally. Now I know some of you will debate me on this. But if you want the best price, you will almost never get it by selling in your home nation alone. On the flip side, as a buyer, a great way to find bargains is to buy them from stubborn domestic sellers and ship them via proxy service to yourself  Done this probably hundreds of times over nearly 20yrs on eBay.

- Use meaningless phrases like “Didn’t have batteries to test” (get off the sofa, buy batteries and test!) or “Due to the nature of the hobby” (there is actually no nature of the hobby )

- List cars in bulk. Every once in a while I see someone list 50 or 100 or 1000 cars in a crazy bulk lot for something like $17,000 or $50,000. The list of reasons why these listings will not sell, is longer than a trickle charge while on summer holidays at grandma’s house, back in 1984!

 

Some may disagree with some of these points, that’s ok. My point is merely: this is how I think you can get the best price from the most buyers - from the bashers to the serious and fussy collectors. Sure, some buyers genuinely want nothing but dirty runners. But those are the cars that always sell for next to nothing. Present your car as close to new condition as possible, and you will attract the broadest spectrum of potential buyers, and therefore get the sharpest price you can. 

cheers,

H.

[paullyjay]

OK - That's the first one completed, unfortunately I ran out of daylight, so I'll have to wait until next week to take decent photos...

It took a fair chunk of the day but having spent the time, now it makes me want to keep it! 

But it's got to go!!

Pics from the process... It was pretty mucky when I got started

Got it all apart...

Then all cleaned up and re-assembled...