Jump to content
YankeeSC

So my dad passed ... what to do with his stuff?

Recommended Posts

Aside from the usual household items (furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff, etc) that we will donate or trash, he had a few things that might be worth something, like serious carpentry/woodworking tools, old Lionel trains, and some large koi.

Any suggestions on how to get the most for these things?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Facebook Marketplace for things you can't/don't want to ship.  You will spend lots of time answering stupid questions and fending off scammers, but the juice should be worth the squeeze.

Ebay for the stuff that is easily shippable.  Ebay has gotten pretty good with making the shipping side of things easy, but if you want to "roll your own" shipping, pirateship.com makes it easy too.

I have a friend whose father was HUGE into trains and who passed a few months ago - he related he was engaging some kind of "train broker" to sell the trains for him; the broker takes a % of the sales.  If you want, I can get the details for you, just shoot me a PM.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here's a bit of advise, buy a burner cell phone and set up a g-mail account just for this.   Record a VM outgoing msg that has specific instructions, name, what are you interested in, leave your phone number etc.  You will filter out about 50% of the BS by doing that.  If they do not want to leave a name and number, they are full of shit scammers.

When I had to sell some surplus things, including a nearly new car, the amount of bullshit questions and stupid offers was staggering.  The way to handle these things is simple, just ignore the stupid questions and low-ball offers, don't give it a second thought.  When people call and start acting weird, things like being in a rush to meet (can we meet right away) or inappropriate questions unrelated to the item(s), just hang up.   If a conversation is not going to be productive, end it.  If you want to be nice...  Sorry, my dog just got out the yard, click.  Otherwise, just, click.

Oh, and everyone has a sob story, can you lower the price etc etc.  Well, when I was told sob stories, I made up my own, guess what, I got hung up on a few times.  I guess it makes buyers uncomfortable when you tell them your four children are eating cat food for dinner.

 

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, Scorpio64 said:

 If you want to be nice...  Sorry, my dog just got out the yard, click.  Otherwise, just, click.

 

My go to is "Uh oh, dog's on fire, gotta go." The WTF factor gives you enough time to hang up without them trying to foot in the door you. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, YankeeSC said:

Aside from the usual household items (furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff, etc) that we will donate or trash, he had a few things that might be worth something, like serious carpentry/woodworking tools, old Lionel trains, and some large koi.

Any suggestions on how to get the most for these things?

Sorry for your loss. It will be rough for awhile, reach out to us if you need anything. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, Krdshrk said:

If he had a lot of stuff that's worth money you could do an estate sale.  We have a few auctioneers here on the forum or in the area.

Thanks, that's kind of what I'm thinking.  All of the power/table machines (saws, lathe, planer, etc) and hand tool sets have got to be worth something.  Some of the trains and accessories I believe are from the 1940s and in excellent condition.  I just have no idea what everything is worth.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, YankeeSC said:

Thanks, that's kind of what I'm thinking.  All of the power/table machines (saws, lathe, planer, etc) and hand tool sets have got to be worth something.  Some of the trains and accessories I believe are from the 1940s and in excellent condition.  I just have no idea what everything is worth.

Auctioneer will help set minimum bids for some items but the bidders will really drive the going price.  If there's some things you want to go for a minimum price, you can set a reserve.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry for your loss.

An estate sale using professionanal auctioneers may be worth it.  That would definetly take a lot off your plate right now.  Definetly not a time you want to be dealing with strangers haggling over prices.  They would know approximatley what things are worth , be able to quickly find out if they don't know and tell you if it's worth their time to even be involved.

First make sure you take anything that's personal to you that you don't want going up for sale or in the trash.  



 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry for your loss. I could help you out on the trains and other smaller items that are easy to ship. I am an eBay preferred seller. If you're interested in selling I would charge a flat 20% on the gross sale price and you would be responsible for the fees.  If you want to discuss things further shoot me a PM.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...