Advice wanted on where to sell stuff:

[Coldamus]

SWMBO recently inherited a huge quantity of goods from her brother. He was a cabinetmaker and builder but also ran a business selling collector items as well as general second hand goods such as clothing, books, crockery, glassware, kitchen and homeware etc.

We've sold a few woodworking tools through the forum and given much of the clothing to charities but that's only a minor part of it.

We are overwhelmed by it. It is costing SWMBO a fortune in storage as well as dominating our lives. We held a garage sale one weekend but even using the whole front yard, we only had space to display a tiny fraction of it, of which we sold about 0.1%.

Seriously, it is almost on the scale of Al's Crapatorium.

What can we do to get rid of it in bulk? Garage sales will never clear it in our life times. We thought of hiring market stalls but that will also take too long. The individual items are too low a value to auction or to list on eBay.

Are there people that buy this sort of stuff in bulk? Any suggestions are welcome as to how to clear it.

regards
Coldamus

[Shedhand]

you'll find that most second hand shops will buy bulk stuff but will generally only offer a fraction of its worth. Second hand dealer's mark-ups are usually in the order of 3 and 400% or more. DAMHIKT

[old_picker]

Selling it as a batch to a 2nd dealer you won't even get 1/10th of what its worth. The dealer won' know what a lot of it is anyhow.

You should list the bigger items here and see what you can sell first. People don't mind paying a fair price for a good item. Ebay is a good way to get rid of stuff as well. If there is heaps and heaps of stuff you could engage the services of a good auctioneer. ie grays. They put it up on the web and those who watch the auctions gets a chance to see the inventory also they are nation wide.

Not sure what your situation is, you may not have the time to bother with all the above hassles.

[womble]

if there's any old iron base kero lamps my old man would be interested , they are getting a bit rare and excy even on ebay...

[Shedhand]

Bin thinkin' ( no relation to Bin Laden )

It might seem a PITA but you really ought to catalogue the collection. You might get a pleasant surprise about what people will pay for stuff. Get a couple mates over for a BBQ and a slab (after the stocktake) and you'll knock it over in a day.
Rather than stress about it, make it a bit of an adventure of discovery.
If I was up there I'd volunteer to do it for you for free. I used to be a storeman and I've done stocktakes for all sorts of businesses (including a lingerie shop).

Just a thought.
Cheer

[Coldamus]

you'll find that most second hand shops will buy bulk stuff but will generally only offer a fraction of its worth. Second hand dealer's mark-ups are usually in the order of 3 and 400% or more. DAMHIKT

We thought that might be the case but thanks for confirming. We don't begrudge them a decent mark-up. They need to cover their time and rent of premises. I think we'll have to go that way because there's too much for us to sell individually, except for a few larger value items. We'll still have to sort through it all to identify those items and any of sentimental value.

eBay is out of the question because of the time it takes and the low clearance rate. Auctions are out because of the low individual values of the items.

[AlexS]

I used to be a storeman and I've done stocktakes for all sorts of businesses (including a lingerie shop).

Just a thought.
Cheer

...so did you take down all their particulars?

[Shedhand]

...so did you take down all their particulars?

There's some kinky stuff out there..and the prices they pay for such tiny little things....