Help / advice on how to sell collection after long hiatus

[Roswita]

Hi, I used to collect MLPs, mostly G1 foreign variants and early G3s, but it's been over a decade since I last participated in the MLP community or actively collected ponies. My whole collection has been safely stored at someone else's place for a very long time. My plan is to slowly retrieve it and sell everything. I could use some help and advice from you on how to do that, since I haven't been active in a long time, and would like to ensure the deals are safe and fair for both the buyers and myself.

1) Most of the ponies I will try to sell are rare and valuable (foreign early G1s/Nirvanas). I don't currently have any recent feedback since I haven't traded or sold anything in such a long time. I still have my eBay account, but again, I've only bought, not sold (and it was non-MLP related stuff) in the past years, so it's not very useful. I'm very meticulous with descriptions and offer plenty of photos, plus I'll send by courier or registered mail. Other than that, is there anything else you'd recommend to help potential buyers feel comfortable buying from me?

2) Any tips on how to ship the ponies as safely as possible, other than wrapping them in bubblewrap and putting them in a box? Are there countries in particular where parcels are frequently damaged or opened for inspections?

3) Any advice on how to protect myself in the unfortunate case I'm faced with a dishonest buyer? I.e. if the person lies about not receiving the pony we agreed upon? Is paypal safe for sellers or will they automatically refund the buyer even if their claim is unfounded?

4) Is eBay safe for sellers?

5) Is there any interest in foreign G1s/Nirvanas (e.g. Greek, French, Peruvian, Brazilian, Italian hybrids, etc) nowadays? Has their value/prices dropped significantly? What about early G3 variants?

I'd be most grateful if you could share your advice with me or point out any concerns buyers might have. Retrieving my collection will be a lengthy and impractical process, so I only intend on going ahead only if it makes sense to try and sell it.

On a side note, to retrieve my MLParena password today I had to access an email address I no longer use (it was only for MLP stuff) and found some suspicious messages suggesting in these past years there have been a couple of hacking attempts and my email might have been used to create a Facebook account (I'm not on FB). If there has been any suspicious activity associated with my account or my MLP collection photos (they were usually watermarked), please let me know. I haven't been active for a very long time, so I hope no one tried to do any funny business using my data.

Thanks in advance!

[goddessofpeep]

Hello!  Welcome back!   I remember you. It’s been too long!  I’m sorry to see you’re selling off your collection. I hope it all goes to happy homes. 

1) I think you have two options(and possibly a combination of both). One, you can reestablish your feedback by starting with some of your lower value items, and work your way up to the big stuff once you’ve got some recent feedback under your belt.  People are much more likely to take a chance on  a $20 item over a $400 one.

Second, you could possibly go really old school, and contact some of your old buyers to see if they’d be references for you.  Before the Arena and all this newfangled feedback system, that was how things worked.  I used to have a list of people who traded with me that I could send to anyone who wanted to do business with me.   It was a lot more work back then, but it was what we had to do.  A lot of people have left, but some of the old timers are still around.  Like me.  I bought at least one thing from you(MIB UK Confetti). Probably more. I also remember you quite clearly as an honest and good seller.  I can’t remember a single bad word about you.

2). If it’s expensive and MIB, double box it with peanuts between the boxes, and be generous with the bubble wrap.

I hate to say it, but over here in the USA, the postal service is being dismantled for political and greed purposes.  With the new election, things might improve.  With the holiday rush and the pandemic, I’d hold off until after the new year worldwide. With a lot of luck, things should settle down globally. At the very least, there will be less package traffic by mid to late January everywhere.

3) The only protection a seller generally has is tracking, and even that’s got problems.  Everything is heavily weighted for the buyer.  Ebay has the Global Shipping service to protect the seller.  It’s...problematic.  On one hand, it’s guaranteed.  You send the item to a facility within your country, and they send it on to the buyer.  If it makes it to the facility, you’re done. It’s listed as completed as far as you’re concerned, and whatever happens after that is on ebay.

The downsides are unfortunately many.  You send it to the facility, and they open it to “check” it.  They then rewrap it, and send it on.  Unfortunately, they’re not required to do a good job rewrapping it.  There are hundreds of reports of people getting badly wrapped and damaged things from Global Shipping. There are also reports of packing materials being harvested from well packed boxes, so those double boxes with the packing peanuts might end up in someone else’s box. There are many reports of things being crammed into too small boxes and arriving damaged as well.

Also, it’s heinously expensive for the buyer.  You can’t offer combined shipping. They only give one shipping option, and it expensive.  And they charge customs on all packages that the buyer has to prepay, regardless of whether or not it’s actually due. A lot of buyers won’t buy Global Shipping items. I don’t, though it’s mainly due to the bad wrapping job of the facility, but the cost is also a factor. 

4) Ebay is heavily weighted for buyers in all things now, though it does have some protections you can’t get elsewhere.    Other people can likely advise you better in this. 

5) Nirvana and MIB stuff has shot up in price to astronomical heights in some cases. Not all, but quite a few. If you’re sitting on Nirvanas and vintage MOCs, you’re probably sitting on a gold mine.  G3s are a harder sell a lot of times, but a handful of them are worth something.  There are a lot of MIB G3s on the market. There’re hard to sell unless they’re very rare, or very cheap.  Though, it’s not a bad place to help you reestablish your feedback. 

[Roswita]

Hi! Thanks for all the invaluable advice. Much appreciated.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Ros!  Welcome back!  Long time no see

I hope that your journeys are well and I am sure other MLP collectors would be happy to adopt your herd

[Roswita]

Ros!  Welcome back!  Long time no see

I hope that your journeys are well and I am sure other MLP collectors would be happy to adopt your herd

Thanks! I hope to find good homes for them.

[Taffeta]

Sad to see you're selling up, but good to see you around Has it really been a decade O.o.

I am not aware of anything seedy happening around your name or identity with ponies but I don't pay much attention to social media.

Goddessofpeep has given you awesome advice. I know you have some amazing ponies in that collection, so I really hope if you are parting with them that they'll find appreciative new homes.

I can't remember if we traded back in the distant past but I am sure there are a lot of old contacts who will vouch for you.

PKW is also awesome for pricechecking rare Nirvana, although if you have a lot to sell you might want to post them in bits xD.  I know you do have a lot, but my advice is to part with what you know you don't care for any more, and if anything makes you doubtful or is super rare maybe keep it for the right offer, even if that takes more time.

Ebay has become a mess in terms of its search but it is still an option :/

[Roswita]

Hiya Taffeta, thanks.

PKW is also awesome for pricechecking rare Nirvana, although if you have a lot to sell you might want to post them in bits xD. 

What's PKW?

[tailrustedtealeaf]

PKW is Pinkkittywinks! If she doesn't show up here, if you make a topic in the Nirvana forum I'm sure she'll chime in.

[Taffeta]

PKW is Pinkkittywinks! If she doesn't show up here, if you make a topic in the Nirvana forum I'm sure she'll chime in.

Yep Sorry, too used to the initials xD.
Lazy Taffeta is lazy >.>