Where to sell China & pottery

RFW

I'm usually the one giving advice on this but thought someone else might have a better field of expertise here.

In general when selling I keep away from breakable items but I've got a few good dinner and tea sets to sell. Now they aren't super good so even a good auction house won't get their true value for them as they seem to not be getting good prices right now.

I've tried a couple on Ebay, but they don't seem to go too well in sets, I could probably split them and get a good rate for them, but I'd rather sell in sets to save time.

So any specialist sites/avenues that I don't know about for selling china? (I used to know a company that specialised in this, but looks like they've retired).

soolin

I car boot mine but usually end up donating it all to a charity shop. No one wants tea and dinner sets anymore, the amount of Meakin I have here is unbelievable - I have Doulton and even Suzy Cooper that doesn't rate a glance on ebay or at a car boot.

wendym

I had always assumed that my collection of china would some day be worth selling. I recently pruned it, and asked an expert friend with a real shop to have a look at it. I then drove many boxes to the charity shop.

Oliver14

It really depends what it is as Soolin said a lot of it isn't worth much now. if youi know what you are looking at though there are specific ones that can be worth money, but you really need a lot of experience in the field.

Pembroke

Not an expert. It really depends on what sort of china it is. If it's fairly mainstream from a well known manufacturer then there won't be too much market for it from collectors but you may get some joy from the replacement services. Here are a couple I've just found on the web (I've no experience with them so no endorsements of their services). http://chinasearch.co.uk/sell-to-us/ http://www.matchingchina.com/replacement-china/page.php?xPage=offersale.html

If you feel the need to try and sell on Ebay then I'd suggest that as the number of people that need large dinner services is diminishing then breaking up the sets into four place settings and two place settings, or even individual place settings may work better. Also smaller packages are less likely to bash together inside a box and get broken. Also a search for 'dinner plate' on Amazon gives over 13,000 results so you may be able to list some stuff on there.

You may also want to look at 'trios' that's a cup a saucer and a teaplate if that's the sort of thing you have. If you have any with large patterns or animals then Nursery sets may be another option, or starter packs for that first home.

Soolin, entirely off the wall but have you tried selling the Meakin as a starter collection?

Or what sometimes works at my local B&M auction in their general sales is if you put a few good bits in with a box of general stuff then someone thinks they've found something you've missed and you've also then got rid of a load that's only good for a charity shop. (Bad Pembroke, fixing sales like that ).

Finally there's always the wholesale and job lots category on ebay. List in cheap lots and let someone else try to sell them. Of course you need to make the price work for the buyer.

soolin

Pembroke I had to smile when I saw your post. The reason I have so many tea and dinner sets is that all the auction houses I use lump them with the better items just to get rid of them. Many buyers, including myself have tried just leaving the sets behind but the auction are quite strict in that if we win it we jolly well have to take it.

One place i did off load a number to (free of charge) was people doing the macmillan tea parties in the Autumn. I suggested they took the tea sets and let people buy their cup of tea and slice of cake and get to keep the china. I thought there might be a bit of competition for the nicer sets which might make the hostesses more money.

I have so much Meakin now that I am having to freecycle or charity shop it. I've tried everything to shift it and all I've sold is some of that wheatsheaf style pattern, bits and bobs from the Poppy series and some childrens items.

I did sell a set of really old Doulton at a car boot for £3 earlier this summer, but looking round my study now I have piles of plates, tureens tea sets etc.

I do also agree though that one way of shifting some stuff is by selling the prettier items as trios.

soolin

Just to add, the funniest thing I won a while ago was three lead crystal ships decanters (which were sold for real money)...and a dinner service. They didn't even bother displaying the dinner ervice, it was in a couple of crates under the table and only the decanters were displayed.

wendym

soolin - the charity tea parties idea is sheer genius. When I finally admit that I have to sort my kitchen china cupboard (2 plates have to live permanently in the drainer by the sink cos the pile is too high to add them) I shall see if anyone locally is interested.

mobile48

I sell to a retro shop in London they sell it to the tourists normally as trios and the like.

dinx1972

The other day in a local expensive farm shop I saw candles being sold which were in effect matching cups and saucers with the cup being filled with a candle wick and wax (kind of hard to explain - but hopefully you get the picture) being sold for £8 a pop.

My first MSE thoughts were bl**dy hell that's a bit steep, quickly followed by I could do it cheaper than that, with all the crockery bits in the shed:rotfl:.

Pembroke

dinx1972 wrote: »

The other day in a local expensive farm shop I saw candles being sold which were in effect matching cups and saucers with the cup being filled with a candle wick and wax (kind of hard to explain - but hopefully you get the picture) being sold for £8 a pop.

My first MSE thoughts were bl**dy hell that's a bit steep, quickly followed by I could do it cheaper than that, with all the crockery bits in the shed:rotfl:.

Last boot fair I did I had one woman buy up a load of matching cups and saucers from me to do exactly that.

I've got a load of candle sand and wicks kicking around somewhere, maybe I can do a kit to make your own :T