Is it worth selling crockery?

claire07

As a new seller on ebay I’ve recently sold quite a bit of recently inherited larger items on ebay all cash on collection. Things went OK with just a few hiccups with buyers not turning up.



Now I would like to tackle the crockery, ornaments, etc. and was wondering if it will be worth it. There is a lot of nice stuff but looking at the prices these fetch on ebay I can’t decide if it is worth trying to do cash on collection again to avoid problems with postage and packing for fragile items.



Part of me is even wondering if it is worth doing at all or if I should just donate to a charity shop to clear the spare room. I’d be grateful to hear anyone’s experiences doing something similar.

theoretica

If it is genuinely nice stuff you might find the local bricks and mortar auction house an easy option. Some places don't want to deal with anything not worth hundreds, but others are good for little groups of mixed ornaments.

uk_american

Depends on what it is...check the sold prices on ebay to see how similar items have gone? Often, it needs to be sold as a group of items for a buyer to go to the hassle of collection, and postage these days doesn't make it feasible to sell separately.

However, if you have something interesting, it can definitely be worth it. For example, I watch the Pyrex lots on ebay and some of those go for over 50 gbp. :eek:

martindow

I think it very much depends on the item. Some ceramics still get good prices but for others the prices have collapsed. Soolin is the expert on this and will no doubt be along soon!

soolin

martindow wrote: »

I think it very much depends on the item. Some ceramics still get good prices but for others the prices have collapsed. Soolin is the expert on this and will no doubt be along soon!

I was avoiding it to be honest as I seem to be all doom and gloom . I buy china by the crate load at bricks and mortar auctions for a few pounds so that might not be the best place to sell run of the mill stuff. By that I still mean named items, Wedgwood, Meakin, Doulton etc with unpopular patterns. I alway check patterns though, look at Colclough for instance, some patterns are completely worthless, others can sell very well- so research is the key.

I do sell some on ebay, only that with a history of selling, I am very selective. All mine is shipped though as the chances of finding a local buyer are non existent and a lot of the nice stuff goes to the US or Australia.

The rest of mine goes into a different business where sales are face to face, well over half goes for pennies at car boots and the rest goes to charity shops.

As an example, my DS has about 50 pieces of a dinner service that is over 100 years old from Doulton (before they got the Royal bit to their name) which we bought for less than £8 at an auction. The stuff is worthless, it is far to old fashioned to have become fashionable again yet.

claire07

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll look up the completed listings for prices but I'm beginning to think with the changes in postage rates and most couriers not covering fragile items at the end of the day it may not be worth it.

I'll try the local auction house but I know when I've tried in the past they were not interested.

I could do with the money but not the hassle so may end up donating to charity shops.

soolin

claire07 wrote: »

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll look up the completed listings for prices but I'm beginning to think with the changes in postage rates and most couriers not covering fragile items at the end of the day it may not be worth it.

I'll try the local auction house but I know when I've tried in the past they were not interested.

I could do with the money but not the hassle so may end up donating to charity shops.

Do consider opening the selling to Australia and the US on eBay if you can pack it safely enough they are still buying despite the postage prices. Another tip is to split sets, don't automatically think you have to sell all the cups and saucers together or all the plates as one lot. Again look at what sold best and use the same selling techniques.

porto_bello

Most important, but often unknown to many private sellers is that when posting china and glass via Royal Mail, it is excluded from claims for damage.

In other words, if you have to post something china or glass, you have to make especially sure it is securely packed. I used to do this with layers of cardboard and boxes within boxes, making the package extra large... but now with RM introducing size restrictions, I don't think it would be cost effective.