How do I sell heirlooms/antiques (besides eBay?)?

[Depleted]

I inherited a lot of stuff, under the assumption I'd have kids and could pass them on to the kids when they were the right age. (Also under the assumption we could use them somewhere.) But, no kids, and nephews and nieces aren't interested.

Stuff includes everything from antique baby cradle to a chest load of antique plates. (Some are Wedgwood.)

Now we're getting old, and most of it is stuffed away out of the way. I want to junk it, but it's truly valuable.

I can't pack it well. (I can't lean over that much.) And to sell it on eBay means packing and carrying A LOT! (Not to mention cradles, chairs, and rockers are bulky.)

I hear all the stories about Craig's List, so don't want to go that route either for personal safety.

Does anyone know how we can unload this stuff? It's a lot of stuff and has served us no purpose. My family was always into passing down the furniture and dishes, so no one has ever sold it before. We just pass it to the next generation. You'd think I'd know this stuff, but no need when you just pass it on. lol

 

[tourist]

Maybe a local antique auction house in your area would be willing to assess the value of your pieces and sell them for you on consignment.

 

[Hellooo]

Offer Up (phone app)
Let Go (phone app)
Consignment shops
Garage Sale

 

[Depleted]

It's the moving part I can't do. Do auction houses pick up?

And I've tried consignment shops and I've tried flea markets before. I ended up selling hundreds of dollars worth of stuff to another flea-marketer for $20 to avoid bringing it all home that day. Including that sale, I made $24 that day. The consignment shop? I had the stuff returned when it went out of business.

 

[Hellooo]

I used offer up and let go to sell things when I moved...you just snap a picture, assign a price or allow people to bid, and if someone's interested you can arrange a meet up (I use police station or busy public parking lots with lots of cameras and people)

 

[maxwel]

I don't see too big a problem with Craig's List or some other "local" online listings...
just use common sense about personal safety.

* If you can't pack and ship, you need to do local direct sales with a persona pickup... that would leave you with local papers, or local online listings.

 

[resurrection33]

I inherited a lot of stuff, under the assumption I'd have kids and could pass them on to the kids when they were the right age. (Also under the assumption we could use them somewhere.) But, no kids, and nephews and nieces aren't interested.

Stuff includes everything from antique baby cradle to a chest load of antique plates. (Some are Wedgwood.)

Now we're getting old, and most of it is stuffed away out of the way. I want to junk it, but it's truly valuable.

I can't pack it well. (I can't lean over that much.) And to sell it on eBay means packing and carrying A LOT! (Not to mention cradles, chairs, and rockers are bulky.)

I hear all the stories about Craig's List, so don't want to go that route either for personal safety.

Does anyone know how we can unload this stuff? It's a lot of stuff and has served us no purpose. My family was always into passing down the furniture and dishes, so no one has ever sold it before. We just pass it to the next generation. You'd think I'd know this stuff, but no need when you just pass it on. lol

Is Craig's List all that dangerous? How about running ads in the newspaper?

 

[Chokmahiel]

Lol maybe an unorthodox suggestion, but try to find a way to contact American Pickers. They like antiques and you might get on TV too.

 

[Hellooo]

Is Craig's List all that dangerous? How about running ads in the newspaper?

With all due respect, who reads physical newspapers?

 

[posthuman]

Maybe a local antique auction house in your area would be willing to assess the value of your pieces and sell them for you on consignment.

the way to find out about this is probably to call antique stores and see if they'd be interested in what you have. they may be willing to come and take a look, and they would be knowledgeable about auctions, or maybe willing to work out a consignment that favors them a bit if they can do the moving for you. the antiques stores in our downtown area have a lot of items on consignment ((i discovered, when i tried to haggle some prices and the clerk had to make some phone calls to do so)).

 

[resurrection33]

With all due respect, who reads physical newspapers?

I buy six of them a week.

 

[Hellooo]

It's so foreign to me now, with everything being accessible online. Interesting.

 

[posthuman]

It's so foreign to me now, with everything being accessible online. Interesting.

i can't get used to online crossword puzzles

 

[santuzza]

For the china, you might want to check out replacements.com. True, you'd have to pack them up and ship them off, but it would only be one bulk mailing and not a bunch of small packages.

The sad truth is, younguns don't want our junk (and I use that figuratively). In their IKEA world, our old stuff is just that -- OLD. I just read an article on that the other day -- young folks today have no interest in heirlooms and antiques (for the most part).

 

[Depleted]

For the china, you might want to check out replacements.com. True, you'd have to pack them up and ship them off, but it would only be one bulk mailing and not a bunch of small packages.

The sad truth is, younguns don't want our junk (and I use that figuratively). In their IKEA world, our old stuff is just that -- OLD. I just read an article on that the other day -- young folks today have no interest in heirlooms and antiques (for the most part).

Only one bulk mailing? I'm talking 2' X 6' X 4' of plates here, (most are complete serving sets for 8-12 people in a set), and all together they must weigh into the hundreds of pounds. That's a mighty big box I can't lean over to pack or take out if I did. lol

As for young'ns, I know. Bums me out that Mom's and Gram's dolls and dollhouse furniture will probably be trash when I'm gone.

I did check, and apparently Philadelphia has the oldest auction house in the country. Added bonuses, they'll come to appraise, will take it out for me, (at an additional cut of the commission), and the only thing I'm left to do is wait for a couple of months before it's auctioned.

I'm going to wait to see how June turns out doctor-appointment wise, and hopefully deal with it after that.

 

[Yahweh_is_gracious]

Maybe a local antique auction house in your area would be willing to assess the value of your pieces and sell them for you on consignment.

This was going to be my suggestions as well. I'm in a similar position. My Mother had lots of antiques, and now I have them. I don't like them and will not take them with me when I move out of this house after my Dad passes away, so I'm looking at my local "antique mall" selling them for me on consignment.

 

[Galatea]

Only one bulk mailing? I'm talking 2' X 6' X 4' of plates here, (most are complete serving sets for 8-12 people in a set), and all together they must weigh into the hundreds of pounds. That's a mighty big box I can't lean over to pack or take out if I did. lol

As for young'ns, I know. Bums me out that Mom's and Gram's dolls and dollhouse furniture will probably be trash when I'm gone.

I did check, and apparently Philadelphia has the oldest auction house in the country. Added bonuses, they'll come to appraise, will take it out for me, (at an additional cut of the commission), and the only thing I'm left to do is wait for a couple of months before it's auctioned.

I'm going to wait to see how June turns out doctor-appointment wise, and hopefully deal with it after that.

Oh, please DON'T let that happen to the dollhouse. Dolls and dollhouses should never be thrown away. That is too, too sad. If no one in your area wants to buy your dollhouse and dolls, you could donate them to a church or hospital (church might be a better choice, as the toys in a hospital might have to be brand new or something). Most churches have nurseries and children's rooms and some little girls would be very happy playing with the doll house.

If your stuff is valuable enough, an antique shop will come and get it, especially if it is antique furniture.

I'd offer to buy all your stuff as I love antiques, but then you'd have to send it and that would defeat your purpose.

Some thrift shops will pick up, too- but then, you'd not get any money for your things.

 

[RickyZ]

It's the moving part I can't do. Do auction houses pick up?

And I've tried consignment shops and I've tried flea markets before. I ended up selling hundreds of dollars worth of stuff to another flea-marketer for $20 to avoid bringing it all home that day. Including that sale, I made $24 that day. The consignment shop? I had the stuff returned when it went out of business.

You say you sold hundreds of dollars worth of stuff, but actually you sold $24 worth of stuff. Use that to measure the value of what you have. We tend to inflate these values, but as you've seen people aren't willing to pay anywhere near what we think our things are worth.

 

[Depleted]

Oh, please DON'T let that happen to the dollhouse. Dolls and dollhouses should never be thrown away. That is too, too sad. If no one in your area wants to buy your dollhouse and dolls, you could donate them to a church or hospital (church might be a better choice, as the toys in a hospital might have to be brand new or something). Most churches have nurseries and children's rooms and some little girls would be very happy playing with the doll house.

If your stuff is valuable enough, an antique shop will come and get it, especially if it is antique furniture.

I'd offer to buy all your stuff as I love antiques, but then you'd have to send it and that would defeat your purpose.

Some thrift shops will pick up, too- but then, you'd not get any money for your things.

The dollhouse is staying. I just hope our nephews and niece can put it to good use. I gave it to my oldest brother's daughter when she was born, but it seems bro had it appraised, wasn't worth much, so he never let her play with it. NOT worth much? All the adventures we had because of that house? All the stories past down. (A dog named Boots had to stay on the bottom stair, because that's where Mom's dog met her after school when she was growing up.) She could have been keeping it for her baby by now.

 

[Depleted]

You say you sold hundreds of dollars worth of stuff, but actually you sold $24 worth of stuff. Use that to measure the value of what you have. We tend to inflate these values, but as you've seen people aren't willing to pay anywhere near what we think our things are worth.

That wasn't the antiques. We bought ceiling fans, but never installed them. We bought them for $70 and the boxes were still taped. Lots of lighters (they sold, lol), my aloe had babies, so I had 25 aloes for sale (in new containers and soil. Sold 1 for a buck. Stuck them on the sidewalk when I came home and they were all (but two, and one of the two just had her first baby. lol) gone in five hours. Free made the worth it. lol Kitchen gadgets unused. Stuff like that.