After many years of slowing down the rate of collection, I realized that I should do some collection right sizing / reduction. The engine spreadsheet was long and I really did not need 28 Re 6/6's among other things. So I started going through the spreadsheet and decided what should stay or go. In general, there was a significant amount of Re 460's/465's, Ae 6/6's and Re 6/6's (all Hag) that were deemed sellable. In addition, there were some somewhat obscure German engines (Christian Fuchs) that did not need to be retained. In general, in this pass about 70 engines have been deemed to be for sale.

A few observations on the process and the results:

1) Shipping costs are very high and I decided the best way to attack it was by minimizing the parcel size. I took a Hag box to a packaging company and they made me 70 custom boxes for me. In addition, they provided bulk bubble wrap and paper for wrapping and cushioning. Total investment was about 2$ per box incl wrap. Well worth it.

2) Ebay is still a good channel to sell. I use the German site as it propagates to most of the other European Ebay sites. For most, I set a specific price and allowed best offers.

3) A number of clients started on Ebay and then asked to switch out and do direct deals. This allowed for some bulk purchases (one client bought nine) as well. Whatsapp and email are both being used.

4) Price realization versus my actual purchase cost is not as bad as I thought it would be. I am fortunate in that I used a very specific approach to buying Hag in the first place. I only bought from a store if it was a pre-order on a very limited run. All else, I bought on Ebay, Ricardo or through a forum. Hag, like many engines, in general do not keep their value unless it is a special edition. Buying it in the auction/private market allows you to buy at a much lower amount that retail.

I am about half way through the 70 engines.

Interesting, thank you very much. I have also decided that I will have to do some more collection reduction, and like you I think Ebay.de will be the best place to sell these specific items (not HAG but more obscure stuff).

Did you encounter any new kind of "bureaucracy" on Ebay.de?

When I became an Ebay member as far back as 1997, I had to register at Ebay.com because no German or other European sites existed. Otherwise, everything was simple and easy. But nowadays, one often hears rumors/urban legends with regard to having to perform the entire shipping and payment processes with Ebay tools. Is this true, or can one still provide the buyer with one's personal bank account details and afterwards walk to the local post office with a standard bubble-wrapped "shoe box" (wording © by Mike C here on the forum)?

Any other new obstacles to be aware of? Thanks for any useful advice.

I would say that Ebay.de is quite a good choice. Traditional HAG items still seem to be quite popular in Germany. On the other hand, Germans generally are regarded as rather price-sensitive, to say the least (a popular saying there is "Geiz ist geil"; this might liberally be translated as "stinginess is cool" ).

The Swiss have their own auction platform, https://www.ricardo.ch/de/ I am not quite sure whether they accept sellers from abroad, and their fees are rather prohibitive. The cheese Re 4/4 II made by Staiber rarely appears there, so it might arouse some interest. However, please be aware that prices have dropped significantly in the last few years due to the general economic situation.

Overseas people can buy on Ricardo, but to sell you need to have a Swiss address as a private individual, or as a business have a verified business that sells into Switzerland.

Yes - I do not initiate it. And they do scan for email addresses in messages. They don't seem to recognize WhatsApp though.

One other thing I do is pay for shipping. This eliminates a lot of unnecessary communication. It also protects the buyers as they would feel gouged if they knew the actual Canadian shipping costs ( about 90 CAD$ to Europe, 60 ish Euros)

Oh, so eBay is preventing seller and buyer from communicating. I don't work that way. It isn't real estate. Even a lower price purchase of something can still result in expensive repair and service before it works correctly. I'd rather buy new, or from a reputable place that has already reconditioned and serviced the item.
I recieved another Email from ebay and the seller has revised the listing so I could contact them. I sent a private messageto their email and explained how much service, naintainance and repairs could cost, and that it at least needs cleaning and relubrication. Humidity oxidzes electroic controls, and capacitors may be split or swollen from age or heat. I told them how to test the item and chech for propper operation. So we'll see.

Can I ask a stupid question? Why have you not been offering some items here on the forum, where there are no fees and corporate monster?

What do you mean by “Huh”. My post was pretty simple and straight forward.

Apparrantly, the ebay message was not for me, so why did I get it? When I tried to message the seller my phone number, it blocked it with a red box that Ii was against guidlines.
So it seems rather than me getting a nice vntage 1978 Trechnics SL 5200 direct drive semi-auto phono deck for $400, I'll have to save more for the new SL 1500C that costs $1,300.

Later email from eBay seller is that they made a video of it running but could not send it to me. So why didn't they just post it on the listing? Then after I sent them a message asking, now eBay is sending me other listings to bid on.

Jon (jcrtrains) runs two rail so most of his locos are Trix and HAG. He models European trains and keeps in touch with the rest of us Canadian Märklin fans.

You didn't?