Hey Everyone!
I haven't really been active on here for a few years. I have moved away from collecting puzzles and I am looking into more trading versus collecting to own. And this is the reason for my post.

I have a large collection of puzzles, at least 1000+ twisty puzzles. Some rare and many not.

My plan is to keep a handful of puzzles (maybe 15 or 20) and sell the rest.

I was wondering if anyone had an idea on the best way to sell a collection of this size? (ideally through Ebay)
Would it be best to sell in sets? (ie. sets of 10 or 12)
or a larger sets? (100 or 110 puzzles at once?)
Or would it be a better idea to list them individually?

If anyone has any advice for me it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot!
- Scotty

I would highly suggest listing them here first
I would love to see what you have!
Also I would advise small lots being listed as opposed to one big one

I suggest listing complete puzzle list here first and taking offers to avoid eBay fees (around 11-13% of total sale price...including shipping). Then sell in lots on eBay if necessary.

Lots are hit and miss. Its easier on the seller and can save money and trouble on shipping - but you're selling to a smaller group of people that way. It's sort of like selling wholesale - your buyer will want to make money on the puzzles they already have.

I've had the best luck with lots of five to eight puzzles.

Sandy sold a huge chunk of his collection in lots via eBay (advertised the auctions here). There were a few times where I won a lot of puzzle for a price at least 5x lower than my max bid on eBay. eBay only gets you a fair price if there are at least two people willing to bid. If one person is willing to pay a high price and all others only bid to a low price then the winner pays much less than they would have.

For this reason I'd suggest accepting offers via PM for a while first before resorting to eBay.

Since almost everyone here knows what all of the puzzle are already, if you posted a few high resolution pictures of your collection with a grid / coordinate overlay people could send you offers via PM by looking at the image. You could periodically update your image by masking out the sold puzzles.

My advice is to sell them individually. It's massively time consuming but will ultimately pay off. There might be big interest in your puzzles but if people can't afford a large payment in one go you won't get what they are worth.
In most cases it's better to sell through ebay. Many of my buyers aren't even on the forum and several can't read English. A post in market place will be missed by a lot of potential buyers.
Oh, and always offer international shipping. Not doing that is the biggest error people make.

As others have said, list them on ebay individually if you can spare the time, in small batches otherwise. You will have much more interest. A lot of people won't but if there are several in the batch that they either already have, or simply don't want, because they can't be bothered with reselling them, or can't afford the price for them all. I would expect you to make more money this way, and as others have said, the forum is a good place to start selling to. Lots of reliable puzzle fans around here!

I think it's best to sell the puzzles individually on ebay, and those that are not sold, later in groups of 5 to 10 puzzles. And best not list all your puzzles at once, maybe about 50 a week, when you list 1000 at once, you will have problems after selling to ship them all. And I think when you list to much in one go, collectors will have a huge choice and bid not so high, most people have limits to their budget, and will not spend to much in one go. Good luck with your selling!

This is the one advice I'd love to give to all Ebay sellers.
Years ago I was used to contact a seller whether they'd consider shipping to me (with reference to my flawless buying history), but nowadays I don't even think of asking when I read "only ships to....".
I better accept "$35,- secure shipment by USPS to your country" than not being able to make a bid / buy.

You can promote non-twisty puzzles you may want to sell here.

It is also very important when selling on ebay, to put the starting price of the auctions at a price that you are happy with, dont start at 1 dollar, you could be very disappointed.

If you have quite a few to sell then it's also worth preparing several listings in advance, then you can post them all during one of the regular 'free listings' periods and save yourself a bit on eBay fees.

I'd still consider offering them somewhere like here first though. You'll save the selling fees if you can sell some of the less rare puzzles privately.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a large lot out of which any potential buyer must purchase n puzzles or spend at least n dollars. That way people can pick and choose which puzzles they want (lessening the problem of duplicates and reselling) but you still only have to list two or three lots. List them one at a time, starting with all puzzles, then relist the unsold ones perhaps.