Used market - what's it worth?
I recently sold off my collection of R/C planes. I had about 70 kits, 15 or so NIB ARFs, close to 30 built planes, over 100 rolls of covering, dozens of engines, and lots of hardware and radio equipment. The kits were, by far, the easiest to sell at decent prices. The NIB ARFs, especially out of production ones, sold well - but shipping was very expensive. Built models went dirt cheap - it was far more profitable to strip the engines and radio gear out and sell it, then sell the airframe or give it away!
Here's how it played out:
NIB kits sold for 75-400+% of original street price.
NIB engines ~75% of new.
Low time used engines ~50%.
Well used engines ~25%.
New servos 50%
Used servos 25%
2.4 radio gear 50%
NIB ARFs 60-100%
Built kits 25-50% *
Built ARFs 20-40% *
Partially built or partially assembled $1-2 per pound*
* may have sold for more IF I'd have been willing to ship these items - but what a nightmare that can be! Even if you take 20 pictures, build a plywood box and fill it with styrofoam peanuts, and sell it for the cost of shipping - buyers still aren't happy. Life's too short to deal with shipping models!!!!
When I started selling out, I was hoping to get $5k out if it. I actually listed the lot, including a custom Pace cargo trailer, for $5k, but had no takers. Once I broke it all up, it started selling - especially the kits. The trailer went to a fellow club member, and the engines went all over the place. Sales passed the $5k mark pretty quickly. I had the satisfaction of giving away quite a few kits, engines, radios, field equipment, and airframes to young people getting started and other deserving folks. I had more balsa than the LHS, as well as 20+ 12x48 sheets of lite ply - and most of that was donated to the club officers to share among the members who needed it.
I'm still cleaning up - but I'm done selling. I keep three cardboard boxes handy as I go through drawers, cabinets, and piles. If it's R/C-only stuff (like incidence meters, retracts, or servos) it gets sorted anong the boxes - I know which of the three guys would appreciate it or be most likely to use it. They, in turn, pass stuff along to others. The LHS may not sell a piece of wood or a prop for quite a while....
I've given away a lot of stuff - much of which was given to me. I used to do a summer program for at-risk high school kids, designing and building R/C planes. I had a variety of hardware, engines, and assorted stuff that had been donated for that program but was surplus. All of that stuff got given away - either to students or to others who were passing it along to students. I didn't feel right selling it, and the vendors didn't want it back.
Did I get every last cent the market would bear out of all this stuff? Nope. I decided what it was worth to me, and priced it accordingly. I think everyone I dealt with felt they got their money's worth, and that's the way I chose to exit the hobby. I bought all this stuff over 20+ years because I enjoyed the hobby. I enjoyed the hobby, and especially the friendships, for a very long time. I enjoyed buying and selling OOP kits, and I thoroughly enjoyed passing along some of the kindnesses shown to me over the years. I enjoy every trip I make out to the flying field, because it seems like every time I go someone is enjoying something they got from me.
Take care, friends!
Trent