One of My Longest-Tail Sales: A Lionel Train Lot That Took More Than 6 Years
Some of the best inventory doesn’t come from auctions, thrift stores, or estate sales. Sometimes it comes from people you already know.
My father-in-law was cleaning out the house and asked if I wanted some old train items because he knew I sold things online. He ended up giving me a larger group of train-related pieces, and this Lionel lot was one of the last items from that batch to finally sell.
That’s one of the useful side effects of telling people you resell: once friends and family know what you do, items start finding their way to you.
The Sale
Item: Lionel train-car lot
Sale price: $9.67
Listed: October 12, 2018
Sold: February 5, 2025
Time to sell: About 6 years and 4 months
Acquisition cost: $0
Total item cost + eBay fees: $5.91
Shipping: Buyer paid calculated shipping
That makes this one of the longest-tail items I’ve sold.
What I Learned From This Vintage Lionel Train Car Lot
The biggest lesson here is that, yes, some collectible inventory really can sit for years before the right buyer comes along. But that doesn’t automatically mean it was a good item to keep listed.
This was one of my earliest listings, and looking back at the final result, I probably should have moved on from it sooner. It cost me nothing to acquire, took up very little space, and eventually sold, so it was a useful experiment. In a way, it proved that almost anything can find a buyer if you give it enough time.
But that doesn’t make it a good business strategy.
After more than six years, the sale only produced a few dollars of real margin. Going forward, I’d rather use that listing slot, storage space, and attention on items with a better chance of producing meaningful profit.
The bigger lesson, though, may actually be about sourcing.
If you resell, let people know you resell. Friends and family are constantly cleaning out basements, garages, closets, and old collections. A lot of what they pass along may not be especially valuable, but mixed lots can still produce worthwhile items—and sometimes a few surprises.
This vintage Lionel train lot itself was not a great sale, but it came from a much larger group of inventory I acquired for free. That’s the real takeaway: building a reputation as “the person who sells things” can become a steady sourcing channel. The goal isn’t to list every low-value item forever; it’s to sort through what you’re given, identify the pieces with enough upside, and be more selective over time.
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