Sell Your Used Model Kits — 0% Fees

Used model kits typically sell for £8 to £80, and on WishThrift it costs you nothing to list — no fee, no commission, so you keep the whole amount you agree. Model kits are worth what their completeness says they are worth, and the crucial distinction is one word: sealed, started, or built.

The short version

Typical range: £8 – £80 — see the full model kits value guide
What decides your price: condition, and how well you evidence it in photographs
Cost to sell here: nothing, at any price
Category: Toys & Games

Before you photograph it

Ten minutes here is worth more than anything else you will do. Buyers are deciding between your listing and someone else’s, and preparation is what visibly separates the two.

Open the box and check whether the sprues are still bagged and the decal sheet is present and unyellowed.
Count the sprues against the instruction sheet, and look for any part that has been cut off.
Keep the instructions with the kit. A sealed kit without instructions is worth noticeably less than one with.

The photographs that sell model kits

Four photographs do almost all the work. Shoot in daylight, near a window, with the item against something plain — and do not use the flash, which flattens texture and hides exactly what buyers are trying to see.

The box art straight on, filling the frame
The contents in the box as they are, showing whether bags are sealed
The decal sheet flat, close enough to see whether it has yellowed
The instruction sheet, plus the box corners and any damage

Photograph the flaws too. It feels counterproductive, but a listing that shows the worst of an item gets fewer questions, fewer withdrawn offers and fewer arguments at handover. Buyers who can see the damage stop imagining something worse.

Writing the title and description

Manufacturer, subject and scale: “Tamiya 1:35 Sherman Tank, Sealed” or “Airfix Spitfire 1:72, Started, Decals Intact”. Scale is a hard filter for modellers, and the word sealed carries a real premium — so it must be true.

Then state these in the description, because a buyer who has to ask is a buyer who might not bother:

Manufacturer, kit number and subject
Scale, stated as a ratio
Whether sealed, opened but complete, started, or part-built
Whether the decals and instructions are present, and the decal condition

What buyers will actually ask

You will receive the same three messages about model kits. Answering them in the listing itself removes the back-and-forth, and answering them well when they do arrive is what turns an enquiry into a sale.

“Is it sealed?”

Answer precisely. Sealed means the inner bags are unopened, not that the box has been closed again. Modellers will check on arrival and the distinction is worth real money.

“Are the decals still good?”

Photograph the sheet. Decals yellow and go brittle with age, and it is the most common reason an otherwise complete old kit disappoints.

“Have any parts been removed from the sprue?”

Check each sprue and say. A started kit still sells well to modellers who wanted a spares donor — but only when it is described as started.

Pricing it so it actually sells

Start from the honest condition grade rather than the price you hope for. WishThrift listings use five grades — New with Tags, Like New, Good, Fair and For Parts — and what each grade means is worth reading before you choose, because grading up is the most expensive mistake sellers make. It does not raise the price; it produces a buyer who arrives expecting something else.

The model kits value guide prices all five grades for this item. Pick your grade, take the figure, and if you sit between two grades price toward the lower one. Items priced honestly sell faster than items priced hopefully, and on a free platform there is no fee eating the difference anyway.

What you keep, compared

On a £44 sale — roughly the middle of the range for model kits — here is what the commission-charging platforms would take, and what you would keep on each:

Where you sell it	Fee	You keep
WishThrift	£0	£44
Poshmark	−£9	£35
eBay	−£6	£38
Mercari	−£4	£40
Etsy	−£3	£41

Seller-side rates verified 26 Jul 2026 — Poshmark: 20% commission on sales of $15 and above; eBay: 13.6% final value fee, plus a per-order fee; Mercari: flat 10% selling fee; Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee, plus a listing fee and payment processing. Percentages are applied to the sterling figure above; the fixed per-order and processing charges those platforms add are quoted in their own currency and are not included here, so the real deductions are slightly larger. Full breakdown: marketplace selling fees compared.

Timing and getting it to the buyer

Steady year-round with a lift before Christmas. Out-of-production kits from established manufacturers sell within days when correctly titled; current-production kits compete with retail and move slower.

Light and boxy, so posting is straightforward. Pack in an outer carton — the box art is a large part of the value on collectable kits and a crushed corner takes money off.

WishThrift does not process payments or arrange delivery — you and the buyer agree both directly — so confirm payment has cleared before the item leaves your hands, and keep the conversation on the site so there is a record of what was agreed.

Ready to list it? It takes about two minutes, costs nothing, and there is no commission when it sells — create a free account or see how selling works.

Frequently asked questions

What are used model kits worth?

Typically £8 to £80, with sealed out-of-production kits well above that. The model kits value guide breaks it down by state and condition.

Can I sell a part-built model kit?

Yes. Modellers buy started kits for parts and for the challenge. Describe exactly what has been assembled and whether glue or paint has been used, and price it as a project rather than a kit.

Do missing decals ruin the value?

They reduce it, but aftermarket decal sheets exist for most popular subjects, so a buyer can work around it. Say clearly that they are missing or yellowed and let them factor it in.