Advise on Selling

[Vaifan515]

Good morning (or evening depending on where you reside),

 

It's been a good run, but I'm finding that between the new rules and increasing financial obligations that it's time for me to part ways with some of my stuff.  This is not an advertisement post, just looking for advise on good places to list (anything better than ebay?) and a rough idea on what to ask for (I'd like to get a decent price, but I also would like them to move in fairly short order).  I have one large mostly painted/semi-finished army of marines, and one smaller mostly base-coated marine army.  The large one was worth about 3000-3500 all together, and the smaller one was probably 1500-2000 depending on how it was loaded out.  Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

Happy wargaming

[BadgersinHills]

Check out places like the Dakka Swap Shop and r/miniswap. 

[Frater Cornelius]

Ebay is always a option. This is how I get red of models I do not need.

[Leonaides]

Ebay will give you an idea how much the models/units are going for, then maybe a flgs that resells 2nd hand models or facebook or ebay or word of mouth sales...

[Doghouse]

What I used to do was find every 40k board with a sales section, chuck the stuff on ebay then post links in them all to it.

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

You will make more money selling each model or squad by itself, although that's a huge pain in the ass to take that many photos, write that many descriptions, and list that many auctions, speaking from experience. It's so much easier to just make a single auction for all the models, but you will either have a hard time selling it, or a hard time getting your money's worth. If you let it sell for far less than it's actually worth, yeah you'll be able to get rid of it pretty fast, but that's leaving money on the table.

[Uprising]

I make a living buying and reselling miniatures on ebay.  The number one advice i can give you is this: NEVER SELL AN ARMY AS ONE LOT.  You want to sell unit per unit.  In the long run, you will make 3 to four time more money then selling it as one big lot.  Also take great pictures, that helps to sell.  If you need more info, please PM me, I will gladly give you more advice. 

[Trevak Dal]

Don't run that con of "pro painted" either. Charge a little more for fully modeled, assembled and "table ready" minis but don't be like "yo this is a pro painted scouts squad, $300 son"

[Jacinda]

When buying on ebay, "pro painted" is a term derived from a latin phrase that means "needs to be stripped."

[E_50_Panzer]

Sell in units and don't tag anything as pro painted unless it's forge world masterclass.

[Kastor Krieg]

Don't run that con of "pro painted" either. Charge a little more for fully modeled, assembled and "table ready" minis but don't be like "yo this is a pro painted scouts squad, $300 son"

 

 

When buying on ebay, "pro painted" is a term derived from a latin phrase that means "needs to be stripped."

How would you advise to label an auction if one actually CAN paint to a nice TT+ standard? Not display / showcase, but definitely propainted (someone who does commission painting and now wants to just paint new stuff and sell).

 

To me, pro-painted means 'painted by a professional', by someone who makes at least a part of their living painting miniatures and has spent quite some time at it already. Not your amateur hour 'thin your paints' painter. It's not our fault that everyone can describe their Nurgle spawns as "propainted".

Edited July 2, 2017 by Kastor Krieg

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The definition of "professional" is simply that you get paid for what you're doing, not that you're any good at it. I'd say be honest and describe them as TT level painted. 

[Tyberos the Red Wake]

 

Don't run that con of "pro painted" either. Charge a little more for fully modeled, assembled and "table ready" minis but don't be like "yo this is a pro painted scouts squad, $300 son"

 

 

When buying on ebay, "pro painted" is a term derived from a latin phrase that means "needs to be stripped."

How would you advise to label an auction if one actually CAN paint to a nice TT+ standard? Not display / showcase, but definitely propainted (someone who does commission painting and now wants to just paint new stuff and sell).

 

To me, pro-painted means 'painted by a professional', by someone who makes at least a part of their living painting miniatures and has spent quite some time at it already. Not your amateur hour 'thin your paints' painter. It's not our fault that everyone can describe their Nurgle spawns as "propainted".

 

 

I've seen "well-painted" or "painted to a good standard" used a lot. Of course not always accurately.

[Trevak Dal]

I'd sell it as "Tabletop ready" that if a customer were willing to purchase multiples of the individual units you have for sale, that customer would have an army they just need the rules for and some dice and a tape measure and could take down to the local store to throw down as soon as they got it.

 

It might also inflate demand by instilling a competition among the bidding customers by highlighting the scarcity of the units you are selling and could cause bidding wars. Pride is a mother :cusser of course and some people are The Dumb, and to paraphrase Old Ron Swanson, 'Capitalism shows who is Rich, and who is dumb'.

 

Mark them up a little bit, say 10-15% more than what somebody else would be selling the unit for (using average prices for a tactical squad) if your army was built to be cohesive and work together and isn't a "collection army" (the chaos army I bought from my friend was the old old 4th edition csm starter box with the codex, unit of Terminators khorne Berserkers, defiler, 15 Csms, 5 possessed and 2 Terminator lords Plus metal Abaddon, a box of Ksons, a partial iron warrior upgrade box, a single metal havoc autocannon and another terminator lord) it will add to the incentive to purchase more/all your units for sale (to have a table ready army)

 

I might be mixing some stuff up, but that :cuss was a "collection" not a cohesive army purpose built to work together and achieve a goal. I had to work hard to hammer that :cuss into something I can be proud of, I don't use the Ksons stuff. I think I threw it away, because it was fiddly and metal (kept the sorcerer, cut his head off with great difficulty and he's a minor league HQ).

Edited July 2, 2017 by Trevak Dal

[Jackalwolf]

Or you can rely on X multipliers for pricing:

 

• Original cost * 0.675 to 1 for unpainted stuff or poorly painted
• Original cost * 1 to 1.5 for tabletop quality
• Original cost * 1.5 to 2 for high standard

[Xenith]

 

Or you can rely on X multipliers for pricing:

 

• Original cost * 0.675 to 1 for unpainted stuff or poorly painted
• Original cost * 1 to 1.5 for tabletop quality
• Original cost * 1.5 to 2 for high standard

 

 

But then you run into the problem that peoples ideas of poor, tabletop and high end painting differ.

 

Best to let the market decide. Very well painted collections seem to do well.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Xenith

[Kastor Krieg]

Or you can rely on X multipliers for pricing:

• Original cost * 0.675 to 1 for unpainted stuff or poorly painted
• Original cost * 1 to 1.5 for tabletop quality
• Original cost * 1.5 to 2 for high standard

That's undercutting the value A LOT, way too much. A nice TT+ Roboute Guilliman has sold for my friend for $550, starting bid at $220, American.

 

And you still have to take into account -10% from eBay and -3,5% PayPal. Selling nice TT at 100% MSRP is pointless.

[Closet Skeleton]

Second hand goods are second hand goods. People don't throw after market modifications onto their cars in the hope that they'll make more money (houses are pretty much the only exception).

 

Selling stuff in the hope of getting your money back is a pipe dream. You either take a loss in order to clear out stuff you don't want or you make a profit by painting to a high standard in an actually strategic manner.

 

You can make a lot off a Guiliman because people will go for pro-painted centre piece models that don't have paint scheme variations to worry about. You try and sell a squad from a DIY chapter and they can have the Golden Daemon winner certificate with them and people will still only care to get them cheap for paint stripping.

 

If you want to make money off painting you paint by commission and make your client buy the models so you're actually being paid for your paint work. People who buy second hand models don't want to pay more for pre-painted stuff, they want discounted second hand stuff because they don't want to pay the new in box price.

Edited July 11, 2017 by Closet Skeleton

[m0nolith]

Facebook.

Groups like "the Barter Bucket" and other buy/sell/trade work fantastically well.

Since I discovered how well they work iv stopped selling my stuff on eBay.

[Kastor Krieg]

Facebook.

Groups like "the Barter Bucket" and other buy/sell/trade work fantastically well.

Since I discovered how well they work iv stopped selling my stuff on eBay.

Would you PM me the names of the rest of the groups, please?

[m0nolith]

 

Facebook.Groups like "the Barter Bucket" and other buy/sell/trade work fantastically well.Since I discovered how well they work iv stopped selling my stuff on eBay.

Would you PM me the names of the rest of the groups, please? :)

I sent you something but it gave me the ol' "action failed" when I clicked send so I don't know if you got it.

[Isolia]

On French Facebook groups that host trades in minis, usually the prices are the closest to retail price (but lower) when on sprue, then they go down for unmounted, then assembled, then painted.

 

If you have tabletop++ standard then you can expect more than retail price of the new box since then people won't need to strip them and repaint them . They go for anywhere between 1.5 to 3-4 times the price of the new set depending on finish, detail level and rarity of the models. Then it is akin to buying new and having a commission painter do the heavy lifting , but quicker , so it's appealing to a lot of folks, especially since you already see the result :)

 

Standard tabletop quality will not suit most buyers , if they buy painted they want to be happy with the looks, the colour scheme, the poses, etc.. A painted set is often half the price of a new one unless it is neatly painted, then it's a bit more. Then you enter the good stuff which sells higher than the bare plastic, but it is high-end painting. At least that's how I've seen the French market go, especially since we have acceptably priced commission painters around to compete with second-hand minis

Edited July 12, 2017 by Isolia

[Halandaar]

I just sold off my (painted) Minotaurs army this week on eBay and got around half of retail value for it. I mean, that's fine for me because I needed the cash right now and was prepared to take that hit, but if you have the time, follow the advice of others and split out your army into individual sales; you'll definitely make more money (although it's more likely to be a drip-feed of sales).

[Jackalwolf]

 

Or you can rely on X multipliers for pricing:

• Original cost * 0.675 to 1 for unpainted stuff or poorly painted
• Original cost * 1 to 1.5 for tabletop quality
• Original cost * 1.5 to 2 for high standard

That's undercutting the value A LOT, way too much. A nice TT+ Roboute Guilliman has sold for my friend for $550, starting bid at $220, American.

 

And you still have to take into account -10% from eBay and -3,5% PayPal. Selling nice TT at 100% MSRP is pointless.

 

 

You do have a point indeed but most people would rather have the original base plastics than non perfectly assembled (mold lines not removed, i.e.) and painted in a scheme that they don't like or to a standard that, let's be honest, most painters overrate. What many people call TT I call "Straight to be stripped" and I'd rather buy the new kits at -15% MRSP as I buy always from online sellers than pay for a painted army.

 

If you wanna commend anything beyond 1x the price, it better really be Tabletop Plus, and 2x or more you'll need armies that wouldn't look out of place in a Golden Demon competition.

 

I just sold this army for around 2.5x MRSP and it includes a :cussload of conversions, unique characters and really good paintjobs:

 

http://i.imgur.com/De00PY2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/uWR6ijv.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8QVWwhA.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/6c5wIiZ.jpg

 

When you're selling pro painted you still need to find someone who wants that exact army, in that exact color scheme, with that basing and the units that you have.

 

It's a lots of ifs until you actually find the right match.

[Kastor Krieg]

If you wanna commend anything beyond 1x the price, it better really be Tabletop Plus, and 2x or more you'll need armies that wouldn't look out of place in a Golden Demon competition.

Yeah, sorry, but no. Golden Daemon level is "display" quality, with the workload / manhours require it's practically unsellable because it's priceless.

 

I just sold this army for around 2.5x MRSP and it includes a :cussload of conversions, unique characters and really good paintjobs:

[snip]

I'm sorry to say, mate, our definitions definitely vary. While it's a cool army that I'd love to play against, it's what qualifies as "nice, clean tabletop". Unless photos are too blurry for me to see, I can't find any advanced techniques there beyond main color airbrushed and some edge highlights. The metallics are not only true metallics (I prefer those over the more advanced NMM, personally), but also pretty flat in most major places (the bike engines yearn for at least a wash if not layering), the models are not based at all (black plastic and primer over some resin terrain).

 

Don't misunderstand me. It's a well painted army, it's what I'd call "pro-painted to a clean tabletop level". It's a good deal for 2.5 MSRP and the buyer surely will be able to base them to fit the rest of his army.

 

However, you've not only sold in bulk, but you've omitted more advanced techniques, not to mention weathering (pigments, oil filters and washes, etc.), which would make the army "Tabletop Plus".

 

"Pro-painted" is a mark of a work standard. TT, TT+, display/showcase are a eyeball measure of how advanced techniques were used. I've seen crap TT+ that attempted to use a ton of techniques and still was dirty "thin your paints" amateur hour and simple TT that was done professionally and achieved with basically only inks or washes and a basic eye lens technique an effect that was stunning.

 

Well, images say more than words. This is one of the most glorious "tabletop" works I've seen recently, by HooY. Still "just inks and washes", technically a TT model. Dare we call it "pro-painted"?

 

http://i.imgur.com/9Kty4aB.jpg

 

When you're selling pro painted you still need to find someone who wants that exact army, in that exact color scheme, with that basing and the units that you have. It's a lots of ifs until you actually find the right match.

Sure, but that's on me to do the research - to know that even though GW is pushing Ultramarines, there aren't THAT many UM players, for example.