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I dont know if this is the right forum for this but i thought i would give it a shot. so heres my situation,40k is dead in my area,and ive got 4 armies im doing nothing with,so my question is hows the market and whats the best way to not have em go for a couple hundred bucks(i have a lot of time and effort in most of my armies). the other thing i noticed is that ebays not doing too well either,most high dollar armys just are not selling, so any advice for not taking a dive here.

Are there any conventions with flea markets you could go to?

No illusions, you will probably sell your army for less than half of retail value. The time and money spent assembling the army do not count towards the value, nor does sentimentality up the cost either.

You could try the Swap Shop here, but all people are into discount deal fever unless you have an army that is exceptionally well painted by known painters, has FW bits, or rare miniatures in abundance. A trending army with popular units could also move well but that is harder to pin down.

If you are into another game system, you could try a swap based on retail values and see if you can match them up.

Or keep your collection and hope things get better in the future.

Take the hit. GW stuff is rarely gonna make money back. Especially plastics, which are two a penny.

Split it up,

Auctioning a high value item like a full army will mean very few bidders so the price won't be pushed up

Auctioning a cheaper item like a unit or vehicle puts it in more peoples price range so you're a lot more likely to have a bidding war start up making you more cash

similarly if you're just selling direct rather than auctioning stuff the bigger the sale the more likely you're ending up selling to a re-seller who will split it up

(as said above you will get less than retail for it unless it's very well painted, it's just a fact of life)

You can sell a WELL Painted (IE an army that can actually get in top 3 for painted at local RTTS) for basically same cost as you bought if for. If it's not well painted then you'll probably sell it for less than unpainted.

I've sold 3 armies for 100% of retail due to fully painting them first.. splitting up is a good idea. Flea markets are a terrible idea imo because if you want to make money then you shouldnt be going to places where people don't want to SPEND money.. same reason I don't sell anything on bartertown, people are incredibly cheap there..

Here is how you sell on ebay for price you want to make.

Determine $ of money you want, put it on ebay for +15-20% due to fees.. Ask for interested buyers to message you personally. If someone actually buys your auction then great!

Otherwise, send personal emails to interested people and then sell it of ebay, or just cancel auction. Have them send you money as GIFT on paypal.

Yes its against ebay TOS but who cares, its never enforced nor can they. Your money is most important thing!

Just note, if you sell via Dakka (or Bartertown afaik) soliciting people to send payment as a friends/family payment (formerly known as a gift payment) is against our rules for trading. It removes protection from the buyer, so people should only send this type of payment if they really know/trust the seller.

OP, depending on when you bought the models, and if you bought at discount, you can still likely break even. I bought a bunch of Warriors of Chaos (2 battalions, 2 Helcannons, extra box of warriors, extra box of marauders, unit of dragon ogres, chimera, mixture of Reaper and Blackfire Pass trolls converted) and got $400 from it. I spent maybe $400, tops. I had a friend sell it in an area local to him, instead of local to me. If you have friends in other areas, send them pics and have them ask around. You'll likely get more from a personal trade that way. Also, if you agree to a payment plan with somebody, and sell stuff off in chunks (both of you really have to agree what sends when and both be super comfortable), you can likely get a higher profit. I've done that twice, and made an amount I felt comfortable with ($475 on an Empire army that cost maybe $600 to buy way back when, that I got almost a decade of play out of). You can make back most of what you spent, as long as you're willing to take the time to do it.

I always recommend trading where possible. I use, Bartertown, Dakka and TMP. Unless you meet some of the criteria that folks above have listed, or you bought used, you are going to take a huge hit. It may take a while to find the right trade, but despite whatever GW might be up to, there are always folks looking to move from one game to another.

This is why I buy used, trade alot, etc. I could sell my IG army now, and easily get back what I spent on it.