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Having a bit of a clear out of old army projects that didn't take off and as ever, pleasantly surprised that gaming products hold their value quite well. Things are generally selling for around 75% of their original cost.

It occurred to me that I usually buy things in the knowledge that if I don't use it, I can sell it on a few months down the line. I often buy Codexes and Army Books on release fully intending to resell them a month later for near the retail value if the army doesn't click for me.

Two questions therefore...

1. Do you also factor this in when you splurge your hard earned on the hobby?

2. Do you think that gaming companies, aware that a lot of recycling goes on via ebay, factor this in when setting their prices?

It also makes me wonder how often a model gets sold before it actually gets made, painted and used in a game.

I have to ask: what is holding value at around 75%

Can't possibly be GW.... FW stuff seems to, but from my experience, GW proper goes for anywhere from 40-60% on a site like ebay.

If I got 75% of my cost on a GW product I might gak my pants.

 cincydooley wrote:
I have to ask: what is holding value at around 75%

Can't possibly be GW.... FW stuff seems to, but from my experience, GW proper goes for anywhere from 40-60% on a site like ebay.

If I got 75% of my cost on a GW product I might gak my pants.

Lol, if we're talking GW, then certain lines - i.e. Space Marines - seem to do ok. A Space Marine Bike Squad which is basically unmade just went for £15.50 (actual cost = £20).

I admit that some Fantasy stuff doesn't hold that well at all. Fortunately I have some Dark Elf kits which suddenly appear to generating some interest, so I guess choosing your moment helps.

Gw is an odd one though. Because the prices rise so quickly it's possibly you'll get more for it at 60% rrp than you paid for it at the time. It'd only take about 5 years.

I never sell my hobby stuff. I consider it to fall in the same category as books. They are for trading, gifting, and hoarding; never for sale. If they are lent out, return is never anticipated or hoped for. If they come back, they come back. If not, they will be loved and enjoyed where they end up.

That said, I never buy second hand for more than 50% off retail, unless it has value as a collectible, such as an OOP product or something.

If it is more expensive than 50% off retail, I might as well buy it new from an online discounter, know exactly what I am getting, and have all normal rights associated with retail purchasing.

I often sell items, usually to put towards other hobby items. I find trades to be risky and generally, after a long time of being a swapmod, stick to doing trades in-person!

This weekend I'm going to a local game store (Dropzone Games in MD) to sell some Dwarven Forge caverns terrain and Dropzone Commander Shaltari. If I fail to sell it there, it will go on ebay... but the funds almost always get recycled into other hobby projects. In this case, commission painting on the Dropzone Commander models with Dakka's own Ramos Asura

 cincydooley wrote:
I have to ask: what is holding value at around 75%

Can't possibly be GW.... FW stuff seems to, but from my experience, GW proper goes for anywhere from 40-60% on a site like ebay.

If I got 75% of my cost on a GW product I might gak my pants.

I think there's an Atlantean separation at work here, I've seen NOS stuff go for, if not new prices, certainly higher prices than a new kit could be bought from a reputable discounter. I frequently trawl Ebay for stuff when starting a new project, and can't honestly say I've ever got what you could consider genuine bargains more than a handful of times. (But that is almost exclusively looking for new and unpainted, buying asse,bled and painted is likely a different ball game.)

Oddly, I think the value would be higher if primed only or anything before that.
If I read "pro-painted" I tend to break out in hysterical laughter more often than not.
Thinking of expensive items like bikes I could see prices increasing enough to be worthwhile to sell.

 Azreal13 wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:
I have to ask: what is holding value at around 75%

Can't possibly be GW.... FW stuff seems to, but from my experience, GW proper goes for anywhere from 40-60% on a site like ebay.

If I got 75% of my cost on a GW product I might gak my pants.

I think there's an Atlantean separation at work here, I've seen NOS stuff go for, if not new prices, certainly higher prices than a new kit could be bought from a reputable discounter. I frequently trawl Ebay for stuff when starting a new project, and can't honestly say I've ever got what you could consider genuine bargains more than a handful of times. (But that is almost exclusively looking for new and unpainted, buying asse,bled and painted is likely a different ball game.)

I too believe this to be the case. I've only been into wargaming for about a year, so I don't have much experience with selling/trading, but from what I've seen in Sweden people tend to ask ridiculous prices for their second hand stuff, even when it's painted plastic.

It's only worth a large portion of what you paid if it's painted VERY well and matches what the buyer has already done pretty well, or if it is still effectively new on sprue (and really in box). As such, it doesn't factor at all. If I don't see myself using it eventually, I don't buy it.

1. Never think about it. I've sold a few items in twenty years primarily extra items bought in big eBay lots. Everything I meant to buy I will keep.

2. I think so, certainly where a corporate entity like GW is concerned, smaller traders less so.

 Flashman wrote:
1. Do you also factor this in when you splurge your hard earned on the hobby?

Nope. I assume that any money spent on hobby stuff is just gone, unless I'm buying a package deal for one piece of it and planning to immediately sell the rest. I've certainly sold unwanted stuff that I never got around to using, but all of it was bought with the intent of using it and keeping it forever.

As for rules and trying a new purchase, if I'm unsure about it I download a copy and see if it's something I like (if the rules aren't already free). If I buy a rulebook to start an army it's because I've already read the game and army rules carefully and decided that it's something I want.

2. Do you think that gaming companies, aware that a lot of recycling goes on via ebay, factor this in when setting their prices?

Depends on the size of the company. If you're GW you have to be aware that the ebay market exists and some percentage of your potential new customers are going to buy used stuff on ebay instead of new models. So you have to account for those lost sales and make sure that your prices on the stuff you do sell are high enough to still make a profit from the pool of customers who buy new. If you're a smaller company you probably don't have to think about it so much because it isn't as easy to find used copies of your stuff and most of your potential customers probably aren't going to wait around indefinitely in the desperate hope of a 10% discount from ebay. But I don't think in either case the company is setting high prices and trying to justify it with "but you can recover your money on ebay if you don't like it".

#1
I'm a bargain hunter, I play alot of different games, and my gaming eyes are usually bigger than my gaming sotmach. THus I buy alot of stuff and I end up selling alot. However, I usually only buy when things are just stupid cheap, so when I end up selling that project that just-isnt-going-to-happen, I almost always make a profit or am able to make a favorable trade for something else that interests me more.

I take it one step further in that many times when I'm at a swap meet or FLGS auction I'll buy stuff for myself and then try and buy just enough other stuff I know I can sell so as to cover the price of what I've bought. That way my purchases are basically free. I don't use ebay much, and I usually sell at really low prices, but between Bartertown, TMP and Dakka, I can usually quickly sell any gaming product I need to. I've come to really enjoy buying selling and trading as almost a sub hobby of it's own.

All this to say it's kind of become second nature to buy things so cheap that I'll always at least make my $ back, if not more.

#2
I don't think most game companies take this into account, but I do think that the relatively high resale-value of GW items (compared to most other games) does make it easier for GW to charge high prices. Even if the customer doesn't give it much thought, a product that maintains more of it's value is going to have more perceived value.

The only thing that hold their value well are the OOP stuff, the moment people start converting their stuf, it goes down in value.

But selling your stuff? The Horror!

I have always been pretty bad at buying stuff and not getting around to using it. If anything, it's got worse as I get older and a) have more money and b) have less time because of kids.

So yes, a lot of stuff gets sold particularly if I want to justify an expensive purchase to Mrs Flashman (got my eye on a new camcorder). It's kind of like saving money without interest

Occasionally I've made a profit e.g. Space Hulk (twice) and bizarrely the old Space Wolves codex (previously picked up for £10 in Hobbycraft) even though I made clear that a new edition was probably coming out soon.

I usually consider hobby money spent as being gone. I have sold things years later but I wasn't trying to recoup my hobby expenses, just raise money to cover the bills. In many cases I made money because it was so old. These days I buy a limited amount and have no intention to sell. I buy quite a bit of MtG and use unwanted cards for trading purposes. I've never sold cards and I only buy singles when they're cheap.

Sell nothing. Paint everything.

Winning. Winning. Winning.

GW knows the internet is just a fad and everyone goes to their local GW store to buy... erm... take part in the HHHHHHHHHHobby, so they obviously don't take into account 2nd hand ebay sales in their pricing.

They just throw a dart into the GW PriceBoard(tm), multiply if by a random number and then print off the price labels...

I’ve frequently sold on projects because they stalled or didn’t take off. Usually to raise money for the next one! Occasionally I’ve regretted it later but not often.

Flogging off a load of my old LOTR stuff when I couldn’t get an opponent is something I regretted. Partly because I loved the Minis and had put time into them but also because I discovered Song of Blades and Heroes last year and realised that if I still had my old LOTR stuff they would have been perfect for the game.

Strangely enough what with GW starting the phase LOTR stuff out and with the introduction of finecast the prices they are going for on eBay have been increasing over the last year or so. I wish I could pick stuff up now for the sort of prices they were going for when I sold mine!

One regret was finding a brand new copy of Settlers of Catan in a charity shop for £3. I’d never played it and had no real desire to so. But I’d heard it was popular so I stuck it on eBay and made £20. A few months later I played the game at a friend’s house. Instantly regretted that I’d sold my bargain copy off!

The biggest profit I made was when I picked up a complete copy of Titan Legions at a bring and Buy for a tenner. I promptly stuck it on eBay and got £90 for it.

I think the only GW items that I would expect to get 75% of price on are the ones old enough to be pre-white metal safety hazards.

Inflation and/or GW price increases, that's what it would take to break even.

GW NIB I can usually sell for 30% off - its better than what most people can get at online retailers.

Warmachine, however, you have to start at least 50% off.

I've never factored in the price I could resell for later when I make my purchases. I just consider the money gone, and I think this helps reduce impulse buys (which happen a little more often than I would like).

As to the resell value, online discounters are usually in the 20-30% off range, so that kind of caps what you can get for new in box stuff. If it's painted or converted the value drops a lot more.... until it comes back up. I recently cleared out a few old painted models from my display cabinet to make room and stuck them on ebay. The average selling price was about $90 each (three altogether), so it is possible to make a decent return if your painting skills are up to it.

 Peregrine wrote:

Nope. I assume that any money spent on hobby stuff is just gone, unless I'm buying a package deal for one piece of it and planning to immediately sell the rest. I've certainly sold unwanted stuff that I never got around to using, but all of it was bought with the intent of using it and keeping it forever.

As for rules and trying a new purchase, if I'm unsure about it I download a copy and see if it's something I like (if the rules aren't already free). If I buy a rulebook to start an army it's because I've already read the game and army rules carefully and decided that it's something I want.

Same here for me, though I never sell on anything.
I've got about a dozen Tamiya 1/35 military kits waiting for the Right Time for me to build them; so far it's been almost 20 years for some pieces, and I'm prepared to wait another 20 years if need be.

For things like rule books and codexes I do my best to download a copy for free, and if I like it enough I'll buy that book- but never pay more than 50% of the current list price. This is supposed to be an inexpensive hobby for me and I can't justify spending big money on a book.

I don't hope to recoup the price of model purchases any more than I would hope to recoup the cost of a bottle of patron.

I prefer to trade models at their retail value than buy or sell. I find that the best way to maintain value is to trade what I have for what I want. It might take a while to find someone who is a good match, but when you do it is worth it.