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Hey Everyone,

So, I'm about to do some Cross-genre trading here, so value on different games can be tricky, since I will probably be using price guides from seperate sources.

Just so you know, I'm currently planning on trading MTG for 40k or other miniatures...

I know the following conditions affect value...

1. NIB, the highest value
2. NOS (new on Sprue) / fresh bitz slightly lower than NIB, but really the same, if all parts are included.
3. Assembled/Bare
4. Assembled Primed
5. Painted The trickiest of them all since it can be either really low if painted poorly, or high if painted well.

So, what gauge or guide do you use to determine if you're getting a fair deal?
p.s. I'm currently considering just averaging out Ebay auctions that are closest to the condition of the models I'm trading for.


Alright, so I'm about to start working up my first trade. I just want to make sure I'm not too far off on the value for this army. I tried to look up Ebay auctions and kinda average them. out. But since I'm doing a trade, instead of purchase, I'm considering bumping up the value a bit...

If something doesn't have a description, it's probably Assembled, bare.

Btw, I'm trading MY MTG cards for this guy's Orks....

Here is the list.. and some pics below for reference of painted models. I would like your thoughts on my Value evaluations for his army..


Ebay prices
7th Ed. Codex 35
1 Warboss on Bike konversion 15
Ghazghull Thraka 20
Grukk FaceRippa 20
50 Boyz (20 with Shootas) (Pnt) 50
10 Bikers (pnt) 75
15 Stormboyz OOP Metal (pnt) 28
3 Killa Kanz NOS 25
20 Nobz (5 NOS) 30
6 Deffkoptas (pnt) 1 w. Converted blades 30
1 Trukk (bare) 20
1 BattleWagon (pnt w. magnetized Deffrolla) 50
10 Gretchen 10

More stuff......
5 Deffkoptas (AOBR) 30
5 Lootas (NIB) 22
Deffdread (NIB) 50
Trukk (NIB) 30
20 Boyz (NIB) 30
20 boyz (AOBR some pnt) 20
5 Nobz (AOBR) 5
Warboss (AOBR? StormClaw?) 5
As of Now............................600

Here are some pics

DeffKopta w. converted blade


Painted BW


Warboss on Bike


Warbikes


Nobz?


StormBoyz


Shoota Boyz

MTG stuff is easy to evaluate, anything worth trading sells in large enough numbers that you can easily find out how much it costs.

NIB/NOS (there's no difference between the two, unless you have a bizarre obsession with boxes) is worth 80-90% of retail price, the price you'd pay to buy it from an online store.

Anything else is completely subjective. Some people want painting/assembly work done for them and will pay extra for it (and may not even lower the value if it's badly painted because they just don't care), some people think it just ruins the model and lower the price significantly (even for good painting/assembly work). For example, any painted models I buy, even "pro painted" stuff, are going straight into the paint stripper so no matter how well painted your models are I'm going to pay very little for them to reflect all the extra work I have to do compared to NIB. But someone else might think that well-painted models are worth full price and only lower the value for badly painted stuff. So it's impossible to come up with a single value for anything that isn't NIB, the best you can do is figure out what percentage of retail price you think they're worth and make the appropriate trade/no-trade decision.

A lot of times people will haggle with you. To me these are the top dollar prices to expect.

In box, or well assembled primed or unprimed is 80% of retail.

Poorly or average painting brings to about 60% of retail.

Poorly assembled, broken, "Issues" should sell at about 20-40%

Unless I can't buy it from my LGS, I only pay (at most) 60% of retail, including shipping, for used merchandise no matter the quality.

If my LGS can't or won't stock it, I will pay up to full retail, but usually not over that. Like Peregrine said, I strip and repaint new minis, with very few exceptions, so great paint jobs aren't worth a whole lot to me. The only thing painting and assembly does (for me) is lower the price. It means more work for me if I want to convert, so it isn't a help. That being said, I prefer purchasing damaged minis over new ones, since the prices are dramatically reduced. And anything under 50% of MSRP is usually an auto-buy for me.

Find a good buy list value from a reputable MTG dealer for your cards. If they sell miniatures that you want and offer a bonus on store credit, then that might be better than trading. For example, you could email Card Kingdom and find out if they would do cards for store credit towards miniatures they can order in for you. A friend of mine sold his modern deck for a ton of X-Wing stuff and I *think* it was Card Kingdom he used.

I generally offer 50% of retail when buying used, so I like Jimsolo's idea of 60% including shipping.

It's really just down to what you think both parts are worth.

There will be some haggling, but what you should do is figure out a rough $ cost for the MtG cards you are trading away, and trade them for an apporixmately similar $ cost for what you'd pay for the miniatures. Just bear in mind both parties should be happy with the deal

Updated the first post with pics. Curious as to what people think?

I like to make trades at retail value for similar condition items.

I would recommend determining the condition and retail value of your MTG.

Next, determine the condition and retail value of the orks.

Then, agree to a retail value rate w/ your trade partner; ie:
NOB/NIB: 100% of retail
Assembled/Used: 90% of retail
Painted/Well used: 80% of retail.
Rough/Broken/Damaged: 50%

Finally, work out a trade that both of you are happy with.

Darkzephyr wrote:
Updated the first post with pics. Curious as to what people think?

Definitely in the "low value" category. If I bought them for some reason they'd be going straight into the paint stripper, and that's extra work compared to NIB. But at least they seem to be in decent condition otherwise, so their value doesn't quite make it into the "I'll give you $5 for the whole pile" category.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 rryannn wrote:
Then, agree to a retail value rate w/ your trade partner; ie:
NOB/NIB: 100% of retail
Assembled/Used: 90% of retail
Painted/Well used: 80% of retail.
Rough/Broken/Damaged: 50%

This is incredibly optimistic. NIB is rarely worth more than 80-90% of retail because you can almost always buy NIB stuff for that price, and I wouldn't pay more than 50% of retail for anything that isn't NIB. And I certainly wouldn't pay more than 10% of retail for anything that is damaged, unless it's OOP and hard to find in better condition. I suppose you have the right to ask for whatever price you think you can get, but you should be realistic about it and understand that anything below NIB is only appealing to most people if you sell it at a huge discount.

 Peregrine wrote:


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 rryannn wrote:
Then, agree to a retail value rate w/ your trade partner; ie:
NOB/NIB: 100% of retail
Assembled/Used: 90% of retail
Painted/Well used: 80% of retail.
Rough/Broken/Damaged: 50%

This is incredibly optimistic. NIB is rarely worth more than 80-90% of retail because you can almost always buy NIB stuff for that price, and I wouldn't pay more than 50% of retail for anything that isn't NIB. And I certainly wouldn't pay more than 10% of retail for anything that is damaged, unless it's OOP and hard to find in better condition. I suppose you have the right to ask for whatever price you think you can get, but you should be realistic about it and understand that anything below NIB is only appealing to most people if you sell it at a huge discount.

I use that as a guideline for trading, not buying or selling. If money changes hands, of course the discounts are much larger.