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I just finished up a giant. I got him with a bunch of other stuff and don't really need him but it's such an awesome model that I went ahead and painted him. Now I kinda want to toss him up on ebay. Is it good enough that you'd be willing to buy it for the paintjob? I'm not looking to get that much for him but I'd like to get close to retail. I'm almost tempted to just toss him up for $.99 with free shipping and let it ride. That might be pushing my luck, though. What do you think?

INB4PROPAINTEDNOBZ.

Best thing to do is toss him up for .99 with a reserve price (if you can, I dont use eBay to sell). Set the reserve to Retail + fees and make a profit no matter what

I'm not a big fan of reserves. It's been my experience that if your model has any demand whatsoever the bid will reach any reserve price that you could set as long as it was reasonable to begin with. If you shoot for the stars then people will be reluctant to bid and you end up making less on the model. Obviously, you get the option to not sell it if the reserve isn't met but that doesn't do much good if you want money more than the model.

I'd be interested if I had money.

I'd put him up for $50 and see where it goes. Mabye start out at 30, get the bidders going.

Setting a reserve price costs a little bit more and it's not guaranteed (although you still have to pay for the posting).

Get on Ebay and search for similar items and see how much they go for. Something like this I'd set a reserve price for. Maybe also a buy-it-now for like $20 bucks over retail. If it doesn't sell, put in on next time for $30 over retail. I know this sounds weird but I've sold a lot of stuff on Ebay and someone told me once if it doesn't sell the first time, raise the price and try again. It has worked almost every time I've done it. I can only assume people judge how high of quality something is by its price.

Also, please don't label it as "Pro-painted" too many people do that and a lot of them are not very good. If you use "hand-painted" and show a good photo or two they can judge for themselves.

The next part I type assuming you have little or no Ebay experience. If you do, forgive me, I don't mean to condescend.

If you don't have an Ebay history you're not as likely to get a good price for something like this. Sell a bunch of small stuf/bits first (assuming you have them to sell) or, if you know someone that has an Ebay history (a good one) then you may consider selling through them (if they'll help you out).

Also, look at some WH40K Ebay sellers and pay attention to their write-ups and offers. Particularly the bits that help protect you as the seller (You know, detailed description of the actual item, shipping costs, return policy, etc.). Don't be afraid to copy and paste for your own posting. Put the whole thing on a Word Processor first to flesh it out, spell check and finalize.

Stay away from comments like "You're gonna love this" or "This is fantastic" and other "Wow" comments. Don't BS the buyer. At least for me, I know I stay away from this kind of posting/advertising. Let the photo and description speak for itself. Less is more but be honest and concise, the buyers mind will do the rest.


BTW - It is a nice looking piece, well done!

I have decent feedback. 100% with 124 feedbacks. I do have a neutral but that particular auction was a bunch of bits starting at $.99 with no reserve and very low shipping. I didn't expect it to get as high as it did so I guess I didn't describe it well enough. The guy still got a great deal, though, and judging by his auctions over the next week or so he made some money on the deal when he resold it. Anyway, about 50 of my feedbacks are from the last few months so I've been selling and learning a lot recently.

I try very hard not to talk up any of my auctions. Considering that people have paid me to paint their models and I have yet to have a customer who wasn't happy with my work I don't think that labeling something as "pro-painted" is a stretch as long as I don't attach a ridiculous price tag to the model in the first place. Now going so far as to call it "master painted" (like one particular ebay user that posts a LOT of auctions and regularly overcharges for painted models) or talking about how great my work is in my description is farther than I'm willing to go. I take very good pictures, start my auctions with low starting bids and describe my auctions as accurately as possible.

GoFenris wrote:
BTW - It is a nice looking piece, well done!

Thanks I like it .

Sorry, I guess you know the deal then. Your history looks good. Everyone deals with a Donkey-Cave sometimes and most long time sellers/buyers know it.

Cryonicleech wrote:I'd be interested if I had money.

I'd put him up for $50 and see where it goes. Mabye start out at 30, get the bidders going.

Im totally agreeing with this up here ^^^^ Thats what Id do

If you really want $50+, then set that as the reserve price.

If you just want it to sell for a fair price, put it down for $0.99 and see where it goes.

GoFenris wrote:I know this sounds weird but I've sold a lot of stuff on Ebay and someone told me once if it doesn't sell the first time, raise the price and try again.

Wow, this is a good idea

I have sold a lot of things on ebay, and I usually go for the $0.01 starting price with no reserve, and let the market drive it up. I think this is usually the best way to generate the most interest in an auction, which usually leads to bids, more bids, and the highest final price. However, your idea sounds pretty good, and especially for well-painted items, I think it is best to have a decent starting price to reflect it's quality. If it's too low, people will judge the paint job by the price. So this is a good bit of advice!

For unpainted/standard items, I still tend to lean towards the $0.01, no reserve, and let it fly route . I have a similar number of feedback (just over 100 with all positives) and it's worked well for me so far!

Set the reserve for whatever you want to make and post in the auction listing. I would put a reserve on it as you don't want to sell if for $5 and lose whatever you paid for it.

I'm guessing it will go for around $30-retail as there is not that much of a demand for giants in the lasted army books and the people with older armies probably already have them.