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I'm thinking about selling my Eldar army, and I have questions on the best way to do it.

It is currently assembled, partly painted, mostly unpainted. It has some conversions, that is magnets for a bunch of the weapons, but not for all of them.

So, what is the best way to sell the army? Should I...

a) Paint the army up unit by unit and sell them individually?

b) Sell the unpainted/partly painted units individually?

c) Sell the whole mishmash as one bloc and let the buyer do all the painting and such?

d) Paint the entire army and sell it as one bloc?

My concerns are how much money I'd get for the time put in, and how easy it would be to sell. For instance, if I paint up my army as Iyanden could it be harder to sell, since only a subset of people want Iyanden? Would selling a huge mishmash of units that are only partly painted and converted fetch a pathetically low price? Is there a market for individual painted units when they're done in specific craftworld color schemes? Like, I'm sure I could sell painted generically colored Aspect warriors, but could it be really difficult to sell painted Iyanden tanks and Guardians and such?

It all depends on the quality of painting. If it is not painted really really well then dont expect much for those guys. With that being said if you are not that great of a painter than dont paint anymore and sell the whole lot. If you can paint that well then it is up to you to paint them all to that level and sell off each unit. Note this will be very time consuming and take a while to do.

I think I paint at least as well as the commercial mini painters who mass produce your figs with rough paint jobs. I'm not a pro by any means, but I can paint to high tabletop quality.

That said, you're correct that it would take a long time...

GW models are like cars. Once you drive them off the lot it seems like they depreciate very fast. Seems like most folks fancy themselves Golden Demon contenders, refusing to believe that you can paint over a non-gloppy paint job and get good, even great results if you're a halfway decent painter.

OK, but I don't see how that applies to me. I didn't say that I was a golden daemon painter, just the opposite. And I didn't say people would rather buy my painted minis than my partly painted or unpainted ones. I was asking a question to find out what the greatest value was, not wondering what most mini painters think about themselves.

Unless you are offering a great deal, i.e. 70% off from new or it is truly propainted with detailed pictures you are not going to able to sell it all as one lot. It is easier to sell stuff on dakka in different lots. Entire armies are near impossible to sell as a whole. What you think it is worth subtract 25% to 50%. Look at the list at the bottom of the post for a guide.

Here is my tips:
Good, details pictures are needed.
Be ready to break up an army into different smaller lots.
If you do make a deal, keep all PM's or e-mails incoming and outgoing.
Have the buyer pay for shipping and always use tracking number.

What people are willing to pay based on MSRP from GW most of the time on Dakka.

NIB factory sealed: 75% to 70% of MSRP
NOS unpainted: 70% to 65% of MSPR
Off of sprue unpainted: 65% to 50% MSPR
On sprue & black/white base coat: 50% to 35% MSRP
Completely built well: 50% MSRP
Completely built poor: 35% MSRP
True Propainted: 90% and above 100% MSRP
Tabletop quality: 75% to 35% MSRP
Poor Paint (Metal Figures): 50% to 25% MSRP
Poor Paint (Plastic Figures): 35% to 10% MSRP
Broken Models Painted or Unpainted: 25% to just give it away

I hope this helps out

Swap Shop is reserved for actual swaps and sales, so I am moving this thread to Dakka Discussion where it will get more replies.

Ixe wrote:I'm thinking about selling my Eldar army, and I have questions on the best way to do it.

It is currently assembled, partly painted, mostly unpainted. It has some conversions, that is magnets for a bunch of the weapons, but not for all of them.

So, what is the best way to sell the army? Should I...

a) Paint the army up unit by unit and sell them individually?

If you have the interest and confidence , it could work.

b) Sell the unpainted/partly painted units individually?

If on ebay , this is the most ideal. But on Dakka , it wouldnt hurt to display the WHOLE army just to see if there are any interests.

c) Sell the whole mishmash as one bloc and let the buyer do all the painting and such?

Best prices are offered when the buyers buy what they want / need. Whole army while convenient and less hassle for you ,
might lower the army's worth since the buyer will lower the price to adjust to what they dont need.

d) Paint the entire army and sell it as one bloc?

It depends , chances are the color scheme for the army might be different. Which lowers the potential buyerss interest.
Ideally one could say that if a whole army is painted , then the color scheme might not matter , since it is it's own.
But then we have to consider how much can people afford.

My concerns are how much money I'd get for the time put in, and how easy it would be to sell. For instance, if I paint up my army as Iyanden could it be harder to sell, since only a subset of people want Iyanden? Would selling a huge mishmash of units that are only partly painted and converted fetch a pathetically low price? Is there a market for individual painted units when they're done in specific craftworld color schemes? Like, I'm sure I could sell painted generically colored Aspect warriors, but could it be really difficult to sell painted Iyanden tanks and Guardians and such?

Yes you are right , however we can stretch the color scheme abit more. For example , what the specific unit the craft world is famous for.
Example : Wraith Lord / Wraith Guard = Iyanden . Vehicles = Saimhan , Guardians = Ulthwe , Aspect = Bieltan.

Hope this helps!

Ixe wrote:OK, but I don't see how that applies to me. I didn't say that I was a golden daemon painter, just the opposite. And I didn't say people would rather buy my painted minis than my partly painted or unpainted ones. I was asking a question to find out what the greatest value was, not wondering what most mini painters think about themselves.

Yeah, wasn't shooting that in your direction. Just stating the fact that once somebody's bought a boxed set, it's final value varies wildly and usually in a negative direction.
Definitely not saying anything about you. Just philosophizing.

Ixe wrote:a) Paint the army up unit by unit and sell them individually?

Unless you're a Golden Demon-level painter, you'll get less than retail for them. People by and large aren't interested in single painted units, as they won't match the rest of their army.

b) Sell the unpainted/partly painted units individually?

Again, you'll get less than retail unless you have some good conversions in there. Partly painted in particular is bad, as people will just be buying them to strip, and won't want to pay more than the price of a new kit.

c) Sell the whole mishmash as one bloc and let the buyer do all the painting and such?

You're still walking down the 'less than retail' aisle... but getting down towards the 'Discounts for buying in bulk' end. This is the least attractive option if you're after a decent return on them.

d) Paint the entire army and sell it as one bloc?

If your painting is good, this is the way that will get you the most money for them... potentially. The army still has to be one that people are interested in buying as a whole.

When people send their army to a painting service, they get to pick the units that they want in the army. As the army is made entirely to their own specifications, they painting service can charge a little more for it.

In your case, even if you are painting at the same quality as one of those services you won't get an equivalent amount for it unless someone happens to come along who wants exactly the army that you have put together.

And, of course, it all comes down to whether your painting is goo enough and/or fast enough to make it all worth your while.

Also, your paint job has to be easily reproducable for the avg gamer just in case they want to add-on to the army.