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 oni wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 oni wrote:
W40K collections are worth $0.00. I've come to terms with this a long time ago.

1. None of this stuff appreciates with age.
2. No one ever pays the original purchase price (or more) for 2nd hand goods for this stuff; even if it's new in box.
3. Outdated, non-vintage items are completely worthless. No one wants outdated, non collectible product.
4. Even if the model(s), army(s), etc. are masterfully painted, they still will not sell for an amount of money that accounts for the time spent painting them - selling painted models is always a loss.

Not sure about that - I spend alot of money on ebay purchases of painted models and often outbid....equally often well painted stuff goes for good money, sometimes it doesn't.

In my experience.

1. try getting OOP models on ebay - it can be difficult and expensive
2. Yep they really really do. Well painted stuff can go for good money - I have got stuff and been outbid.
3. Nope not true. I have sold older models for good money and bought them as well.
4. Thats more difficult to argue against as difficult to value someones time and ability..

We're discussing some incredibly relative points here, but...

2. Well painted models selling for good money. What's "good money"? This question aside, consider the fact that it's natural for anyone spending money on 2nd hand goods to want to get a bargain. So there's pressure driving the price down. This ties into...
4. How much does one person value an item vs. another? How much does one person value their time vs. another? Personally, I would want to be paid $1,000.00 for one Imperial Knight. Why so much? Because I value my time immensely and I have the skill, but no one... NO ONE... would ever dare to pay $1,000.00 for an Imperial Knight. The buyer doesn't care about the time investment, it's irrelevant to them. They only care about the quality of the product in relation to its price and will make compromises in an effort to get the best quality:price ratio they can.

"good money" = more than and up to double of bought as new price.

Nah... "the little toy soldiers you paint" Are woerthless in their eyes.

My GF is a bit more clued up as shes forked out for palenor fields LOTR set for x mas... so she's painfully aware how expensive retail GW is. However they are also aware that I sell a bunch of stuff. I recon it would all get chucked into a job lot ebay/ carboot sale and make about 30% of its worth. lol.

It will vary.

Not to insult anyone or their painting skill, but most collections are off-the-peg. So can be replaced.

But when people have Exclusives in their collection? Boxed or not? That's different. Those tend to increase in value when bought, at least in the short term.

I'm off Looting this weekend, down to Worthing for a store relocation. I'll be spending around, erm.....£1,300 so far on the Exclusive Models. I know full well that if that was my money, and not the Lootees? I could double it, possibly even triple it with little worry.

Same with Store Anniversary models. £20 to me, £60 easy on eBay. Especially as they now only hang around for a year. Heck, I could be duplicitous and pick up a few extra for my own archive on each trip. With quite a few local stores, I could easily end up with a catalogue of 10 of each model.

Hold on to them for another year? Who knows what I could get for them.

And that's not taking into account the older, far rarer exclusives. Like the Legion of the Damned guy, the Plasma Gun Inquisitor etc? Those can go for decent money.

Likewise OOP stuff, such as Epic and BFG. Specific BFG ships, such as the 'not that many of them to begin with' Imperial Grand Cruisers can fetch big bucks.

But to the untrained eye, they're all utterly indistinguishable from a 4th Ed Fantasy Plastic Gobbo Spearman.

People Can pay quite a bit for models....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warhammer-40k-Sister-Superior-Amalia-Novena-Pro-Painted/333253103321?hash=item4d976eced9:g:rgMAAOSwktFdGT8W

"Warhammer 40k Sister Superior Amalia Novena Pro Painted" 24 bids currently at £67.00

My son is playing these days, so if something happened to me, it would just go to him and not tossed.

I’m kind of afraid to tally things up. I know you can buy new and if you look for deals can get 4-6 points per $ spent. Ballpark. A lot depends on armies. And with the age of my collections, I got boxes of 30 marines for $20. Of course, those were ‘80s dollars. But even if I could only get a fraction of the price I sunk into everything over the years, It’s probably a lot.

 oni wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 oni wrote:
W40K collections are worth $0.00. I've come to terms with this a long time ago.

1. None of this stuff appreciates with age.
2. No one ever pays the original purchase price (or more) for 2nd hand goods for this stuff; even if it's new in box.
3. Outdated, non-vintage items are completely worthless. No one wants outdated, non collectible product.
4. Even if the model(s), army(s), etc. are masterfully painted, they still will not sell for an amount of money that accounts for the time spent painting them - selling painted models is always a loss.

Not sure about that - I spend alot of money on ebay purchases of painted models and often outbid....equally often well painted stuff goes for good money, sometimes it doesn't.

In my experience.

1. try getting OOP models on ebay - it can be difficult and expensive
2. Yep they really really do. Well painted stuff can go for good money - I have got stuff and been outbid.
3. Nope not true. I have sold older models for good money and bought them as well.
4. Thats more difficult to argue against as difficult to value someones time and ability..

We're discussing some incredibly relative points here, but...

2. Well painted models selling for good money. What's "good money"? This question aside, consider the fact that it's natural for anyone spending money on 2nd hand goods to want to get a bargain. So there's pressure driving the price down. This ties into...
4. How much does one person value an item vs. another? How much does one person value their time vs. another? Personally, I would want to be paid $1,000.00 for one Imperial Knight. Why so much? Because I value my time immensely and I have the skill, but no one... NO ONE... would ever dare to pay $1,000.00 for an Imperial Knight. The buyer doesn't care about the time investment, it's irrelevant to them. They only care about the quality of the product in relation to its price and will make compromises in an effort to get the best quality:price ratio they can.

Well I value an item based on the average auction sale price on ebay when it comes to 40k models. So a metal Lictor averages around £10. On it's own not much, in a large collection of metal miniatures that can easily add up to hundreds if not thousands of pounds.

I'd much prefer my relatives/partner/children had that 500-1000 pounds over just chucking em // not knowing.

A lot of the older models do go for silly prices on ebay. Have you tried buying a unit of marauder dwarves today? Not cheap.

Mrs. Captain Brown knows the size of my collection and that it is a hobby. She is also happy I am slowly downsizing by selling off old magazine, books, codexes, bits. As to the value, as already mentioned value is in the eye of the beholder and if I was to pass away, Mrs. Captain Brown would give the boxes to my gaming buddies.

Cheers,

CB

I remember seeing a sticker once that said “My greatest fear when I die is that my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them”. Could go for any collection, I suppose.

I have to agree with something Winterdyne posted - I'm not even sure I know what my models are worth.

I did mention to my wife once that if I died, they are both valuable and difficult to price, and that she should create an account on Dakka and ask for help pricing and selling.

That gun one also hits close to home. While I never felt I needed to hide how much I spent on anything - it's my money so that would be weird - I doubt very much my wife knows that some of my firearms are pretty expensive, too. I better mention that as well.

Not sure where my collection would go if I got hit by a bus today.
Thats a bit melancholy isnt it? :(

No-one is relying on my estate to provide for them after I die, so it can all go in a landfill for all I care.

I'm more concerned with her selling everything I bought for the prices I told her I paid.

40k - $$ 95% with factory box
Lego - $$$ 70% with factory box
Racing Memorabilia - $$$
Firearms - I dont really want to admit how much
Race Car - $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

As a general rule, I'd say most plastics might as well be thrown out if any known gaming buddies have no interest in them. But plenty of metal models can be go for a tidy sum - I sold some Dogs of War a while back that easily went for several times their original cost, which is far from unusual. Even fairly recent original metal miniatures now available in finecast can go for substantially more than the current finecast prices. No idea as to the total value of my collection though, not even vaguely. The ones I prize the most are unlikely to be valued much by others, though sometimes strange and wacky conversions go for good money on eBay too.