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I'm looking to trim my miniature collection down, and that is going to include letting a couple of older armies go. Having had no luck selling them locally, I'm expanding to bartering forums and eventually ebay. Having never bought or sold more than a single or handful of models at a time that weren't on the sprue, I come to dakka asking: how does one go about shipping an entire army?

The easy solution is to buy the appropriate quantity of foam trays and the right sized box. My only concern there is dropping 50 or 60 dollars just in foam to ship them. Are there more cost-effective alternatives I haven't considered, or is that how it's generally done?

I'd suggest you find your local supplier of upholstery foam and ask if they have offcuts - you can generally have this for nothing or close to it.

If they have eggcrate foam offcuts then you're golden!

Just use bubblewrap.

Wrap eahc vehicle individually, and wrap infantry in "strings" - get a long strip of bubble wrap and fold it in half width wise so you have a long strip which is in s small "U" shape, where the arms of the U should be about half to an inch higher than a model. Tape each end up and add a model to the pouch, then add some tape to the top of the U to seal it in and stop the model shifting. Then repeat until you have filled the U shape with models. Should look kind of like a belt of bullets when you are done and should protect most models well enough to ship them.

If someone shipped an entire army to me in foam trays, I would be greatly surprised (and pleased!). I recommend the bubblewrap method above, or even using telephone pages to wrap the guys (though that might take longer, it's certainly cheaper).

Also, I expect some minor damage when receiving models through the mail. It happens, and I don't worry about it too much.

Foam shipping=cost prohibiton. Your best bet is to ship with common shipping materials-


Bubblewrap is good. Light and rarely impacts the weight of the package (but may mean you need a bigger box, depending on how much bubblewrap you use.

Ziplock and sealable plastic bags for bits.

Packaging peanuts and crumbled up newspaper to fill in the spaces that are left. Both are reasonably easy to get and cheap.

Go to retail areas and look behind their stores for box dump bins. Easy to find collapsed assortments of all sorts of boxes. Also, the bit boxes (the white folding boxes used mostly for cards) are good for small shipments.

Use packaging tape. Using electrical tape is expensive. Scotch tape is silly to use.

Keep box sizes to a minimum, as the postal service charges extra for bigger boxes and for weight.

International shipping will also be costly.

Metal miniatures need less packaging than plastic ones. Of course, a complex model with easy to break bits require more care. If your not satisfied with your own packing job, use extra packaging.

When making prices for your miniatures, the price scale should be less than 80% retail value of what GW has, as that is what online retailers sell their miniatures for (anywhere from 10-20 percent off, or 90 to 80 percent retail value). Miniatures that are new in box or unassembled typically have the highest price. Models that are further along in the constructing process tend to sell for less (but if you have pictures- GOOD pictures of well build models, great custom jobs, and such, the price may be higher). But typically expect people to seek great deals on products. Keep prices negotiable so that way you have some flexibility. The best way to make back your $$$ is to trade for other models, but that is if you want to start another army. Otherwise, be prepared for a few heartbreaks in terms of value if you sell for cold hard cash for the work you put into your models.

And of course, feel free to use the Dakka SwapShop- it has one of the most active bartering forums around.

see, this is why I love dakka. Thanks guys!

And what did I say about options I hadn't considered? Bubble wrap!

Another trick I've used when shipping bigger models (monsters, tanks etc...) is to bubble wrap them, then to make dividers in the box made of balsa wood to keep them stable. Its fairly cheap, a couple longer pieces will run you $5 or so, easy to cut and really light weight. I don't suggest it for large groups of smaller models, but with tanks and whatnot its a pretty effective way to get them their safely.

Bigger models i bubble wrap, then put them in ziplocks to help hold it all together, normal RNF i carefully put in ziplocks, suck all the air out, and then place in a box with a bunch of those little packing peanuts.

Have yet to get a complaint about broken gak.

The Defenestrator wrote:
The easy solution is to buy the appropriate quantity of foam trays and the right sized box. My only concern there is dropping 50 or 60 dollars just in foam to ship them. Are there more cost-effective alternatives I haven't considered, or is that how it's generally done?

I would ask the buyer:

1. does he want you to buy foam trays and add it to his cost?

2. Does he want you to wrap models in bubble pack?

3. Does he have a case or trays he would like to send you to ship them in?

Getting the buyers input helps alleviate some of the blame if something goes wrong, and might help ease your own anxiety as you are doing what the buyer is requesting...

as a bartertowner for more then 10 years, i have some general rules i follow when shipping armies:

1. Offer insurance, ALWAYS offer insurance.

2. bubblewrap is good. individually wrapping every model is good based on what the model is. one piece termagaunts? no, pro painted pheonix lords? yeah. you usually bubble wrap and tape important models.

3. peanuts below, peanuts above. if i dont have peanuts i use plastic bags.

4. recycle shipping supplies. keep stuff people use to send stuff to you. i have a box full of used bubblewrap, peanuts and bags i use when i ship stuff out.

5. warn them that delicate stuff WILL break. again, ket them know that insurance is available.

just a few.