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I have a stupid idiot friend. Here is why:
He wants to sell his tau army, and I sat there with him and I did the math. The problem his he bought his army, two price-rises ago, and he bought the tau army starter boxes.... two of them. Most of his stuff was bought, on-line, at discounted rates... and:

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-hobbies-crafts-Warhammer-40000-40k-Tau-army-worth-700-W0QQAdIdZ284275039
PLEASE NOTE I AM NOT ADVERTISING FOR HIM! I am providing the link as a frame of reference.

He thinks he can sell for $700.... I already had "the talk" with him, and told him he will have a hard time as it is selling for even $350, but that he should expect $250. I tried to set up a sale on here for around $300 but he refused to sell that low, so I did not even bother. (I know for a fact that he did not paint his army, and the one turret to make a hammerhead is actually a recast using plaster of paris) He just does not realize that from a retail perspective, tau is a very very very out army right now, probably the last update on the list, next year, and with all the current updates, people are more excited and willing to spend money on those than an outdated army. He also doesn't realize its impossible for joe shmoe to get his money back, never mind make a profit off of his old army.

Is there anything anyone can tell me to make him see the light? He keeps badgering me now and again over it, and I would rather not call him names. He has been trying to sell this for 6 months already.

Not sure why it is your responsibility, to be honest? He asked for advice, you offered it. If he doesn't want to take that advice up, then so be it. At the end of the day, he can try and sell the army for whatever he deems to be an acceptable price - whether he gets it or not is really of no concern and not something you should be overly bothered about.

I don't really think we can help you, friend.

For some reason, GW is ok with selling an army for 1,000.00 bucks, but YOUR friend... can't?

Want some advice? Don't get into it. It's your friends sell- If he wants to sell it for 750, let him try. I don't see with that quality of a site that he's going to get it, but then I don't know you or your friend.

First thing first, YOU have already written your friends army off, told him he can't and I don't know where you came up with it, but it's pretty much a given that you don't agree.

His advertising sucks, for one. The pictures are pretty crap, and the whole "OH, LOOK! Your going to pay what I tell you to pay..." is a pretty poor stance to have, when your selling an army, and obviously trying to rape the buyer.

GW can do it, and make you happy that they did it because of one thing and one thing only- advertising. Your "friend" needs to be a little more fluid.

Selling the army for "750 for the whole thing, and your going to pay!" is a piss poor stance to come from.

Breaking the army down, selling it for reasonable and realistic pricing is going to net your friend, maybe 750, or maybe 1,000.

What does a box of the guys cost, maybe 35.00? OK, so you buy them for 35, and put in a few hours of paint time on them, maybe putting the price up to 40.00 for the squad. then you add in the postage and handling, which may or may not factor in to about 50.bucks.

So then you put down a price for 50.00 for the squad. ( of course that is going to depend 110% on the paint job, and the weapons options on the squad.)

What your friend has already done has shot the wad on the whole batch of product. He's already shown the rabbit, and there is no magic there.

TAU ARMY 750.00.

and then the piss poor 5 minute adds of telling me what your going to sell and I'm going to automaticly assume that I'm going to get what I pay my hard earned coin for.

Want to drive me away? Tell me some gak like "Pro painted, well painted, etc.etc."

Just show a picture or three of the thing, add in a few lines about it, such as " Tau combat squad has X,Y,Z, weapon platform and a shield/ twin linked shootie shoot shot." Price 50.00, or best offer. (IF you are willing to bargin) OR a blanket 50.00. if not.

THAT particular add is a loser. You won't sell anything like that, and your friend needs to remove that, rewrite it with a more thought out plan of selling that stuff and be a little more shrewd with pricing, and flexable with discussion.

People do not want that piss poor looking product like that. If it was fully built and painted, had the options spelled out with a general description of what your stuff IS there, and the standard issue price with options to sell the stuff by unit, maybe you might get 500.00.

I see that add, and I quite honestly do not see what your friend is selling. That stuff isn't even all incuded in the description, the pictures, and the whole thinjg looks scrappy and rushed.

As of now, your not even turning a head. No one gives a gak about that stuff in it's present form.

Just my opinion, but put a little more into advertising it, and not have such a !@#$ attitude about it.

If I were you? I'd just give him a recommendation, try to suger coat it and give him an honest assesment, but other then that step back and leave it to him. ( Fiends don't tell friends how to sell stuff.)

Well, here is the thing, He never even picked up a paint brush. He threw the army at me and another friend to paint. I did five kroot at his house back a couple years ago to show him how easy it was to paint them up. Problem is he insisted on being lazy. Stays up until 3:00 am playing meaninglass video-games, running a bot to play for him, but he won't pick up the brush. What is painted up, is decent, because I know the other person that painted it. The biggest offensive thing I have is that he is trying to sell a battleforce as if it was bought individually....

I guess I needed to vent as much as I needed advice.

the real kicker is that its not even a painted army, its assembled, its primed, and the paint job is half finished and its.... DECENT. It's hard to replicate a paint-job unless it follows something GW did to the letter. I don't know what colors were used, so the paint job is negligible. I even told him that. What's hillarious? there is an army of equal size with more big guns on sale for $300, completely painted, two ads below his. And of course, my friend flips his fecal matter at me....

I really, honestly want to help my friend. I just don't want my assistance to involve his head and a spanner. I am tired of listening to him whinge about how he can't sell his army... I tried to explain to him how hard it was to pawn guardsmen off (seriously, who wants to paint 200+ infantry? it makes sense to buy them ready painted, my guys WERE painted decent, and I only ever received offers for melta and plasma guns...), but he got it into his head that guardsmen, obviously suck, and nobody would ever need 200 or more infantrymen...............

The MOST infuriating thing, he is trying to pawn it off onto my other friends, cutting them a "deal" for $500.... I could go online, and for $500 find a much better army, and it will be brand new in box... Half the fun of collecting is assembling it yourself.

Does he owe you money? If not, ignore him. He's shown that he's got at most a passing interest with reality in regards to this deal. If trying to sell it for six months without success hasn't set off a lightbulb above his head about where he's going wrong, there's probably not much hope for him.

Portugal Jones wrote:Does he owe you money? If not, ignore him. He's shown that he's got at most a passing interest with reality in regards to this deal. If trying to sell it for six months without success hasn't set off a lightbulb above his head about where he's going wrong, there's probably not much hope for him.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't irrational in my assumption of the same in case I missed out on something... I feel vindicated, but sad nontheless

... is that 'custom case' just made out of the same stuff they make cheap signs out of? And he seriously values it at $50?

near-retail prices for primer + 1 color paint isn't going to get anyone interested. Your expectations of his success are reasonable.

Sometimes you just have to let a friend go it alone...especially if they are intent on not listening.

You could attempt to equate it to something else that people try to sell used. Cars perhaps? It would be great to buy a car, drive it around for a few years, and get only a thousand or two less than what you paid for it. Fact is, you'd be lucky to get half in a lot of cases.

Now if someone bought a car, took great care of it, made some much desired customizations to it, had some amazing body work done to it...well then, perhaps they can expect a lot more money. The same applies to an army. Take great care of it, do some kick ass conversions, and give it a great paintjob...then these types of prices become reasonable. In its current state? Heck no.

I looked through it, I agree with everyone who said to just ignore him and let them figure it out themselves.

He'd be lucky to get $250 for the whole thing, including the case.

Make sure your other friends know the army isn't worth this much. Don't go and say, 'Look, what he's selling isn't worth it'. Find a really, really sweet deal and send a mass e-mail going, 'Dude, this is nuts, whole army for tiny price' or something so they can see for themselves. Without being obvious that you're trying to stop your friend screwing someone you know.

Wel, You can buy two tau battleforces shipped to your door for $180 CAD off ebay. To drop a hint, I sent him the link...

I am actually very glad that I was not being irrational. I guess I will just leave him to it.

When he tried pawning it off on my friends I told them to pick up an army book first to see what they were paying for. they lost interest in about 10 minutes.

poda_t wrote:Wel, You can buy two tau battleforces shipped to your door for $180 CAD off ebay. To drop a hint, I sent him the link...

I am actually very glad that I was not being irrational. I guess I will just leave him to it.

When he tried pawning it off on my friends I told them to pick up an army book first to see what they were paying for. they lost interest in about 10 minutes.

I agree on all fronts then, slip away and !@#$ this guy.

This is a very old story. The seller values the army a great deal because of what he paid and because of all the time he put into it. I can't say I'd value my army any less. But the buyer won't pay retail for models. Why should they? Because they can get brand new models for the same price. It looks like his price is less than retail. And the models are painted. But usually buyers want to repaint anyway (to match their army). The exception: when the models have been painted to a truly high standard.

I agree that your friend should try. You never know - he might just find a buyer. I guess the way it usually works, though, is that n00bs never buy an army outright. They're still getting over sticker shock from their first few purchases. Usually the interested party is someone who already has an army and either wants to add to his exisiting army or start a 2nd army. And experienced buyers like that are usually smart enough to shop around.

My advice for your friend? If he wants to get the best prices, he will do well to sell models a unit at a time. Because the more money you charge, the more your buyer will want a big discount.

Good luck!
Solorg