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It's been a while since I've been around, thanks to a change in my job, and now I'm finding myself with little time to breathe, much less paint and play. As such, I was thinking about stripping down my army collections for 40K and WHFB to the bare minimum and just selling whole armies as a lot. Last time I did something like this, I was only interested in trades. This time, however, I'm more interested in cash - I don't have the time to finish ONE army, and the prospect of making the other six or seven a little larger by more trades is horrifying to me.

Being a cash-for-army newbie, I'm curious as to how you all value armies. Do you have a dollar-per-point model? Is there a premium for OOP, painted, plastic, metal, etc? Or do you just think "this would be $X retail, so I'd pay $X with a Y% discount." Any input on general guidelines would be tremendously helpful; I figure the specifics will get hammered out at deal time, but I want to make sure I'm not scaring people away and/or cheating myself.

Since this didn't exactly fit the format of the Swap Shop, I'm hoping I put it in the right place.

Thanks in advance!

With the plethora of internet websites offering NIB items at 20% of GW's prices, you may want to start a little less if you were looking to get rid of NIB items you have. Many models that are assembled go around 1/2 retail. The paint job also makes a big difference: excellent paint jobs make the models more valuable. Kindergarten level paint jobs actually reduce the value of the model though to some traders/buyers, they'll be stripping the paint off regardless.

Lurk on the trade forums to get a feel for what's moving and what isn't. Usually very good deals (or when the seller is asking too little) tend to go very quickly. Overpriced items tend to stick around or get very little traffic (no pms after the initial post).

Selling whole armies is possible, but during this lovely economic climate, it appears to be much easier for smaller purchases as larger (such as $400 and up) costs tend to be daunting for the wallet. While getting a $1500 army for $300 may be an incredibly sweet deal, some folks just don't have $300 all at once to spend.

Be patient, do your research and have fun!

It all comes down to what someone is willing to pay. Ebay can be a decent option, but some work as well.

Points don't really come into it. What GW retail was originally matters a bit. Quality of paint job/unpainted matters quite a bit. How well the army does, and how much demand there is for the figures is the trump card. Supply and Demand, like anything else.

I can say from buying a lot from Ebay and craigslist that the most I will pay for used figs is 60% of retail (40% off). Now it can take me some time to get it, but i'm patient. I see a lot being sold for slightly more however. I would say the sweet spot is 30% off for a quick sale.

From a buyer's perspective: I tend to only consider buying if the models are about 10pts/1$ USD. For high point models - 1$/model (e.g. marines and necrons)... with metal models still getting 2-4$/model consideration due to material and the material's actual worth too. These are all for the standard heroic scale models... vehicles tend to vary greatly and their condition (i.e. painted, over glued, magnetized, broken bits, etc)...but the baseline is usually 8-12$ minimum for a vehicle with all it's parts is what I strive to buy...

These are just the prices that I look for when looking for deals... as a seller, I'm sure you'll be looking for more... and as such, you should definitely price accordingly.

(I give you this list just to give ya an idea of what people will likely snatch it up at, not as a suggestion to sell at these prices).

I've had a fair amount of my past armies sold by helpful shop owners, and also sold quite a few myself. Generally when i'm unloading armies I hold to a few key points.

Is the army built, primed, unpainted:
I tend to hope to get back about 50% of what I paid. Your items are 2nd hand, those purchasing will need to put some work in. I equate it to a used car. Once its off the lot, the value decreases.

Is the army GT standard with display board or case?
Typically I'd like 100% back, maybe some for my work. Am I going to get it? Not always, but if I'm patient I likely will. Yes the item is used, but if its filed, no mold lines, magnetized bases, and case. AND its a ready to go GT list with options.. the purchaser is getting their money's worth and more. They can immediately turn around and play GT level play.

There is of course a lot in between there. If you are just unloading for space and want it gone, you will get a lot of hits / offers at 40% of retail. When i've unloaded armies to just get rid of it, its usually to a friend that I don't mind doing a favor for.

I think, in general, if you're gonna sell a whole army even if it's painted well people aren't gonna want to pay a whole lot. Just seems like people turn to the interwebs to buy stuff when they want a nice discount. There are exceptions but unless you set yourself up as a pro painter doing commissions and stuff, you're probably not going to make a whole lot of cash.

I've been trying to sell my chaos marine army for a little while now, not in any big rush but I think they're all painted real good and just selling it at retail price is like $500, and no one seems to want to pay that much. So I decided to just hang onto it for now, maybe I'll like it when they update the codex again some day.

Maxstreel wrote:With the plethora of internet websites offering NIB items at 20% of GW's prices, you may want to start a little less if you were looking to get rid of NIB items you have. Many models that are assembled go around 1/2 retail. The paint job also makes a big difference: excellent paint jobs make the models more valuable. Kindergarten level paint jobs actually reduce the value of the model though to some traders/buyers, they'll be stripping the paint off regardless.

Lurk on the trade forums to get a feel for what's moving and what isn't. Usually very good deals (or when the seller is asking too little) tend to go very quickly. Overpriced items tend to stick around or get very little traffic (no pms after the initial post).

Selling whole armies is possible, but during this lovely economic climate, it appears to be much easier for smaller purchases as larger (such as $400 and up) costs tend to be daunting for the wallet. While getting a $1500 army for $300 may be an incredibly sweet deal, some folks just don't have $300 all at once to spend.

Be patient, do your research and have fun!

You pretty much nailed it right there. I just sold a $1500 dollar bare metal SOB army for $400, I wanted $500, so 1/3rd retail...but I knew I would never get it. It just took alot of paitence, alot of talking with people in PM's, and alot of haggling. If you want to be successful selling stuff online, you have to know how to talk with people. There really is no other way around it.

Also remember, that buying and selling GW mini's will not make you rich. There is a hell of alot of work that goes into it. One does it out of love for the figgies ( any models not just GW ones), or to fund new projects. If you are going with the latter then excellent painting will make a sale that much easier.

The guy who bought it is getting a AWSOME deal. I just hope that he enjoys purging heritic's as much as I did. =o]

2nd pretty much all of what Maxstreel wrote as well.

Sometimes, parting things out can help you make a lot more in total if only 'cause buying a large lot is more difficult than many people buying smaller lots.

Also: selling right before a new army book/codex hits stands is a good way to shift stuff quickly as the "novelty" factor tends to draw in lots of interest.

For me personally:

I NEVER pay more than 33% of retail price for stuff that I get online.

Thanks for the tips here, everyone.

I'm currently trying to sell my Marines, and I facepalmed when I realized I had made a cardinal mistake of selling - trying to get everything to go in one lot.

as a new member of the hobby, and a potential purchaser of second hand armies I will look for:

a discount off of retail (obviously otherwise there is no point in purchasing the item used... i might as well buy the box and build what I want)

customization(if i can swap parts/have extra bitz or if things are magnetized/pinned that is generally better than something that is cemented and locked in place)

Paint (i generally prefer unpainted/unfinished as to me that is 1/2 of the hobby and I would like the have the experience of creating something that is inherently mine... however if the paint job is phenominal I would consider leaving it as is/paying slightly more for it... otherwise painted and fully assembled would need to be discounted for me to purchase)


ill add more if anything comes to mind...

I've found success putting up individual units from an entire army up on eBay as individual auctions. That way, everyone who only wants a landspeeder will bid on your landspeeder auction. I also throw in this trick:

"For any high bidder that wins at least 4 of my auctions, shipping will be free"

This ends up getting overinflated bids on some auctions and competition between bidders because, sometimes, buying a dreadnought you don't really need in order to get free shipping, is a better deal for the buyer.

Spending some time tracking completed auction on ebay will give you an idea where the market is, but most of the advice here is pretty solid.

Unless the army is solidly painted, meaning tied together, based, highlighted, etc... I wouldn't bother selling anythign as an army. You'll only lose dollars, as the people buying semi-painted armies on ebay are looking for deals.

Instead, clump stuff together (all the tanks, all the rhinos, all the assault troops).

The larger a lot is, the more you're hoping to find one guy that wants everything.

First rule of second hand selling: My stuff is worth 110% of retail value.

Second Rule of second hand selling: You should pay me to take your stuff.