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So now that im spending my own money i care about saving
So i decided to head to ebay. But i have never done this before. i have some questions
1: What is the process of ebay? What do i do if they dont send it?
2: How do i know if the seller is honest? or is this just a game of Russian roulette
3: How do i look for good deals?
4: What should i be expected to encounter when the models arrive? What tools will i need in general?
5: Does the "Too good to be true rule apply?"
6: are these stupid questions?
Please and thank you

1. You bid on something, if you win, you'll get notified to pay. When you do that, the seller will be notified to ship. In your account, there are places for you to see when they shipped it (they have to put in tracking info). If they flake out, you can contest it through eBay.

2. Check feedback ratings. All eBay users have a little number by their name, the higher the number, the better.

3. Just search for what you want to find and keep other resources on hand for price comparisons. *Protip check the seller's shipping cost and read the item descriptions fully* There are some that, while not actually lying, are a bit misleading in what you are getting.

4. Depends on the shipper, but generally the higher-rated shippers will ship things quite soundly.

5. This is kinda off of number 3, but yes and no. There are some things that might be misleading. A good example is when I saw a listing that showed a picture of a SoB squad, painted and a price of 49 cents. But on reading the posting in full, it turns out you are paying for 1 Sister, and the shipping cost was well over 20 dollars. So make sure you are careful about reading descriptions.

6. Nah. I was just the same.

1. Buyers are VERY well protected on eBay. You can (fairly easily / quickly) get a refund from eBay if you buy something that is never shipped. I say sign up and stick with Paypal though, instead of alternative payment methods - PayPal and eBay are owned by the same company, so you shouldn't run into any issues then.

2. Like Curran said, check feedback. If a seller has negative feedback for some reason, click on it, find the negative feedback and read what the buyer said. Sometimes sellers genuinely deserve negative feedback, but many times a buyer was simply impatient / overly demanding. Generally speaking though, any seller with 90% or more positive feedback (depending on their total number) is a very safe bet to buy from.

3. I have no real advice for this. It's mostly luck.

4. Absolutely depends on the seller. The last thing I bought on eBay consisted of 10 models, each one wrapped up in tissue paper and put in a box with lots of packing peanuts. Before that I received some metal models just thrown in a padded envelope. Considering how valuable they are and how too much damage can reflect negatively on the seller though, most sellers I've dealt with seem to be careful shipping items.

5. Difficult one to answer. You can absolutely come across legit deals with huge discounts, just read the description carefully and check the shipping costs.

6. No such thing as stupid questions when your money is involved!

I've been an ebay user for like 6 years now, and have had over 300 transactions (both as a buyer and seller) and I'd say I've had maybe 5 transaction that didn't go so well for one reason or another. My point is, it's not as unsafe or filled with scams as some people would lead you to believe, just use common sense and be sure you read everything.

I have done over 200 transactions (both buying and selling) on ebay and only once did I come a cropper when something I posted supposedly didn't arrive. I refunded the £10 and just got on with life.

The key thing is to read the listing carefully and ask questions if you're not sure.

hotsauceman1 wrote:So now that im spending my own money i care about saving
So i decided to head to ebay. But i have never done this before. i have some questions
1: What is the process of ebay? What do i do if they dont send it?
2: How do i know if the seller is honest? or is this just a game of Russian roulette
3: How do i look for good deals?
4: What should i be expected to encounter when the models arrive? What tools will i need in general?
5: Does the "Too good to be true rule apply?"
6: are these stupid questions?
Please and thank you

1. Pay through paypal that way if they don't send it you can file a dispute and get your money back. ALWAYS pay through paypal.

2. You really can't know if a seller is honest but you can tell if one is in trouble by looking at their feedback. Pay attention to it.

3. Look for items that are mislabeled those are always the best deals. Always compare prices of similiar items and never buy the first thing you see. Nothing on Ebay is unique have patience and you will see it again.

4. You will need the same tools that you would need for any other miniature.

5. Not really. There are some really good deals on Ebay. BUT you need to read the auction completely. This means you need to know how much the shipping cost will be. For instance I saw an Empire Elector Count on Griffon for $20. That is a good price but then I saw the guy was charging $20 for shipping. All of a sudden it wasn't a good deal anymore. Remember that sellers sometimes make mistakes with listings too so you need to read everything and if you still aren't sure make sure you ask the seller. Near the bottom of the page is the icon for asking the seller a question. Use it!

6. Number 4 wasn't the smartest question ever but your doing pretty good

Regarding Q4, I think he's asking what he will need to strip miniatures of an unwanted paint scheme (I've never done it so not sure myself)

#3. Look, look and look. Good deals will require some digging. Try different search terms, and always check the shipping.

Also with GW stuff, always check on the GW website as to how much the thing actually costs. On any search you might make there will be vendors selling kits for more than it costs to get them from GW mail order. If not on pure price, then certainly they sell it at or just under the normal list price and then bump it up with postage fees. I mean some people must fall for itor else they would lose money on their listing costs, but I don't understand it.

As a general tip, good pictures usually make a good item. This is not a maxim, as folks can put up whatever pictures they want. But when buying previously owned miniatures, it is best to get a very good look at what you are buying. If the pics of a miniature aren't good, I always assume it is usable, but will require a great deal of cleanup, and set my top price accordingly.

Mislabeled items are usually the best deals, as fewer interested people pull up the auction. So when looking for something on Ebay, perform lots of searches and search creatively. I almost never refine my searches by product category. A lot of times it is worth it to sift through 1,000 extra auctions to find the miniature misidentified as an antique.

As others have said, similar items go up on Ebay all of the time. So be patient. If you check regularly, you will find the deal you are looking for. The more effort you put in, generally the better deal you will be able to find. One day the stars will align, the perfect auction will come up, and nobody else will be bidding on it. But until you get to that point you will potentially face a great deal of disappointment. If you want something now you will generally have to pay more for it than if you take your time and monitor the auctions. It's like Holdem. You have to fold a lot to win big.

When bidding, it is a good idea to watch the auction right up until the end as you can sometimes get outbid at the last second. There are services you can use that will automatically bid in the last seconds of an auction, but nowadays you can sort of do it by hand with the 1-click bid system.

If you are the high bidder on an auction you can click on the "one click bid" button to increase your max bid with a mouse click. You can increase your max bid during the last few seconds, and sometimes you will see other people's bids for the same amount as your new max bid come in right after you upped your max bid.

Thanks. What about the "Buy it now" feature? What does that entail?

If you are worried about scammers then it is not the sellers you need to worry about.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

hotsauceman1 wrote:Thanks. What about the "Buy it now" feature? What does that entail?

What do you think?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

weeble1000 wrote:When bidding, it is a good idea to watch the auction right up until the end as you can sometimes get outbid at the last second.

This is good advice, as it will give you an idea of the actual price you should look to pay.

Flinty wrote:Also with GW stuff, always check on the GW website as to how much the thing actually costs. On any search you might make there will be vendors selling kits for more than it costs to get them from GW mail order. If not on pure price, then certainly they sell it at or just under the normal list price and then bump it up with postage fees. I mean some people must fall for itor else they would lose money on their listing costs, but I don't understand it.

Perhaps they don;t lose out on posting costs.. I know I get 50 free postings every month on Ebay... If I'm within the first 50 items I post, what do I care if it doesn't sell the first time.

Granted I don't try and jack up shipping charges... Although if its a painted or fragile fig, I do charge more on shipping... But it will show up unbroken and with insurance. (I don't charge for insurance if the item is over $15, I cover it usually.)

hotsauceman1 wrote:Thanks. What about the "Buy it now" feature? What does that entail?

Basically it is you saying "I want this item now, and I want nobody else to outbid me." Essentially it is a buyout, if you use that feature, you win the auction and buy the item.

Well i got everything set up and decided to try it out. TY for the help.

Also, make sure to complete the process of having your address confirmed with Paypal. The best buyer protection is when the item is shipped to your confirmed address.

The process differs by jurisdiction. I ended up needing a credit card number. I didn't have one at the time, so I ended up getting a prepaid travel mastercard from a local bank and that worked. I've heard other people are able to use convenience store prepaid credit cards as well. I also had to attach my bank account to my paypal account.

My other rule:

I only bid/buy from sellers with 99% positive feedback or higher. That may sound like a stringent standard, but I figure if a seller is messing up more than one in a hundred times, they're not professional enough. The only times I have ever had an issue on eBay were the times I bid on items from sellers at 97 and 98%. The one time something got lost in the mail from a 99.3% seller, I asked for a refund and got it immediately.

Well i won the auction.
And check out is just like any other store?
TY for all the help

You can either pay immediately if the seller has set it up properly or wait for an invoice from him/her with the total costs.

My rule of thumb when buying stuff, is looking at Wayland and deciding if the total price (including shipping) from ebay is still less than Waylands main price. (eg without shipping). That way I always know I'm getting some sort of deal.

hammeyaneggs wrote:

Flinty wrote:Also with GW stuff, always check on the GW website as to how much the thing actually costs. On any search you might make there will be vendors selling kits for more than it costs to get them from GW mail order. If not on pure price, then certainly they sell it at or just under the normal list price and then bump it up with postage fees. I mean some people must fall for itor else they would lose money on their listing costs, but I don't understand it.

Perhaps they don;t lose out on posting costs.. I know I get 50 free postings every month on Ebay... If I'm within the first 50 items I post, what do I care if it doesn't sell the first time.

Granted I don't try and jack up shipping charges... Although if its a painted or fragile fig, I do charge more on shipping... But it will show up unbroken and with insurance. (I don't charge for insurance if the item is over $15, I cover it usually.)

I have no problem with people charging more for models they have painted or even assembled. There is an inherent addition of value there. What gets me are the buy it now auctions for brand new, in box, never been sniffed kits that they try and grab an extra few pounds on from... shall we say, less informed buyers? I guess its the foundation of capitalism, screwing money out of people who should know better, but it just rubs my sense of fair play the wrong way.

Compel wrote:My rule of thumb when buying stuff, is looking at Wayland and deciding if the total price (including shipping) from ebay is still less than Waylands main price. (eg without shipping). That way I always know I'm getting some sort of deal.

I do the same thing with Dark Sphere, but I also add on the £5 it would cost for me to go into Central London and back to buy the mini. I suppose if you're using mail order then it's not the same though.

hotsauceman1 wrote:So now that im spending my own money i care about saving
So i decided to head to ebay. But i have never done this before. i have some questions
1: What is the process of ebay? What do i do if they dont send it?
You bid, if you end up as highest bidder, you will be obligated to pay. Which then the seller will ship your item after your payment.
Once you receive the item and everything is well, you can leave feed backs.
2: How do i know if the seller is honest? or is this just a game of Russian roulette
Usually the buyer is protected by ebay, but you do have to watch out for seller with low rating, or new.
Because I know many people like to have their friends up the bids and I think thats cheating -_-
Also pay attention to the photos if they match the description, especially "sold as seeing" and they have a blurry photo....
3: How do i look for good deals?
Location. Generally items that cannot be shipped out of seller's country stays very low.
Because Canada, Asia, Australia actually pay 50% extra for warhammer, international auctions ends up been bought out by those countries.
Of course, everyone wants cheap prices and great deals, so it comes down to luck as well.
4: What should i be expected to encounter when the models arrive? What tools will i need in general?
You might need to pay taxes, so spare $$$. a knife to open the box :'P
5: Does the "Too good to be true rule apply?"
Depends on your luck, sometimes you can be lucky, though majority of the time... it could be too good to be true.
6: are these stupid questions?
Everyone have the same questions when using ebay, yes everyone is stupid!
Please and thank you
Happy to help :3

Damn didnt know paypal take awhile to process money. oh well i have 7 days to pay for it.

another nifty feature of ebay is that you can see what other similar items have sold for in the past. this lets you know if it is possible to get it cheaper, what the item usually goes for and lets you adjust your bids accordingly.

Yeah, the "completed listings" feature is incredibly useful and shows what items go for.

I am in the process of collecting a lot of the first release Rogue Trader Imperial Army models, and let me tell you that a lot of the "buy it nows" for $10 are ridiculous and never end up being sold unless the model in question is really rare.

Kind Regards,
Vladsimpaler

Flinty wrote:

I have no problem with people charging more for models they have painted or even assembled. There is an inherent addition of value there. What gets me are the buy it now auctions for brand new, in box, never been sniffed kits that they try and grab an extra few pounds on from... shall we say, less informed buyers? I guess its the foundation of capitalism, screwing money out of people who should know better, but it just rubs my sense of fair play the wrong way.

I absolutley agree. While I believe in capitalism, I believe in ethical capitalism (if one ever exists). Just that unfortunatly, there may be no drawback for somenoe trying to scam someone out of a few extra dollars. Really just a good idea to be aware of all costs, hidden and stated when bidding on things.

hammeyaneggs wrote:

Flinty wrote:

I have no problem with people charging more for models they have painted or even assembled.

I have to disagree here, in my opinion unless it is a very particular thing or a pro paint job, there is an inherent loss of value over a assembled mini (might come with wrong loadout) or not-so-good paint jobs.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

hammeyaneggs wrote:

Flinty wrote:

I have no problem with people charging more for models they have painted or even assembled.

I have to disagree here, in my opinion unless it is a very particular thing or a pro paint job, there is an inherent loss of value over a assembled mini (might come with wrong loadout) or not-so-good paint jobs.

hammeyaneggs wrote:

Flinty wrote:

I have no problem with people charging more for models they have painted or even assembled. There is an inherent addition of value there. What gets me are the buy it now auctions for brand new, in box, never been sniffed kits that they try and grab an extra few pounds on from... shall we say, less informed buyers? I guess its the foundation of capitalism, screwing money out of people who should know better, but it just rubs my sense of fair play the wrong way.

I absolutley agree. While I believe in capitalism, I believe in ethical capitalism (if one ever exists). Just that unfortunatly, there may be no drawback for somenoe trying to scam someone out of a few extra dollars. Really just a good idea to be aware of all costs, hidden and stated when bidding on things.

You are both missing the point.

Just because an auction looks like a rip off to you, it might look like a bargain to someone else... ahem... in Australia,,,, It isn't a scam, it is simply targeting a market.

marielle wrote:

hammeyaneggs wrote:

Flinty wrote:

I have no problem with people charging more for models they have painted or even assembled. There is an inherent addition of value there. What gets me are the buy it now auctions for brand new, in box, never been sniffed kits that they try and grab an extra few pounds on from... shall we say, less informed buyers? I guess its the foundation of capitalism, screwing money out of people who should know better, but it just rubs my sense of fair play the wrong way.

I absolutley agree. While I believe in capitalism, I believe in ethical capitalism (if one ever exists). Just that unfortunatly, there may be no drawback for somenoe trying to scam someone out of a few extra dollars. Really just a good idea to be aware of all costs, hidden and stated when bidding on things.

You are both missing the point.

Just because an auction looks like a rip off to you, it might look like a bargain to someone else... ahem... in Australia,,,, It isn't a scam, it is simply targeting a market.

Yes as I mentioned earlier,

Canadians pay 25% MORE
Japanese pays 35% MORE
Aussies pays 50% MORE

In other words, what you buy for $100, Aussies need to pay $150

booooo

LunaHound wrote:

marielle wrote:

hammeyaneggs wrote:

Flinty wrote:

I have no problem with people charging more for models they have painted or even assembled. There is an inherent addition of value there. What gets me are the buy it now auctions for brand new, in box, never been sniffed kits that they try and grab an extra few pounds on from... shall we say, less informed buyers? I guess its the foundation of capitalism, screwing money out of people who should know better, but it just rubs my sense of fair play the wrong way.

I absolutley agree. While I believe in capitalism, I believe in ethical capitalism (if one ever exists). Just that unfortunatly, there may be no drawback for somenoe trying to scam someone out of a few extra dollars. Really just a good idea to be aware of all costs, hidden and stated when bidding on things.

You are both missing the point.

Just because an auction looks like a rip off to you, it might look like a bargain to someone else... ahem... in Australia,,,, It isn't a scam, it is simply targeting a market.

Yes as I mentioned earlier,

Canadians pay 25% MORE
Japanese pays 35% MORE
Aussies pays 50% MORE

In other words, what you buy for $100, Aussies need to pay $150

booooo

Why booooo?

As someone who sells historical minis and GW, I know that GW players are mainly cheapskates...

As for Aussies 'needing' to pay 150%, they dont. Hence comment about taregtting the market.

marielle wrote:As for Aussies 'needing' to pay 150%, they dont. Hence comment about taregtting the market.

Thats like saying Aussies cant do compulsive buys and need to wait atleast 2 weeks for their ebay stuff to arrive.