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So I am trimming the fat from collection. (I have a small Deathwatch Force, a small Necron Force, and Tyranids I plan to move among other things 40K.) What with obligations and regular life the amount of armies to paint, codex to learn, etc, etc, we all know can consume a lot of time, energy and money. As you can see I have not been on Dakka here for a huge amount of time. I wanted to get peoples impressions on selling off an army.

I have sold toys and games and individual game pieces and other what-nots via ebay from time to time in the past without issue. But this seems like it could be different based on the nature of the beast in terms of the style of games

Whats good etiquette when selling? Is there a good rule of thumb in terms of shipping models? Is it better to sell a full army or individual units/models? Ebay or Craigslist, what about the FLGS? How about bitz, what to do with all the bitz? And lastly what about price - painted or unpainted - does wargear matter- what impacts what we ask for in return?

I figure with all of our combined experience we could really help people like myself out in making this kind of hand-off go smooth and with respect.

Because nobody wants to buy an army and receive it as a pile of broken half painted bits in a box.



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What things as a buyer would you want to see from the seller? What perks or add-ons would help you to close the deal?

I prefer craigslist for mass models. Shipping is a nightmare with large items. My rule is I won't ship something I cannot accept just going to the black hole. Insurance and tracking of large expensive items becomes so crazy and people get really picky about large purchases.

If you are not a pro at shipping, Craigslist can allow you to meet up, allow them to inspect it and hand over 'as is' after they inspect and no crazy shipping. But Craigslist can be tricky based upon your area. I seem to have a decent local scene so it has been easier than eBaying.

You also may find people interested in doing the expensive legwork of bitting out unpainted, broken or individual bitz. More power to them if they want to try to make a profit reselling my stuff. Time is money, and once I get 'what I an happy with' for the models, if they sell for more, I am not worried.

I trade and sell a lot on bartertown. Never used the swap shop here, but i've heard good things about it.

I personally don't like ebay for selling armies, piecemeal stuff maybe - personal preference, YMMV.


When i ship models, i bubble wrap every individual model. Yes this is expensive, but its part of the shipping cost, it also makes for a happy customer. Even if breakage happens in transit, wrapping *every* model in bubble shows the you did your absolute best to protect the package. It shows good faith effort. Toilet paper or paper twoel is not enough, you need something with some level of shock absorbancy (if you dont go bubble wrap, i recommend several layers of newspaper).

Do not sell at the FLGS - this is probably going to piss the owner off. However you can try this tact which has worked for me: Mr. Shop owner, Bob here wants to buy my army. He and i think 300.00 is a fair price. Bob will buy a 300.00 gift certificate from you, give it to me, and i will hand Bob my order. I will then use my certificate in your store.

Has worked in the past for me. Worst they can say is no.

I always include bits with my lots, less any really cool conversion pieces i want to use.

Wargear doesn't impact price, but you want to be specific and upfront and very detailed, particularly in a game like 40k or fantasy where it kind of matters. Note that ulness your paint job is good, people aren't going to pay a premium for it. And by good, i mean fething excellent.

If assembled and primed, you're not going to get MSRP. You're not going to get 20% off MSRP because people can get new models in that price range. You're probably not even going to get 30% off MSRP, more than likely, because people are going to say "Hmm... well for a couple bucks more i can just get all new stuff".

Most of the time i find people bite between 40-50% MSRP unless the models are really , really done well, or someone really wants them. Of course, if you're buying used models, or hard-shape models, and refurb them, you can make profit here (at least enough to buy armies).


Best advice:

1) Be very detailed in your description. Don't put a buyer in a position where they can slam you, or worse, strong arm you into "making things right (i.e. - sweetening the deal for them)" - describe all wargear, status of assembly, if any bits are missing / broken, converted, status of paint or primer.

2) Be open to haggling. People rarely hit you with their best offer first. They want to see if they can get a deal. However understand if someone uses "this is the best i can do", or "final offer", most of the time these are watch phrases that the person is getting tired of haggling. I haggle for 2-3 rounds tops. I don't want to wear my customers / trade partners down. I want a deal we're both happy with.

3) Be realistic. Your minis cost you money, however the second hand market is prefaced on the fact that people are looking to save money. LE / OP minis are sometimes an exception to this, but don't get crazy.

4) Know the market, read trends. Hot armies command more. Armies that aren't as hot command less, or sit for longer. With "cooler" trending armies, bide your time - wait for the the enthusiastic buyer who just "NEEDZ IT NAOW". This is your guy. THis is who you want to sell it to. For hotter armies (say, nids... when the new codex drops in a few months... hint hint!! might want to sit on that one until the new dex drops), you can be a little pickier and try to get a better profit for yourself (though again see point 3).

5) Aim to have the most important goal of any sale or trade to be that everyone is getting what they want, and leaves the deal very happy. If not, don't make the deal. This goes hand and hand with #1. Super important.



Good luck.

A few things I've noticed from buying stuff on Ebay:

1) Armies tend to sell for less than you'd get if you broke things down into individual models. People in this market are looking to save so you tend to have already removed a fair few prepared to pay higher prices; armies also represent a big cost so you've far fewer able and willing to pay for it to bid against each other (ergo it can go for lower).
So if you can list things individually - it will generally take you longer to sell (unless you put a high reserve on the whole army), but you should be able to command a higher price for what you do sell.

2) Pack well - as said above you really want to make sure that the product makes it to its destination whole and unharmed.

3) Communication - clear and regular communication is key. As a buyer nothing is worse than being left in the dark about details or the progress of the order. If you are clear and regular with updates then if you do happen to have a problem most buyers will be far more accepting.

4) Photos - make sure they are clear, bright and well taken. Blurry photos taken a night in your bedroom/hobbyroom will only hamper your changes of a good sale - this is especially true of painted and converted models where the quality is partly suspect. Get those clear shots in good light so that you can really show what you are selling. If you have any really outstanding conversions or paint jobs make sure they get several photos to really show them off - whilst modified and painted models will tend to retail for less for an average job, a quality bit of work can command a good if even a higher than normal price.

5) Be pro-active with communication and prompt with packing and posting. Don't leave the buyers hanging for days at a time without a word - even if its just to say that you'll be posting it in a few days when you get to the post office (followed up of course, by a message on the day you post it after you've sent the packages off in the post).
People are always cautious about buying at distance (even with places like Ebay now honouring all purchases) so keeping things prompt and having those communication channels working really makes the buyer much more at ease with the process.


Ebay - Craigeslist - local selling - Barter Town are all good methods to use. Haight's suggestion is also one to consider if you're trading locally at or partly through the local store (though only if the money you want to gain is to be put back into the hobby; if not then its clearly not worth it). Also remember whilst

As someone who is using ebay to buy an army at the moment, here is some things that I've been looking for.

1) Offer international shipping. If you're dubious, only offer the highest level of registered/tracked post available, but it will open you up to many more markets.
1a) As part of shipping, give an estimate of the dimensions/weight of the overall parcel.
1b) Every barrier you raise means less buyers. If you say 'international shipping welcome, please contact me for details', you'll get less interest than if you say 'international shipping to Austalia estimated $30.'
1c) In particular, customers in different international markets (ie, Australia) are likely to have different perceptions of value than your country. 20% of retail might be too little to sell to US customers, but is effectively 60% off retail to Australian customers and we'll bid what appears to be crazy amounts for it.

2) You'll make more money if you split and sell everything, but with any army there will be bits which are worth far more than others. If you split, you won't sell anything.Currently in-production plastics infantry will be the lowest sellers.

3) If you have a bunch of stuff, it can be a good idea split it in to smaller 'bundles'. Like, 3 infantry squads + character + vehicle, 500-750 pts each. The idea being that someone will see the good deal of getting a lot of stuff for the money, and not think so much about the actual contents of the bundle.
This also actually helps drive up the overall price if it is nicely painted. Someone wants to get ALL of your stuff, so bids aggressively on each of 4-5 lots.

4) Include whatever leftover bits that you have, clip them all off sprue and put in a ziplock bag.

5) If you are selling it being painted as a positive point (not a, 'you'll need to strip this' point), take very good photos of a few models. It doesn't need to be of everything, just enough to give the buyer the correct impression.

6) Work out your lowest you'd be willing to part with it for, and start the listing at that price. Don't start below that and hope it goes up to what you want. There are fewer people bidding on complete armies, so it will be rare to have significant bidding wars and often it will sell to the first bidder.
Especially if it is unique, don't be afraid to re-list for the same price for weeks on end. Some armies will sell faster than others because of their relative power levels, but you will run in to people just wanting to buy a particular army.

7) Be realistic about packaging and handling prices - bubble wrap, packing boxes etc can cost a lot.
I've found a good way to ship is with foam - go to a local foam supplier and get some cheap upholstery foam. Or, if you have pick+pluck foam trays, pad the models with squares removed from that.

8) It needs to be damn well painted to get more than retail price.

Piece meal = more $$$
Bubble wrap all models and fill voids with peanuts.

Sell the army in batches, roughly corresponding with how they retail.

Make it clear you offer combined shipping. People will therefore bid on multiple items.

Set a low starting price

Only offer shipping with delivery confirmation.

Most important: post lots of photos (if the painting is good).

Don't use eBay's photohosting, use photobucket.

Tip on how to lower packaging costs - every time you get a mail order save the packaging material (large box somewhere out of the way but not so out of the way you can't get to it when needed).

I was recently able to package up a whole load of models simply by re-using packaging material that I'd gathered up from a few years of orders. So long as you've the space to store it then keep it.

If there are any local conventions/shows with bring & buy or fleamarkets, it might be worth selling armies there as people can see it in person, hand over cash and take it home, so there's no shipping. There's usually a commission of about 10% which is on par with ebay anyway, and normally goes to a localish charity.