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I need money, but I can't seem to sell the useless armies I don't use. BarterTown and the Dakka SwapShop are incredibly dead, and my thread on SwapShop plummeted to page 5 without any replies. My eBay auction hasn't had any bids (3 1/2 days in) although it has 3 people watching.

How do I sell my 40k stuff and actually get people to buy?

depends on what you are selling and how much.

you are more likely to sell broken down lots from a whole army than the whole army. This may mean all your stuff does not sell but you usually get more money for breaking things down than one lump bulk group.

Also depends on cost.

many places sell GW products brand new in the box for 20-30% off retail. If your price is not lower than that, no one is likely to buy them.

also the state of the models, are they new on sprue? are they new in box? assembled (well, okay, poorly)? primered (color), painted?

these all factor in.

usually NIB or NOS sells well, painted can sell well if you are a very good painter, or are selling large horde units that are painted standard schemes at least average/decent.

What are you selling, first? And what are you asking for it?

Ok, so you will at best get 70% MSRP. This is 10% off what most local shops give. I want to move my stuff quick, so I go 60% off MSRP and generally sell quickly.
You have to first accept that you are not going to get anywhere near full price for used minis. For many people, assembling the mini is part of the fun, painting another part.

Next, I have also had terrible luck on dakka, the place is saturated, as is the warseer one (and lots of them seem to be in europe) I put my stuff on reddit.com/r/miniswap and do ok, and when that fails I hit up ebay. I find that lots of ebay sales are really high, so something at 60% MSRP moves quick.

Prices for usable stuff on ebay in Germany are pretty high... most things go for 60-70% of the usual prices. I think that's very high for used goods...

Also, a rule of thumb is that assembled and painted minis, unless they are to an extremely high standard, will in fact lower the asking price.

Also, if you're having trouble selling your army, try Craigslist. Again, breaking it down is more likely to sell and get you more money, but you can try posting your whole lot on there.

I would break the army down into lots and post it on eBay. Someone may not be looking for a complete army but may need the bikers from your collection. If your a real risk taker make the eBay sale a true auction. Starting the bidding out at a dollar, everybody wants retail on eBay now

Quoted for reference his original thread:





Here's the issue. you're asking 60-70% retail for a tabletop standard painted army. You'll be lucky to get 40-50%. If you really are stuck on 60-70%, you're going to really have to keep posting it and hope that someone wants exactly what you are selling.

If you keep yourself in the range of realism, you should be fine. (If you're correct on the retail value, I would offer it/start e-bay at $250.) Also, you need to be more patient, you updated your post 11 times in 3 days. You can't expect to move your army in three days unless you want to take a big hit or it is a super in demand item. That's just unrealistic. Post it, wait a week. Lower price a little, wait a week. Etc, so on.

I'd agree with the above, buying from ebay/swapshop if something is assembled and unpainted, or NIB I'd pay upto about 70% ish, which is marginally less than buying it new from Darksphere of a similar discount retailer.

If something is painted, that amount drops alot. I'm likely not the target market for painted goods since I enjoy painting myself but I never go higher than 50% original price when buying painted from other people.

Bartertown.com seems to be a lively place to do biz.

 Jancoran wrote:
Bartertown.com seems to be a lively place to do biz.

He mentioned that in the OP.

It would help if i read things, I feel.

 pretre wrote:
Here's the issue. you're asking 60-70% retail for a tabletop standard painted army. You'll be lucky to get 40-50%. If you really are stuck on 60-70%, you're going to really have to keep posting it and hope that someone wants exactly what you are selling..

Pretty much this. You're selling it for pretty much what it could be bought for new from an online seller. That's only going to work if the buyer particularly wants a pre-assembled army painted the way yours is. In most cases, unless your painting is outstanding, people are just going to be buying to strip and repaint, so buying for the same price as new models and still having to do extra work to make them usable isn't an attractive option.

There's also the fact that WHFB is practically dead in many areas at the moment.

 insaniak wrote:

 pretre wrote:
Here's the issue. you're asking 60-70% retail for a tabletop standard painted army. You'll be lucky to get 40-50%. If you really are stuck on 60-70%, you're going to really have to keep posting it and hope that someone wants exactly what you are selling..

Pretty much this. You're selling it for pretty much what it could be bought for new from an online seller. That's only going to work if the buyer particularly wants a pre-assembled army painted the way yours is. In most cases, unless your painting is outstanding, people are just going to be buying to strip and repaint, so buying for the same price as new models and still having to do extra work to make them usable isn't an attractive option.

There's also the fact that WHFB is practically dead in many areas at the moment.

Well, you certainly found the reason why I'm selling.

Then you probably shouldn't be shocked that the price needs to drop.

 pretre wrote:
Then you probably shouldn't be shocked that the price needs to drop.

Or alternately to sell the stuff off in smaller lots, arranged so if they are all sold I get more money.

There is that. I usually dothat. The downside is getting stuck with some stuff. You still probably won't get over 50 pct though.

Not sure what you need money for, don't need to share.

but if its for other hobbies you might be able to trade your army for other things that are hobby related.

blaktoof wrote:
Not sure what you need money for, don't need to share.

but if its for other hobbies you might be able to trade your army for other things that are hobby related.

I prefer cash. That way I'm not stuck with an army I can't use and is even harder to liquidate.

So, I think you got the answers you need. Even in smaller lots the percentages still apply.

I've used eBay very successfully.

Brief lesson in warhammer marketing:

Supply & Demand:
Currently there is an excess of 40k stuff on the market. With 7th ed a lot of people no longer wish to play for reasons that are best discussed in a different thread. This has lead to market saturation. There are a lot of sellers with relatively few buyers. You need to lower your price to compete. Look at the swap shop how many [H]40k[W] $4/Paypal posts do you see compared to the [H] <anything> [W] 40k it's not a good time to be a seller.

Impulse buy:
40k stuff is not an impulse buy for most people. An impulse buy is something someone buys on an impulse, without thinking. The upper limit to an impulse buy is around $60 (see why video prices haven't gone anywhere in 10ish years) Any more than that and people begin to think & question the purchase. This means they are more hesitant and may not buy it.
To get an impulse buy over $60 you need to have an insane discount or a time limit. Thus adding a sense of urgency that the deal will expire or someone else will but it (see woot.com's success) Again drop your prices. You are the one desperate to move things, the buyer isn't.

Advertise!
A quick browse through your profile shows nothing on the swap shop... You're asking for help selling but you haven't even put anything up for sale. Even on the swap shop you can tag an ebay listing to get more views. Get out there, post on craigslist, bartertown, dakka, your local gaming group forums. I for one check craigslist every so often for my big 3 localish cities.

The 40k Culture:
40k players want what is good most of the time. Just look at all the FOTM armies. You see a marked trend when a new codex is announced people are looking to buy up the stuff hoping it'll be good. If it's not the market tanks afterwards. Eldar and grey knights will sell a lot better than tyranids & ultramarines because they're good. Also what units you have. I might have 20 Vespids at 75% off retail but people still don't want them because they're trash.

State of the army:
General rule is the less done the better, until it IS done. A NiB or NoS army will command 70-80% retail.
If they're assembled take off about 10% because maybe I wanted different poses or options plus the loss of bits.
If they're primed maybe another 10% depending if you primed them the color I want or not.
If they're painted you may be looking at anywhere from 40%MSRP if they suck & I need to srip them up to 300% MSRP if they're absolutely gorgeous, chances are they aren't. But not only do they have to be gorgeous to make profit but they have to be the color I want in addition. You may have a gorgeous imperial fists army but I don't want a yellow army so it's not worth as much.

Be realistic:
You will NEVER make back full retail unless you're a studio quality painter. Sorry, but it's the truth. If I want to pay anywhere near retail I'll buy new. Remember if you're 70% off MSRP and my online retailer is 80% off MSRP, I have to decide if paying an extra 10% is worth getting everything brand new with all the bits customizable however I want. Usually it is.

Ebay:
People won't bid until the final day. This is just the state of ebay most of the time. Everyone waits til the final few hours because nobody wants to be the first & set the tone. Also it doesn't matter if I bid 100 now or 100 the final hour. It gives me time to think over my decision & shop around. There is literally NO benefit to bidding early except maybe winning a tie bid, to me not worth the risk.

Parting out:
This may not make you any more money. You risk more money per piece but you also risk not selling some pieces & being left with odd models nobody wants.

Good luck man, but remember don't expect full retail in the current market. It's a buyers market for sure. If you want to move them fast, you need to be willing to drop the price. If you're hard on your pricce you may be waiting a while.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 insaniak wrote:


There's also the fact that WHFB is practically dead in many areas at the moment.

WHFB is actually on the rise globally with the end times. All through the Northeast US we've seen WHFB overtake 40k in several stores. Both Nagash & Glottkin books sold out, nagash within a few weeks & Glottkin was sold out before release.




************************************************MASSIVE EDIT***********************************************

Dude! Hold those elves! I just saw what you have for sale.

All rumours point to End Times book 3 being Khaine (Well most anyway)
if this is true and allows allied elves you will see a huge spike in demand like there was fdor undead during Book 1 & now Chaos during book 2.

 Shas'O Dorian wrote:
Both Nagash & Glottkin books sold out, nagash within a few weeks & Glottkin was sold out before release.

That doesn't really mean anything without knowing how many copies were made.

Nor does it mean anyone is actually playing the game.

Shas'O Dorian,
I have the Elves on eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111511634046
However they do not seem to be selling. If they do not sell I will wait for them to become FOTM.

That's still 60 pct retail...

 pretre wrote:
That's still 60 pct retail...

Yep.

I don't think you'll get that even if they are FOTM.

 insaniak wrote:

 Shas'O Dorian wrote:
Both Nagash & Glottkin books sold out, nagash within a few weeks & Glottkin was sold out before release.

That doesn't really mean anything without knowing how many copies were made.

Nor does it mean anyone is actually playing the game.

As anecdotal as it is, there's been a noticeable rise in WFB in my area (Seattle). While 40k is still plenty strong, I'd say the number of fantasy games going on in the store I play in has really spiked. Last weekend, of the 6 tables in the store, 5 were dominated by Fantasy for most of the day. Anecdotal, to be sure, and my store is kind of...weird in that it has I think 5 or 6 active SoB players.

25 minutes left. 0 bids...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Auction over, 0 bids :(