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At my flgs, there is a bin of used hobby items, where hobbyists sell off everything from cards to books, magazines to models. It's an awesome deal for the buyer; the seller names their price, and the flgs takes a cut when sold. It's the first place I always go when I visit the store, and I have gotten some great deals there over the years. I do admit that I feel like a vulture picking at the bones of someone's once-cherished army, but I figure in the end, the seller wants to sell, and the buyer wants to buy.

What I wonder is:

1) How can this be good for the store? If I am buying a Land Raider for 30 bucks from the used bin, I am not buying a Land Raider new for $75 or whatever they cost these days. I know alot of the money that goes to the seller is probably turned right around and spent at the store, but doesn't this create a lost opportunity for the store to get new items moved from the shelves?

2) How can this be good for the seller? Basically, why wouldn't you just post your stuff on eBay, Craigslist, or an internet forum like this one and get 100% of the sale price for your items?

1. The store gets a cut of the sale they would not have received otherwise.

2. It's a hell of a lot simpler than listing an item on ebay where you will never get "full retail" anyways unless your item is on sprues or painted to Golden Daemon standards.

Probably a lot depends on the cut the store takes. As an alternate to e-bay, a reasonable cut is probably similar to shipping costs, without the hassle of boxing stuff up etc. Less worries about things getting lost in the mail, fraud, etc.

As for the lost sale of the NIB product, that’s probably a matter of churn. A store can make money turning over a lot of small things quicker, rather then a few things slower. If they are working on a commission system, they also don’t need to pay to stock the used bin. Stores generally don’t want to have a lot of money tied up in stuff that’s just warming the shelves.

And there is also a decent chance that the LR in the bin was once new on the shelf. So they get money for selling it multiple times.

Having a bin also gets people in the store. Someone might come into the bin, poke around, and then buy something off the shelf, either to go with something they pick up, or because they were inspired while browsing.

(disclaimer, I don’t run a store, so this is just my thoughts. YMMV)

1) It draws people to the store. just like table dont really make money but get people to the store


2) for some people its a massive hassle to buy and sale directly.
especially if they dont know how to haggle and stuff. and or they dont know how to use cragbay

1) They get a cut of the sale they may not have otherwise made.

It is incorrect to assume someone buying a Used product would be in the position to purchase that product New. This is something I have learned greatly by looking at the Video Game industry, where they do assume every Used sale represents a lost New sale and gripe loudly about how it is killing the business. The problem with this mindset is simple - it completely ignores what drives people to purchase things in the first place! It constantly forget to include factors such as the buyers budget, as many use trade-ins or can only ever afford the discounted price. It over-looks 'spontaneous buyers,' those that are often driven by sales or other cost discounting methods then an actual desire for the product. Other reasons also exist, but they are never accounted for because they all indicate there would be no-sale if it wasn't for these methods of purchase.

Game Workshop stores, that allow the trading of 'Used Models,' have just found a way to profit of a sale they could not have otherwise made.

2) Marketing directly to the intended buyer.

The people who walk into a Game Workshop store are the 'target demographic,' die hard fans that are looking to make additional purchases. Having your product in the physical proximity of the targeted demographic greatly increases the chance of purchase. There is also the physical aspect of it, even in this modern digital world many people still like to go into a store just to see what is available. These people are more likely to purchase the item they have right in front of them, instead of going on-line later to see if they can find it at a better cost. Many stores, not so much Game Stores though, are actually designed to keep the buyer in the store as long as possible as this has been shown to increase the possibility of a sale in and of itself.

In short, people purchase things more often when they are immediately receiving the goods.

I would love something like that at my FLGS. Alas, no such luck.

As to the OP's question:
It's good for the store, because it helps generate foot traffic. The store is providing a service for return customers. Return customers are good for business.
It's good for the person selling their items because they don't have to go through the hassle of listing the item for sale on the internet, shipping it, and possibly dealing with returns/lost/stolen merchandise. Not to mention there are some folks who don't have debit/credit cards, or are afraid of The Internets and identity theft. Or maybe their spouse said that they had to get that crap out of the house, now.

Incidentally, my flgs is not a GW store, but an independent hobby store.

Closest GW store to me is an hour and a half away. It's the only GW store I've been too. it was a in a small strip mall rental about half the size of a typical Gamestop, no discount, the store had less GW product than my flgs, and I was really given no inspiration whatsoever to make a return visit. I'm actually surprised to hear that some GW stores do business in used items.

I wish my gaming store had something like that...

War Kitten wrote:
I wish my gaming store had something like that...

Me too, bro. Me too.

Plus it gets you in the store. And hopefully helps build community around the store and area.

Used model sales don't benefit GW; they have already been purchased and taken off GW's hands, and now that GW no longer owns the model the FLGS (or local GW) can claim 100% of the profit of the sales from used models.

It's a lot easier to sell to someone in person who will either bargain or give you a price upfront for your models that to deal with a middleman online who will end up taking a cut of the profits.

As a store owner that system sounds pretty bad.
I prefer to buy whatever is on offer outright.
Then I'll split armies, eBay valuable bits, bag up individual units and put on the shop floor, upgrade the paint, fix breakages, strip paint or whatever I feel necessary to achieve best prices.

I wish my shop had something akin to that, it makes plot of sense when you think about it

That's an interesting spin on things. Most independent gaming stores I've been to will buy your used minis from you and then sell them for a higher price. If I only have $50 and am in the market for a Land Raider ($89 new here in Canada) then that used LR sitting in their display shelf could be the difference between me spending $50 there and me spending nothing.

There's a slight twist here in regards to my FLGS Used Bin in the OP. The bin doesn't work like I thought it did. I asked a store worker last night, and how it work is, the seller names their price, and when the item is sold, the store doesn't take a cut, but rather loads the money onto a gift card for store credit. So I guess 100% of the money on the sale is going back into the store. Not as good for sellers who want cash, obviously. Still awesome for buyers.

 jasper76 wrote:
There's a slight twist here in regards to my FLGS Used Bin in the OP. The bin doesn't work like I thought it did. I asked a store worker last night, and how it work is, the seller names their price, and when the item is sold, the store doesn't take a cut, but rather loads the money onto a gift card for store credit. So I guess 100% of the money on the sale is going back into the store. Not as good for sellers who want cash, obviously. Still awesome for buyers.

That's fantastic for the shop, and assuming the seller wanted something from the shop anyway, he's getting 100% of his sale's worth. I feel like it's a win all around. If you are not into anything from the shop, go ebay.