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I have a few armies that are taking up space and I've decided to tone down my collection a bit. I've never sold any 40k online before and wondered if I could get answers to a few questions...

1. The army (Space Wolves) is painted in my own colour scheme (dark grey as opposed to the wishy washy blue grey colour). I would confidently say I'm above average as a painter and modeller, by no means the best. Some of my models aren't finished, and I'm trying to decide whether it is worth my time to finish painting them.
Do people generally pay more for a fully painted army, or is that mainly if they have already discussed a commission type deal, and have chosen the colours?

2. If all models are new, and at least undercoated, some painted well, how much do people generally pay for them? Is there a standard % to drop from the original price?

3. At the moment I'm thinking ebay, but are there any other places that might be better for this kind of thing?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Few thoughts:

1) Whole armies tend to sell for less than they would if broken up into individual unit/squad sales.
If you're selling a whole army having it painted is likely a bonus for the sale since it provides and instant use force. It still might not drive the price up by that much.

2) Painted models tend to sell for less because people buy with the intent to paint strip. This is only not the case when the painting is of a significantly high standard.

3) Good clear photos of what you're selling helps A LOT. Especially if they are painted to a good standard - good photos of a decently painted model will sell better than blurry dark photos of something really well painted.

4) Bartertown is a commonly used trading site with a good reputation.
Ebay is safe but comes with more fees.

5) Consider local trading - you might be able to get a better price and it saves the problem of postage (which drives the price up and eats into what the model is worth) and reduces dodgy dealer problems (you're unlikely to get mugged for your army at the local game club).

Generally painted models are worth ~40% of the retail purchase price. As mentioned above, this is because the purchaser will be stripping the paint off and it is seen as an added hassle.

Assembled but unpainted minis can get 50-60%, depending on the quality of assembly.

If most of the army is painted then it may be beneficial to paint the remainder prior to sale - a complete and painted army to a normal tabletop standard can fetch around 100% of retail. Generally people only pay more than retail for professionally painted models.

Local trades are always the best. I have sold and traded many armies thanks to Craigslist.

Good luck with your sale!

As a buyer, this is what I look for when purchasing an army online (something I've done 3 times now).

1) Is it painted? In most cases, I actually prefer to buy unpainted armies. Everyone has an idea in their head of what colors the army should be, and rarely do two people agree on what they should be. Conversely, if it is painted, is it painted well?

2) Are there good, clear pictures? I'm not buying something if I don't know what I'm buying.

3) Is the army taken care of well? I put a lot of effort into my armies, and I know plenty of people who don't. I prefer to buy from someone that at least looks like they put effort into taking care of their army. Those people generally sell better products than Joe Schmo who throws everything in a box and it looks like crap.

4) Are they gouging me on shipping? Don't do this. It's obvious when you do, people will notice.

5) Did they take the time to clearly explain what is in the army? I don't buy from people who have descriptions like "Here's my army, just look at the pictures". If you can't take the time to list it out, I certainly won't buy it.

6) This one doesn't always apply, but does the seller communicate well? Are they literate, polite, and respond within a reasonable time frame?

As a seller, something I've done twice, just follow the above rules. I've sold once on Ebay and once on Bartertown, both times the sale went fine. I felt much more secure using Ebay than I did Bartertown, but with Bartertown I skipped about $80 worth of fees that Ebay charged me.

I can only speak for myself, but each time I've sold an army, I put a lot of effort into taking pictures, writing up descriptions, etc. and got a very good offer for my army each time.

MadmanMSU wrote:
As a buyer, this is what I look for when purchasing an army online (something I've done 3 times now).

QFT.

I have bought 4 armies over the years and these are exactly the things I look for.

The only thing I would add is that a lot of people put a premium on OOP models. If you have some, make them stand out when you list the army.

In regards to the issue about selling the whole thing or selling the models piecemeal, that can actually work both ways. I know people who have sold armies where there were no buyers for certain units. You don't want to be in a position where you have sold all the good stuff and are left with all the bad. It's hard to throw out models you have been playing with, and it might just make you want to start collecting an army again.

Let me through in my thoughts too. I tried to by some necrons off someone a few months back who said they wanted to dump the army to make room. They were only offering reasonable discounts if I bought the whole thing together, and frankly I didn't want the whole thing. I only wanted pieces of it. When I made offers on smaller groups of items it was clear the seller had an emotional attachment to the army. It was based, it was painted, some of the units had conversions on them. Frankly I didn't care. I wanted my own paint scheme. I only wanted to add the pieces to my army I needed, but they had shut down. No offer less than the asking price was reasonable.

If you're going to sell anything used, keep in mind the first rule of selling used: the item is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Forget what the sticker price is or was. Use that as a guideline, but keep in mind if you want to get rid of it, price it to sell.

As an exclusively ebay/friend-sale-buyer I can say that I'm not willing to pay more than 50-60% of the retail price on unpainted or boxed models. Maybe 65% but only if I'm planing on buying a lot of stuff from the same guy so I can cut down on shipping fees.

As for painted models, that depends on whether someone starts a new army or wants to expand an existing one. However, a good conversion with a decent paintjob will make you money. I've seen a beautiful conversion of a skull cannon, going away for 52€ or something, that's like 170% of the retail value (though to be fair, two bloodcrushers were towing the thing, so the raw model cost:sell value here probably is still just 1:1).

In any case, what people wrote:
* good pictures
* detailed descriptions
* sell seperately for best results. It's rare that someone wants to buy a whole army. Most will just want some of the units, so don't make them bid on stuff they don't need in the first place. They'll have more cash to spend on your other auction which they didn't exactly plan but you know, it's such a fine model and they were thinking about maybe getting it when the opportunity arises... you get my drift.

On the subject of out of production premiums remember all metal models are valuable! Some people hate working with finecast whilst others know that you can't paint strip it*.

I see most metal models going for near retail value when they are without paint; even those stripped of paint or painted go for a good value.




*far as I recall you can't or its more tricky than plastic or metals

 Overread wrote:
On the subject of out of production premiums remember all metal models are valuable! Some people hate working with finecast whilst others know that you can't paint strip it*.

I see most metal models going for near retail value when they are without paint; even those stripped of paint or painted go for a good value.




*far as I recall you can't or its more tricky than plastic or metals

There are a lot of OOP metal models - commonly the popular ones or special characters - that go for above retail value. Kyrinov costs more now than he did 6 months ago when he was still in the GW shop, and he's not even in the codex anymore. But he has the mace of Val (which you can take on priests now) and the model is fantastic.

 Gorgosaurusrex wrote:
If most of the army is painted then it may be beneficial to paint the remainder prior to sale - a complete and painted army to a normal tabletop standard can fetch around 100% of retail. Generally people only pay more than retail for professionally painted models.

I would put a caveat on that - painted armies are generally only worth a reasonable amount if they're all painted and the army composition is good (i.e. it's a reasonably effective army with minimal changes). Every change that needs to be made is a model that has to be painted to match your painting which is lots of hassle.

If it's not a well composed army then it's worth more if you strip the paint off it first and sell units separately.

Thanks for all the responses guys!! This is really helpful.

I'd just like to ask specifically about this...

My Space Wolves have an allied detachment of guard, which i heavily converted to represent that they're stationed out in the horrific cold most of the time. Picture below. As an example of conversions, would it be best to finish the conversions, and sell the army as a single 1500 point list, or would i just be better off keeping my little Russian themed guys and selling units? Some painting examples below too. (Sorry, the lighting in my house is crap so I had to use the flash to see detail!




Thanks for all your responses, this is really helpful!

 Overread wrote:
Few thoughts:

1) Whole armies tend to sell for less than they would if broken up into individual unit/squad sales.
If you're selling a whole army having it painted is likely a bonus for the sale since it provides and instant use force. It still might not drive the price up by that much.

2) Painted models tend to sell for less because people buy with the intent to paint strip. This is only not the case when the painting is of a significantly high standard.

3) Good clear photos of what you're selling helps A LOT. Especially if they are painted to a good standard - good photos of a decently painted model will sell better than blurry dark photos of something really well painted.

4) Bartertown is a commonly used trading site with a good reputation.
Ebay is safe but comes with more fees.

5) Consider local trading - you might be able to get a better price and it saves the problem of postage (which drives the price up and eats into what the model is worth) and reduces dodgy dealer problems (you're unlikely to get mugged for your army at the local game club).

This is all great! I completely agree.

Also, host your pics on Dakka using the Gallery button at the top. Imageshack is horrible.

On the subject of photos, resize the photos in your computer before uploading to the net - most websites resize automatically and most automatic resizing is very poor. Sharpen the photo with editing software before and after resizing (most simple editing software can do this and if you've not got any Photoshop elements is cheap and good whilst GIMP is totally free (legally) and quite powerful (can be harder to work out what to do but simple operations shouldn't be a problem).

600 to 1000 pixels on the longest side is more than enough for web display. 720 is often a good middle ground between size and clarity.


On the subject of conversions I'd be tempted to say that a whole converted army might sell better than individual converted models when the conversion amount is fairly substantial. Because at that point the buyer is getting a strong themed group instead of wanting one or two.
Things like Lords/captains/heros will sell decently well even if heavily converted because they are supposed to stand out on the table top

Additional thought with regard to selling armies on ebay or any store that has a preview photo.

Always make sure your first photo show cases a general view of the whole auction. Some people show only an individual model or group on the preview; which when glanced at can lead people to think that its just those for sale - an wide shot of everything entices people because they see lots on offer and pay more attention to it.

You can then have subsequent photos show detail shots of models.

On your Photos ..some of those are not bright enough for the backgrounds so the models get lost ..(the foot marines)
I suggest retaking the photos with a neutral (beige or white sheet) backdrop so that its the models not the lamp or table people see


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Other than that from what I saw its a decently painted army and if the entire thing is painted then its prolly worth 100%+ retail ..however if its only partilally done and your not shipping the exact paints with it then its going to be worth mabey 40% of retail..