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I have been trying to get commission paint jobs for a while and have not really gotten anywhere. I have decided to use ebay instead and would like your advice. What are things that sell well? A ultramarine's space marine tactical squad or something popular? I just listed a ork boy squad that was pretty well painted (a little bit above table top quality I would say) and it went for retail price exactly. Any other advice would also be appreciated. Thanks! If you guys want I can post some pictures of the quality of my work for pricing.

Whatever is popular the time I'd think.
So like Drop Pods ect. ect.
Whatever is needed for big formations.
UM would be good for color scheme since they are popular so I'd just go with first founding chapters.
White Scar bikes for instance.

hmmmmmm ok, thanks for the reply I will keep that in mind. Any other tips?

What is worth money on ebay? NIB models. Unless you're winning national-level painting contests you're reducing the value of your models the moment you take them out of the box.

Now, this is fine if you're just trying to paint lots of models for practice and get someone else to help offset the cost of it. Paint some popular units, and accept that you're probably going to lose money and if you do make a profit it's going to be very little as an hourly rate. But if you're trying to do this as a way to make money it's a really bad business plan.

Old Metal Models, even painted, Sell for Bank IME

I know for a fact that's not true I have seen a ton of average paint jobs sell for above nib value on eBay. Not to be rude, but I was looking for help on how to do this not to have someone to tell me I can't.







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 Peregrine wrote:
What is worth money on ebay? NIB models. Unless you're winning national-level painting contests you're reducing the value of your models the moment you take them out of the box.

Now, this is fine if you're just trying to paint lots of models for practice and get someone else to help offset the cost of it. Paint some popular units, and accept that you're probably going to lose money and if you do make a profit it's going to be very little as an hourly rate. But if you're trying to do this as a way to make money it's a really bad business plan.

What would you recommend then? Because it was hard for me to find commissions before and I have seen some people sell things like 40$ above retail value with 'ok' painting.

 deathwing fanboy wrote:
I know for a fact that's not true I have seen a ton of average paint jobs sell for above nib value on eBay. Not to be rude, but I was looking for help on how to do this not to have someone to tell me I can't.

It doesn't matter if some sell for more than NIB because that's not considering the question of how many fail to sell for NIB. Even your own experience is that your models sold for retail price, which means you made no money on the deal (and you probably lost money on shipping and ebay fees). A few dollars less and you would have lost money on it. A few dollars more and you would have made a little bit of profit, but at a ridiculously low hourly rate for your work. So your best-case scenario is that you make a tiny amount of money, and your more likely scenario is that you struggle just to break even.

Sorry if that's not the advice you want to hear, but it's the advice you need. If you try selling painted models on ebay for profit you're just throwing away your money.


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 deathwing fanboy wrote:
What would you recommend then? Because it was hard for me to find commissions before and I have seen some people sell things like 40$ above retail value with 'ok' painting.

Practice until you can sell commission work. There is no easy way to turn 40k into profit.

Well my issue is not the practice, but I think its the marketing because I have gotten like 5 (I think?) offers within like 3 months but they all never follow through. Thanks for the advice!

Look at it from a customer perspective, you have to both want the model, and the specific scheme used by the painter. What you're more likely to sell is the service if you paint to order and name the unit.

Show an example, but write the listing with a set price, a turnaround time, and make it very clear you'll paint to the ordered scheme.

Some things to paint:
White Scar Librarian Conclave with Force Staffs on bikes and one with a Bionic Eye. Give each one some personality too. That's going to be a really popular. I for one know that I won't even attempt painting it myself. I'm sure that there are some others who want to play that way who can't do a good white either.

Necron Destroyer Cult or Canoptek Harvest in Sautek or Mephrit Dynasty colors. Sautek is simply THE color scheme for Necrons and both the Destroyer Cult and Canoptek Harvest are popular builds.

Saim Hann Eldar Jetbikes and Vypers. That one box from GW all painted up pretty should go pretty well. Biel Tan is also pretty popular. But in fact, all the Eldar Aspects are in a good 'this is how you paint them' thing so doing up a squad and an Exarch to your best abilities should sell decently. Warp Spiders, Dire Avengers, I want to say Striking Scorpions too because I like them but not sure if others do too.

Other options are popular Special Characters. Abbadon, Typhus, Huron Blackheart, Calgar, Pedro Kantor, Khan, Belial, Ravenwing guy. And the pinnacle of painting (if you're good enough) is the Primarchs. These characters are all centerpieces and I've spent money to have others do them for me when I wasn't confident in my own abilities. Easy money and again, the colors aren't going to change from the codex pictures.

Thanks you so much guys for the input I really appreciate it.

 deathwing fanboy wrote:
Thanks you so much guys for the input I really appreciate it.

Another thing is, Try looking into Painting companies. There are quite a few where they do all the Billing, Quoting and so forth while you do the painting.

If you do Ebay still tryfirst only characters or Models with Set Schemes, like Librarions, Chaplains or Named characters.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Old Metal Models, even painted, Sell for Bank IME

Because you can dip them in acetone and they're as good as new!

I made a few extra quid selling models on ebay two years ago. After 3 months trying to sell stuff I'd painted (including full armies) I realized it wasn't worth the time. Instead I looked for badly painted/listed items, cheap job lots, put low speculative bids on dozens of auctions simultaneously, then cleaned up and resold. I honestly made x5 the amount that way. If you want to commission paint, eBay is not the best way to start if 40k is what you want to paint. If you don't mind what you paint, scale models of ww2 vehicles are a brilliant way to get started using eBay (another way to make a few quid), as the paint scheme is fixed, so you will sell based purely on your painting and modeling skills (plus £10 kits selling for £300+ is a phenomenal margin), and demand is always there. If 40k is what you really want to paint, and you really want to use eBay, get new kits the morning they are released, work on them all weekend, and list Sunday night when people are chilling before work. Make sure that your pics look professional, and state in your description that you are a commission painter and will paint to specific schemes, and give your details. Set up a Flickr or similar account with as many good pics as you can and put the link on every listing. Get some cheap business cards made at vista with all your details and put one in every sale. And post regular pictures here so that potential customers can watch it grow and get confidence in you. Hope all that helps. Doing all that got me my deposit for our flat (although I didn't post on dakka back then)

As others have said, trying to pre-paint and sell on eBay is a crap-shoot at best. Keep an eye on auctions for awhile and see how they are going in general. Even special characters sometimes sit for a very long time, if they ever sell.

The people who have advised you not to do it are not trying to be rude, they are trying to save you time and money. What you do is up to you, but if you ask for advice you're going to get both sets. There have been other posts about starting up in commission painting, I'd search for those threads and read through them.

I don't play and only paint for fun but as my collection grew and the display case filled, I started to sell stuff to make room and cash for new stuff. I keep track of the cost of everything I buy and started by pricing my stuff at the price that I paid + the cost of shipping and fees. As my painting got better, what I charged went up to the point where I am making 2-3 times what I paid for an item. This sounds good but I put a lot of hours into each and you will need to decide the value of your time.

Although I still paint for fun, my aim is now to sell everything that I paint. I don't consider myself a true commission painter as I am painting items of my own choosing, color, and pace. I paint on the speculation that it will sell. There is no pressure to get it done by a certain time or to a specific degree of quality. If you are going to step into the ring of painting for money, you may want to start with this approach first.

Ebay is a good tool to sell your stuff but it come with a price. Ebay will take a percentage of appx 10% of your final price and shipping. Paypal will take another bite of 3%. Because the items are fragile, they must be be packed well and therefore require a larger box for extra packing material. An average item like a Land Raider will cost about $13 to ship anywhere in the US. Lets say the cost of a NIB Land Raider is $55. If you plug in the numbers on a tool like the Fee Calculator, you would need to sell your final product for $66 just to break even. You can see now much similar items sold for on ebay by clicking the "Sold Items" box. Does your paint job compare with others that sold for $65 ? $100? etc. Craigslist is another option but you won't reach as many people and has it's own hassles like no show buyers, etc.

In my opinion and experience, larger items sell better. Your ten ork squad looks great but the buyers may realize that they need more than 10 and don't really want to have different mobs of troops all painted to different standards. A piece like an Orc battlewagon would be better as the buyer can build around it etc. Squads of troops also take longer to paint and you can't always use the speed advantage of an airbrush for small details.

One thing that is key, is to match an established scheme - (ultramarines, hive fleet kraken, etc.) so people don't have to worry as much about models matching.

The new tau paint scheme (the old white one) with a a bit of weathering is really popular due to the new tau dex that just dropped.

I would suggest a few things;
* put a reserve or starting bid for your minimum.
* lots of pictures - lots. Good lighting, different angles, etc.
* personality and customization - as mentioned already.
* Bigger models - land raiders, tau ghost keel, tau stormsurge, flyers, etc.

Also,an offer a discount on future commissions - put in the text you are a studio, and someone likes the work, and buys a unit, they can get a discount on another job painted the same way.
(10%, free upgrade on a hq, etc.).

Best of luck!

Thanks so much for the advice. I have tried something a little bit different by doing this http://www.ebay.com/itm/231737638918?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2648
Do you think this would work?

No. I don't think that would work. You have stock images first and the images of what you've done is poorly lit. We need to see YOUR work first and foremost. Not inspiration for a scheme. Have more emphasis on what you do with stock images LAST. You stuff should be in a light box like the professionals will do. If you're trying to do it for money, gotta be professional.

Every model I've sold through ebay has sold for at least double the rrp.
Have a look through my gallery to see the standard that I needed to do that:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-62749-36023_Commissions.html

However, the time needed to get those models to that level was not paid for at a very good rate (below minimum wage).

In my experience the basic army squads sell quicker, but I've made more money on single character models (but sometimes had to wait months before a bite).

If you can paint to a decent standard, and don't mind waiting, you can use ebay to pay for the hobby. But to pull in a good wage, ebay won't help.

But ebay will get your name out there, it will give you practice (in painting and in selling / dealing with customers), and will give you the portfolio that a professional needs.

If you are wanting to sell as a commission painter and get known as a professional, take the best photos you can; in focus (all of the model or models), well lit, and from as many angles as possible (making sure to show off individual details). If the photos are no good then people will assume the paint job is not as good as you say it is, and will not pay the prices you want.

And as often mentioned with commission painting; Fast, Cheap, High quality - Pick 2 of them.
Low quality "table top" models OR High quality models, painted quickly OR cheaply... etc. is the way to keep both you and the customer happy.
If you can do one of them well, work on improving one other and let the last take care of itself.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
You stuff should be in a light box like the professionals will do. If you're trying to do it for money, gotta be professional.

This. OP, your pictures are way too dark and unprofessional. If people are going to pay money for your stuff they need to be able to see your work clearly, and that means taking better pictures. Get a light box and a tripod and spend some time practicing.

 deathwing fanboy wrote:
Thanks so much for the advice. I have tried something a little bit different by doing this http://www.ebay.com/itm/231737638918?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2648
Do you think this would work?

Just speaking from experience, I wouldn't touch that with a 25 foot pole. At a glance that has scam written all over it, and has been said your own miniatures are poorly lit and it's hard to get a read on them. They don't look bad by any means, but nothing pops enough to wow me and tempt me to even consider taking that sort of chance.

 deathwing fanboy wrote:
Thanks so much for the advice. I have tried something a little bit different by doing this http://www.ebay.com/itm/231737638918?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2648
Do you think this would work?

I wouldn't use the stock images at all (are you even legally allowed to lift photos off the GW site to sell your stuff? I dunno, but I wouldn't do it either way).

As other people have said, you need to work on the photography of your own models and don't use any GW images at all. I can't see at all how good your painting is from those images, it could be awesome it could be junk, can't tell, you're going to struggle to sell anything much when people can't tell if the work is junk or not.

And yes, it absolutely looks like a scam as morganfreeman points out.

I think the first step to starting a commission service (after learning to paint) is building a gallery of high quality professional looking images so people know what they're getting and you look like you know what you're doing.

It seems that there is no easy way

I think the language and tone used in the description of the listing is a tad...aggressive. It just seems instantly off putting if I were after commission painted miniatures.

The use of 3 stock images gets mental alarm bells ringing as well. Have you had any interest yet?

Ok, so I have updated the photos on the auction. I hope they are better.