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Hey guys got a question for ya. What's the best way to sell a 40k army? Or miniatures in general? I just recently got into warmahordes but the wife won't let me spend any money on it until I sell my chaos marine army? I've been trying to sell it on Craigslist and eBay for the past 3 weeks and have gotten absolutely nowhere! Thanks in advance!

Please help! Stryker and friends are calling my name from my flgs!

In general what I'm looking for:

- Have clear pictures of everything. One of every squad and one of the whole set at a minimum.

- Unless your painting is REALLY GOOD, painted models are a downside. Primed is ok, but cludgy 12year old painting is going to require a soak in stripper and people buying second hand are savvy to the time/cost analysis here. If you wouldn't want your army in White Dwarf, its probably going to decrease your sale price rather than increase. I wouldn't strip anything for sale yourself though.

- Slight exceptions can be made for some very common colour schemes - eg Ultramarines 3rd, Blood Angels etc, some people will be happy to put yours alongside theirs, but don't count on it.

- Consider that most people can get a ~20% discount on NEW models, so your price has to be significantly below that (unless your minis are truly pro-painted). Personally I don't pay more than 50% for secondhand painted minis.

- You're nearly always better off splitting the army up in to smaller parts. You won't sell it all, but you'll get rid of most of it. Most people buying secondhand have decent collections they are adding to, and won't need to double up on most of the pieces.

- Don't be afraid of eBay or selling internationally. There are a bunch of people in Australia who'll be happy to pay more than your US customers. Just remember to make sure shipping/handling is accurate and you're not getting ripped off there.

- Some stuff is just going to sell slow. Chaos Space marines are one of those things, given their poor performance in 7th edition. Helldrakes, Cultists, Bikers, Mauler/Forgefiends will sell; pretty much everything else will move very slowly.

Just a point on eBay international sales.

In the UK you ship the item to a UK address that eBay uses, they then send it into the 3rd party. You therefore only pay the national postage and don't have to deal with the paperwork.

I've sold 3 things so far and didn't even realise the buyer was from Spain until I saw the address.

I would also add that timing can be useful too. When a new codex comes out for a said army then the interest in it will go up. I think it is pretty much a dead cert that Chaos Space Marines will be getting a new codex by the end of the year or early next year. So if you sell when the new book comes out, it could help you.

As has already been said, provide plenty of pictures, and description of each individual unit in the listing so buyers can see what units there are and how they can use them themselves. It can be a little bit annoying having to look through one big photo trying to figure out what there is. I've sold a couple of armies on eBay (eBay UK) and what has also helped me is looking under sold/completed listings to see what other people have sold and for what amount and it is also very important to see what is currently for sale too. You don't want to be selling you own army for more than someone else who is selling more models/better painted models for less. It can also have the opposite too in that you don't want to be selling your stuff for a lot less than someone who is selling poorer quality stuff for more.

You could try the wargamer's buy, sell, swap on Facebook, too. It's a closed group, so you'll have to wait for permission before you can post, but from what I've seen things often sell pretty quickly there. It's not unusual to see bulk amounts go, either, but most times people will ask if you'll split.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/192684244127536/?fref=ts

I'm surprised it hasn't sold at all. Can you link to an old ebay listing and we'll see if you're doing something wrong?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Chaos-Space-Marines-Army-/111765154781?nav=SELLING_ACTIVE

The odds of you finding someone who wants that exact list of models are pretty poor. It's more effort, but try breaking your listing up into individual units / vehicles / characters.

I think you could do with a better description "60 randomly equiped marines" isn't very useful. Maybe a breakdown of equipment in the form of an army list?

More pictures of anything painted too.

The price strikes me as a bit high - not many people will be willing/able to drop $600 in one go - you might be better starting it at the minimum you'd take and run it as an auction, or splitting it up into units.

try putting them up for trade for warmachine stuff on the dakka swap shop. Never know who might be looking for some chaos stuff.

BiscuitNibbler wrote:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/Chaos-Space-Marines-Army-/111765154781?nav=SELLING_ACTIVE

The pictures are okay. It's a good range of close ups, and I feel like i have a decent idea of what's in the lot. They could be sharper in focus, but that's about it.

The list is woefully inaccurate. You're trying to sell a couple hundred bucks worth of stuff, make more of an effort to catalog what's in it! the more information you give, the better.

As Herzlos said, the price is a bit high. Everything will sell, it's just a question of what the price is. I just don't see more than a couple hundred bucks in that lot, but I've been proven wrong before.

The best way to sell that particular lot is to split off the higher value stuff into lots, and then sell a junk lot. The noise maries, the plauges, the defilers, and the havoks hold more value. The cultists, the bolter marines, and the brutes hold very little.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Chute82 wrote:
try putting them up for trade for warmachine stuff on the dakka swap shop. Never know who might be looking for some chaos stuff.

that's a good point. Army swapping for a Wm/H army, especially if you aren't picky which one you get back, might be a good way to go.

I'd never consider buying that at $600. Way too much money for not many models of use. Four Helbrutes? Two Defilers? 60 Troops you won't identify properly? That's just wasted money. Split it up into unit sized auctions for an appropriate price and I'd look at it again.

Looking at it another way, it's a very carefully crafted ebay ad that will eventually lead to the discussion 'Sorry sweetie, I tried my best to sell them but no-one's buying... Guess I'll have to keep them...'

You sly dog, you...

[MOD EDIT - RULE #1 - ALPHARIUS]

The post right above me was sooooo constructive.

That being said, yes, it is way too much money for what you're selling. I have been trying to offload a CSM army that has more stuff than that, and I couldn't generate interest at 300$, and Canadian dollars at that.

I ended up giving it to a friend in exchange for an X-Wing tab. We do it bit by bit, and I'll end up getting stuff I really want instead. As others have said, break it up into lots. You probably won't get 600USD, but you'll get more than nothing. And it'll allow you to pace yourself.

Compare your prices to GW. You shouldn't expect more than half of retail for any of it.
Break them all down by units and describe what each unit consists of.
List the units for sale separately.

The Swapshop here is a good place. You can also look on Bartertown.com. CSM do well there when properly priced.

Eric

Here's a roughly comparable lot, and it sold for $255 plus $40 shipping:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Warhammer-40K-Chaos-Space-Marine-Army-2200-pts-/111764959275?hash=item1a05b5f02b&nma=true&si=AdAWZo7TlJRKWTPzqkm%252FlNTPIus%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

That's a really nice lot, with a good mix of units, plastics and metals, and arguably better pictures and descriptions.

Remember when tracking prices on eBay, only look at lots that "sold," not "complete" auctions.