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Today we’ll talk about second-hand wargame miniatures market. About the reasons why people decide to sell their miniatures and about how it’s better to do it.

Second-hand miniatures marker is a nice chance to collect an army cheap and quick. You can find real treasures – rare miniatures decently painted and with a good price. Who knows, why a person might want to sell them?

There are many reasons, why people can sell their armies, collected and painted with love. A radical change in rules or players preferences, or a simple need for money. And sometimes players sell their miniatures just because they have no other choice, which is really sad.

But should you really sell those miniatures? Even if you don’t like the new rules or your life has changed and you don’t have time for wargames anymore, maybe it’s better to cool down and just put the miniatures away to the shelf. Anyway – you’ve spent a lot of money and time on them, put a part of you into them. Who knows – maybe things will change and you will regret that you don’t have any miniatures any more. However, if you really need money and don’t have another choice, sometimes miniatures appear to be a nice investment. If you are a good painter, you can earn some even with second-hand miniatures, since there are a lot of people who don’t like to paint and would prefer a nice ready model to a new one. Besides, the prices always go up, so it might appear that you’re selling a miniature at the higher price, that you’ve bought it. Especially when it comes to the rare ones.

There are a lot of platforms where you can sell or exchange your miniatures. Almost every local wargame community has some. The hints about using them are really simple and obvious, but there are strangely a lot of players who ignore them.

If you are a seller – don’t save on the quality of photos. Hi-res photos which allow seeing all the details of the model let potential buyers evaluate it and make a thoughtful choice. Even the coolest miniature can be ruined by the dark photo made with a cellphone. Also, be ready to provide some extra photos if the buyer asks. Sometimes they need different angles, weapon options or just unprepared photos to prove that you are not a fraud. Even if you cell a new box, it’s better to use real photos than using a picture from the site.

It’s great if you can meet the buyer in person. But you often have to use post service. So, take care of the package. No one will appreciate it if there is a pile of powder in the box. It’s better to include the cost of a good package into the price of a miniature. Use hard boxes and soft filler of any kind.

If you are buying miniatures, don’t hesitate to ask about things we’ve mentioned earlier – extra photos and good package. Also, check the history of the seller’s activity at this platform. Whether the account is fake or not. Try to chat with him or her – a person, who is a real part of the community and is aware of the wargame you’re playing, has less chances to appear a fraud. Besides, there are often black lists in the local communities – so check them for your potential seller.

And the main thing – no matter what’s your role, be gentle and honest to each other. You are united by the same hobby and there are not so many people in it. Don’t risk your reputation and respect the other players.
Find more in our blog: https://warzone40k.com/second-hand-wargame-miniatures

Hi again Teena!!

uhhhh.....

Switch to Swap shop? Tips or a blog post?

Is this an incitation to discussion or an ad for a blog?

Very much the latter.

Teenabot 3000 pops up most often in 40K Discussion, but it's always the same, lengthy extract of blog with link in a brand new thread, no further interaction until it's time to bait those clicks once more. 78 posts and 68 threads created speaks volumes.

Doesn't do any harm if people want to discuss the topic raised, but they should be aware that "her" threads aren't created in good faith to start a discussion.

What a bizarre post the OP posted. I thought it was frowned upon to post blog style posts round here?

As a big time Confrontation player (and likely gonna dip my toes into AT-43) almost everything I get is second hand. Only CMON or Cadwallon actually produce new models, with Cadwallon you have to use paypal.

I guess if it prompts some conversation/discussion then can't entirely be a bad thing, even if the OP doesn't bother to post here again.

Personally am getting back into Epic again in a big way at the moment. There are some fantastic new 6mm proxy producers, but for some things its nice to get the originals, and for that it means eBay or the occasional boot sale or trade fair.

For eBay, I've come to realise that there are two types of seller:
1) The organised trade-shop type seller. They know Epic is OOP, and boy are they going to make the most out of that limited availability.
This chap below, despite the photo attempting to make him look bigger, stands about 8mm tall. You could get a blister pack back in the day with a dozen of them for about £4. Price now? £12 on a current listing. Yes it's pretty cool, but this will barely make up one part of a character base, so you'll need quite a few of them!


2) Kid has grown up and moved out, and parents are clearing out stuff from attic. Box listed under 'Warhams' (it's something if they've managed to list it in the epic section) where some optimistic photos have been taken of the top of an open box. This can actually be quite fun sometimes, using photoshop and zoom, hopefully if they've used a high enough resolution camera, and combing through the photos to try and pick out what might be present. Have managed to get some mega deals with this, but it takes time and obviously you need to know the miniature range to know what you're looking at. You're also sometimes competing with guy from seller type 1, who buys the set and re-lists individually for ebay shark prices.

There is also type 3, the re-caster. Although Epic seems much to small a market to attract them at the moment (unlike Necromunda and the like), although perhaps that might change following the Adeptus Mechanicus re-release.

You're missing type 4, the butterfly. Gamers who are having a clear out to make space/funds for something else. Fairly well described but optimistically priced.

Type 1 seems to be the biggest player now though, and usually try to scoop up anything from type 2 or 4 on the cheap.

Herzlos wrote:
You're missing type 4, the butterfly. Gamers who are having a clear out to make space/funds for something else. Fairly well described but optimistically priced.

Type 1 seems to be the biggest player now though, and usually try to scoop up anything from type 2 or 4 on the cheap.

Type 5 - Me Mum bought it me!

Like the Butterfly, but was never interested to begin with.

The Auld Grump - I had a few of those in my Pathfinder game - managed to keep two of them when the game turned out to be fun for them. (Age 9.)