To all of you eBayers

[Worship]

Whether you're a buyer, seller, both, or simply a window shopper there's a good chance you've seen the completely finished armies listed on eBay for anywhere from $700 - $2000. I'm at the point where I'd like to sell mine, but what I'm wondering is do these actually sell? Have you successfully sold or purchased a completed army at prices like these?

I'd like to hear your input

[redterror]

I've sold a couple of armies on eBay in the last couple of years, but never as one lot.

I'll always put it up as separate units, characters, monster etc. I do this because I have no idea how to value an army (a good example is a unit of 20 chaos warriors I put up at the start of the year, I would have valued it at £50-60 if I was incredibly lucky but they went for £127). If I had put it up as one lot I would have made around £400 less than I did!!.

[Harwammer]

I sold my old 40k collection over a year ago.

Some armies I sold as collections, other armies I broke down into either individual units or units that tend to crop up together in many lists.

The listings that were whole collections were less hassle to organise, but culmulatively the broken lots did better.

If you want to get the best possible buck, it is probably a good idea to take a look at popular/succesful lists for the armybook you have models for and break down those models into groups that form commonly used combos.

[insectum7]

I've sold many armies at over $1000 USD. Here's what you should know:

1: Make 'em big.
My most successful sales have been well over the 2,000 point mark. People like a whole collection to choose their lists from if they are playing standard sized games.

2: Take good pictures.
Spend half a day setting up terrain and laying the army out as nicely as possible. Include hi-res closeup shots of your iconic models and your basic troops, people want to get an idea of what all the models are going to look like, not just the ones you spent the most time on. Consistency matters.

3: Full and detailed inventory.
In a neat and organized fashion, provide the entire inventory of the army you are selling. Troop types, weapon loadouts, alternates, vehicles plus magnetized parts. Don't over-advertise, the people who want to buy at these price ranges are looking for honesty, not salesmanship.

4: Quality product.
Every army I sold was fully painted to a high standard, and based. If the customer has to do any work to complete the collection, its no good. If you have spare parts like weapon alternates that you want to include in the sell, paint em up and include them in your pictures too.


. . .

5. Read about ebays fees.
One reason why I don't sell there anymore is because the fees got too high. If you are serious about selling, be aware that your final take may involve a pretty big hit with percentage fees.

[The Strange Dude]

Sold my guard earlier this year for over £1000 that said it was a big army fully painted and based lots of FW with a battlefoam 1520 and custom foam. I'd say work out what figure you'd be happy with then add on postage costs a bit to cover fees remember be realistic(keep this figure in mind). Then do a buy it now or best offer with free postage and the asking price being a price you'd feel lucky to get. That way you may get lucky and have someone snap it up at the good price or get offers (bare in mind some chancers will offer peanuts don't let it get you down) if you get one close to your happy price accept. Also after completing the auction advertise it on as many forums as possible to increase awareness.

[Clarkson]

i always offer peanuts to ebayers.. not to piss em off.. but in case i get lucky..

ive gotten a necron army that way.. someone was desperate to get rid of it.. i bought it for £100 and sold it on for over £500.. copypaste his description.. and set it at bid with starting bid of £100

[snake-eyez]

1: Make 'em big.
My most successful sales have been well over the 2,000 point mark. People like a whole collection to choose their lists from if they are playing standard sized games.

This. I've seen some sellers list armies but sell each thing individually. That can work if the whole army is listed at once, but when people list about 1,000 points fully painted I think to myself, "I'd love to buy that, but I want at least 2,000 points, and I can't replicate that paint scheme, so I won't bother bidding". Then after that first lot of 1,000 points ends (for half the price I would be willing to pay), then another lot of 1,000 points from the exact same army (same colour scheme and painting standard) is listed by the same seller. The collective price of all the stuff has sold for half of what I would have paid for it if it was one huge listing

Some say list it individually, but if its all painted to the one colour scheme, people would generally want the whole lot in one go. I've hesitated to bid on squads/vehicles because I'll either want the whole lot or nothing, and so individual listings can deter some from bidding.

4: Quality product.
Every army I sold was fully painted to a high standard, and based. If the customer has to do any work to complete the collection, its no good. If you have spare parts like weapon alternates that you want to include in the sell, paint em up and include them in your pictures too.

This is important too. I've seen armies of 2,500 points listed for sale, and 2/3 might be painted, but the rest is plain grey. Its probably worth finishing anything thats not painted so the whole lot goes up as a fully painted army.




I'd also look into shipping costs before listing it. A lot of international buyers may be interested, but shipping costs can really deter them. Some people in the US just set international shipping at a huge price (well over $100) without even looking into the actual costs. These international bidders will obviously factor this into their bidding price, so you may get a lot less for it.

[Vanger]

I'm not an ebayer myself, but some of my friends are into it.

There are 2 kind of buyers:
- the one who wants a complete army
- the one who takes what he wants and resells the rest

In both cases it's better if you list a lot of stuff. The people who want a complete army usually are happy if they have some options on what to field. These people are willing to pay more.
Then there are the resellers. They want to make a profit in the end. They again look for bigger armies, so if they take out what they want, it won't get noticed. (Taking out a Land Raider from a 1250 list is more noticable, then taking one out from a 3000+ army) Also they are looking for quality stuff. Quality means it's painted nicely and/or has units in it that are sought after.
Also be honest and don't try to include "trash" just so you can say it's a bigger army and demand more.

[nedius]

I'm considering selling my Praetorians.

They are all still as new. I bought a 2000pt all infantry army before they went out of productions and have only touched one... Which was to convert a sarg to a rough rider.

So I have a pristine, as new collection that I'm considering selling. Never been able to decide whether to sell them as squads, individuals or as one bulk lot...

[Clarkson]

Praetorians will sell for a lot individually...

considering an ork shokk attack gun (the older one), can sell for £15... praes will sell easily £25-30 each

[dangermouse425]

In my experience, it's always worth spending the extra effort in creating separate listings for each unit.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[SkawtheFalconer]

Agreed. I sold a tonne of Chaos Dwarfs on ebay a while back, and made about £400 more than I think I would have if sold as a collection. Furthermore, be sure to add links to your listings (ideally to each individual one) on the Warseer trading forum. I also linked to it on a Chaos Dwarf fan site forum.

[Inquisitor Engel]

I'm about to put my Tau army on eBay. Every single Crisis Suit is a Forge World suit and it contains the limited edition Ethereal (from 2002). All told it's probably worth about $1000 retail but I expect $500 would be a good haul as it's painted... decently, but not amazing. Since things are painted, I'm just not up for splitting it into multiple auctions. I'd rather sell it all and be done with it.

[snake-eyez]

I'm considering selling my Praetorians.

They are all still as new. I bought a 2000pt all infantry army before they went out of productions and have only touched one... Which was to convert a sarg to a rough rider.

So I have a pristine, as new collection that I'm considering selling. Never been able to decide whether to sell them as squads, individuals or as one bulk lot...

For unpainted stuff like that, don't sell it in one lot. Since its unpainted, it can go to various people easily who want to add to an army (or various people all trying to build an army).

I think you would be best off selling them in small lots (5 lasgunners as one lot, or a heavy weapons teams as one lot, maybe even a whole squad of 10 in one go). If you sell them individually you will need to clearly state how much people will save in postage for buying a lot of models in order to maximise the price you get for them.

Selling them in one bulk lot is easy, but you probably won't get as much for them (maybe 20 to 40% less).

I think a rule of thumb might be, sell fully painted armies as one lot (to attract those who just want to buy a fully painted army ready to use), and sell unpainted models either individually or in small lots.

[Inquisitor Engel]

I think a rule of thumb might be, sell fully painted armies as one lot (to attract those who just want to buy a fully painted army ready to use), and sell unpainted models either individually or in small lots.

Yep! This is a great rule of thumb.

Funny story, my friend sold his Tau army on Cragslist to a kid in DFW (kid lives in Grapevine, my friend lives in Melissa, so it's not exactly CLOSE either) for $300. I work in Grapevine and so on my way home stopped by GW Grapevine Mills to pick up some paint. What do I see on the table before me? My friend's old army!

[Senbei]

Praetorians will sell for a lot individually...

considering an ork shokk attack gun (the older one), can sell for £15... praes will sell easily £25-30 each

I hope you mean per squad (though I'd say you might get away with BiNing squads for 35 to 45 each). The SAG can sell for £6 to £7... if you're willing to strip the previous paint job. Just wait around and do a search every week or two. They're pretty common and a cheap one will turn up eventually.

[Spider-pope]

Like most posters so far in this thread, i've found it easier and more profitable to break an army into individual units for sale rather than one big lot. By selling as units you are taking advantage of a far bigger customer base. The number of people who want to buy an army in one go are far fewer than those looking to pick up a squad here and there. And you can encourage people to buy multiple items off you by offering discounted postage.

[Uncletrunx]

I think a rule of thumb might be, sell fully painted armies as one lot (to attract those who just want to buy a fully painted army ready to use), and sell unpainted models either individually or in small lots.

I agree although I'd add the cavat that an army with a very common colourscheme (Space Wolves, for example) might go well as individual units, as they would blend well with most other collections.

I've also sold one or two painted characters on their own, and been delighted with what they went for.

[wyvirn]

Out of print stuff with a fan base is probably better sold individually (Genestealer Hybrids, Squats, Chaos Dwarfs). You're aiming for the collectors there. Something you would see in a LGS is probably better sold in bulk to a gamer. Just my inexperienced 2 cents.

[lantzkev]

for the love of the Emperor do not list "pro painted" when you have the paint skills of a high school student who just mailed in his 5th lesson to Russell Patterson!

If you know when it was produced that's actually helpful, but the OOP markings just are silly. Everything metal is OOP for the most part now!