As of lately I've been wondering;

If I sell my army on a site like ebay or any other auction sites and have a price set, would it be a realistic price.

At the moment I'm trying to sell a lot of my Chaos marines stuff I had from about 2 years ago when I just got into the hobby.

The total value when buying it new is around 390 USD. Which is obviously an amount a lot of people aren't willing to spend on GW stuff all at once. However, if you're willing to sell a lot like mine which is also painted, does it increase or decrease value? I find it hard to set a price as a high price will likely scare people and a low price will set yourself back I guess.

Take in consideration we're not all pro-painters (will come back on that later) but does a table top quality paintjob make an army worth more? I mean, you don't have to put effort in glueing and painting it and in some cases you don't even have to worry about making a decent list. And believe me I do know a lot of people that aren't into the glueing and painting thing, and mainly the reason why they play 40k is because the other games aren't even know around here. I suggested taking a look at AT-43, but no stores sell that stuff around here.

But back on topic. Now, say... the painting quality isn't all that and your aim is half the new value, would that be realistic? After all, you can go through the hassle of stripping all and you'd have a very cheap army.

As for pro-painters, I think most of us will agree on what a excellent paintjob will be. However, would an army like that be worth about say... 3 times the storevalue. Most people won't have the money to dish out 1000+ USD for a good painted army. Is it realistic to expect mass interest?

Also I find it hard to believe that people are honestly expecting pro-painted stuff for roughly the new price or even less.

So basically; guidelines on selling and buying Warhammer armies. Are there any?

Personally speaking I wouldn't buy anything on ebay that has already been painted, but thats mainly because I've had bad experience melting a load of minis trying to get the paint off.
Unless its fantastically painted, like Golden Daemon or Eavy Metal standard at least, or rare/oop/limited edition then I wouldn't expect to make a profit and would probably be looking at getting half retail price at best.

400 USD is £200 - that works out at around a 1500-2000 point army I would have thought.
Second hand and painted on ebay I wouldn't look at that if it was priced any higher than £50 or 100USD.
If it wasn't painted I'd pay £100 maybe and if it was all still on sprues I'd pay around £150.00

Thats just me, but I can only say what I would do.

So basically; guidelines on selling and buying Warhammer armies. Are there any?

I have my own guidelines that I try to use for all transactions:

1. If it's unpainted I wouldn't expect to pay more than 50% of retail, unless it's MIB in which case I might be prepared to go up to around 66% of retail - but I certainly wouldn't normally pay any more unless it was something I really needed, in which case I might go up to 75%.

2. If it's painted anything other than to a very high standard I'd be looking at slightly less than 50%, depending on the quality/thickness of the painting. In fact, if the painting was thick I probably wouldn't buy it under any circumstances. Stripping models is tedious, usually works only on metal models and even then can be a bit of a hit or miss affair; I simply wouldn't consider trying to strip plastic models, the risk is just too great.

3. If the painting was to a high standard and a scheme that I liked I guess I'd be prepared tp pay as much as I wanted for the Army. If have bought a couple of Armies that, very surprisingly, I got for less than retail, and I also have others I've paid 2-3 times retail for because I really wanted those Armies!

I guess the thing about eBay is that your figures are worth as much, or as little, as someone is prepared to pay for them. However, as a rough guide I'd work on 50% to 100% of retail for reasonable painting, with higher quality stuff fetching more, sometimes a lot more, depending on the quality and interest.

Of course, it all really depends on how you market your stuff. Don't put your Army up if there's already a number of similar Armies already being sold - you don't want to be competing with others. The only time I'd consider this if there is one good similar Army that has attracted a lot of bids. If you then put yours up to run at the same time you might attract the disappointed bidders who don't win the original item.

A large number of high quality pics, showing well-lit models, a good description and fair postage charges will all help your sale - as will a low start price to encourage interest. I've always found that a very low start price and no reserve have always worked High start prices and reserves put bidders off and it's bidder interest you're trying to generate.

Sorry if this seems to have turned into a "how to be a successful eBayer" answer, but I'm just letting you know the guidelines I use for buying and selling.

Good luck with your sale(s)!

~ Raven ~

I just brought a leman russ off ebay for £10 with £2 p&p and it was already converted into a vanquisher which is a plus, thats half price with a bonus i can always replace the paint job myself.:rofl

Also i just brought an absolutly PRO painted vindicare for £2.40 + £2 p&p i could never dream of painting something that good. ;o

So yeah moral of the story aim for about 50% price value.=]

I have bought nearly 33% of all my warhammer online from eBay. I have, however, recently discovered something VERY nice, one of the stores in the city i work in has secondhand bins! Woohoo!

I have, however, recently discovered something VERY nice, one of the stores in the city i work in has secondhand bins! Woohoo!

Personally, I'd much rather buy my bins new; I'm not at all keen on buying bins that someone else has already used ... ... ... :D

~ Raven ~

Personally, I'd much rather buy my bins new; I'm not at all keen on buying bins that someone else has already used ... ... ... :D

~ Raven ~

Ha bloody ha. I meant secondhand miniature model bins, ya nonce :P

Well, what I'm wondering is why do you want to sell? After all, you're more likely than not going to make a loss on it, and maybe in a few years time you might be wishing you had the chaos goodies handy... but... of course, that's a maybe. Entirely up to you, but if you were me I'd be keeping it. :p

I might sell the box though. :p

Only sold one thing on ebay:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g56/Cheredanine/AdamUltras1.jpg
including cases, note with the exception of the whirlwind all those vehicles have FW extra armour.

Initially put it up with a minimum price of £400, didnt get any takers, then re posted at £350 which is what it went for.

Bear in mind this is the only thing I ever sold on ebay direct, so had no feedback which will put people off.

When we did LOCS this:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g56/Cheredanine/PX/Cheredanine.jpg
went for 40odd pounds, but it was a charity auction

Nice stuff Chered, I've never seen your marines before -Impressive.

But back on topic.
I think you would do better if you split it up in smaller parts. As you said yourself, it's quite a lot of money to spend at once on minis.

Would it be possible to split it up in two or maybe even three smaller armies?
Like 1 HQ 2 T 1HS in one auction and 1 HQ 2T 1 FA in the next?
Or maybe sell it squad by squad and tank by tank?

Used is definitely used. I've done a fair bit of shopping on eBay and don't think that 'table standard' painting really affects the price one way or another. It's either new, used, or display quality painted. An army that is both 'ready to play' (the models make up a competitive army list) and very high table standard (might contend for best presentation at a local/regional event) might sell for more than new. But remember, you're on eBay. The 'new' price you're comparing to is the eBay price for NIB, not GW MSRP.

Also to add to Ravenscraig's assorted good eBay advice: beware the eBay automated shipping calculator and what you specify as the ship method. Best to look up what it will cost you to mail to common areas and post your S&H fee in the auction. A lot of sellers lose my business because eBay calculates that it's going to be $30 to mail a single blister from the US to Canada and they don't seem interested in taking the time to look up a real fee. =)

Like everyone has said it all depends on the quality. I have seen some very excellent painted armies go for $1,000 or more. I have also seen some not so good armies go for only 30%-40% because the modelling/paint job was not that great. One thing to do is go on ebay and search for "40k painted" and then sort it by highest price first. There are some nice looking things on there right now, some have bids and some dont. Overall I think it not only matters the modelling/paint job, but also if the right person happens to be looking for said army at that time. If I had the money I would love to buy a nicely painted army off ebay, only thing that sucks is that its tough to add units to it because they won't be to the same standard and mathcing colors can be tough too.